Castle Guided Tour & Holyrood Palace Ticket: an honest review
How the day runs
You meet at Advocates Close, opposite St Giles’ Cathedral — look for the black umbrella with the yellow logo — for a 10:00 guided tour of Edinburgh Castle. Afterwards staff escort you down the Royal Mile, and at 14:00 you enter Holyrood with an audio guide and take the palace at your own pace, which in practice means an hour to an hour and a half inside. Both entries are in the price. House rules worth knowing: no pets or walking sticks, bags up to 30 litres at the castle, and a 45×20×30 cm bag limit at the palace.
The rating, honestly
Eight reviews at 4.3, most of them 4-star, is a thin record and I’m not going to dress it up. The pattern in what exists is consistent, though: the guided castle half draws the praise — one US booker wrote “Gavin was really good, accommodating and funny” — while the same reviewer felt the self-guided palace half left them unaccompanied. A Canadian booker thought the guide chatted about himself a bit much. None of that is damning; all of it is worth knowing before you pay £85.
What works
- Both entries covered by one booking — no separate queues or timed-slot admin
- The guided castle half is what bookers praise
- Staff escort you down the Mile between the two halves
- A tidy 3-hour shape: castle at 10:00, palace at 14:00
Worth knowing
- Only the castle half is guided — at Holyrood you get an audio guide, not a person
- Eight reviews at 4.3 so far — a small sample, mostly 4-star
- No pets or walking sticks; castle bags to 30 litres, palace bags to 45×20×30 cm
- Costs more than booking castle and palace entry separately, so the guided morning has to be worth it to you
If a guide for the whole day is the point, look at The Royal Tour instead — it keeps a live guide through the castle and the Royal Mile before the palace, though it needs a group of four. My review of it covers the trade-offs.
Who it suits
Visitors who want the castle explained by a person but are happy exploring the palace solo — which, to be fair, is how most people see Holyrood anyway. If you’d rather split the two sights across a day at your own pace and price, the castle vs Holyrood comparison lays out the do-it-yourself plan, and the combo tickets page shows what each combination actually costs.
Other tickets to consider
Small groupBoth entries includedThe Royal Tour: Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood, Royal Mile
Best value bundleEdinburgh: Royal Attractions with Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tours
Skip the queueAudio guide includedEdinburgh: Palace of Holyroodhouse Entry Ticket
Frequently asked questions
Is the whole tour guided?
No — and this is the main thing to understand before booking. The castle half is a guided tour; the Holyrood half is self-guided with an audio guide after staff walk you down the Mile. If you want a live guide at both ends, no product does that — the closest is The Royal Tour, which guides the castle and the Mile.
Why is the rating lower than the other tours here?
It stands at 4.3 from just eight reviews — a newer product with a small sample, mostly 4-star. The guided castle morning draws praise; the unaccompanied palace afternoon is what cost it stars. I’d call the jury still out rather than the verdict bad.
Are both entry tickets included?
Yes — Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace entries are both in the £85 price, along with the castle guide and the audio guide at the palace. How that compares with buying entries separately is on the ticket prices page.
Where does it start?
At Advocates Close, opposite St Giles’ Cathedral on the Royal Mile, at 10:00 — look for the black umbrella with a yellow logo. The getting there page covers reaching the Mile from Waverley Station.