Edinburgh Historic and Literary Coach Tour

Edinburgh is a city bursting with history, but also with bookishness; so much so that it was the first city in the world to be awarded UNESCO’s ‘City of Literature’ title.
Now, for the first time, you can take a tour which delves deeper than ever before into both our history and our literary connections, from Sherlock Holmes to Harry Potter!

Come with 7 Hills Tours and your guide, Edinburgh native Dr Moray Grigor, on the deepest, most comprehensive coach tour ever offered in Edinburgh, traversing the whole city from the sea to the hills (with short tea break) to bring you our historic and literary secrets, all presented in the engaging style that has won 6 complete years of 5 star review for Moray's other tours. Together we'll be imagining the scenes and events that made history, and there will be chocolate prizes on offer for correct answers to our history and literature quiz questions!

Historic and literary surprises absolutely guaranteed – plus the warmest of Scottish welcomes!

Meeting Point

Burns Monument

1759 Regent Rd, Edinburgh EH8 8DR, UK

The tour departs from the coach stances right beside the Burns Monument.

What to expect:

Duration: 3 hours

The Burns Monument

1759 Regent Rd, Edinburgh, EH8 8DR

This memorial to our national Bard is in the form of an ancient Greek temple, and is the start point of our tour.

5 minutes

The Balmoral

1 Princes Street, The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, EH2 2EQ

Landmark Edinburgh hotel, famous for its clock running three minutes ahead to help rail passengers catch their trains - also where J.K. Rowling completed the 'Harry Potter' saga!

Pass by without stopping

Scott Monument

E. Princes St Gardens, Edinburgh, EH2 2EJ

The world's biggest literary memorial, to the 'Man who invented Scotland' - superstar romantic author Sir Walter Scott.

Pass by without stopping

Saint Andrew Square

George Street, Edinburgh

Grand 18thC square, one of the twin focal points of Edinburgh's 'New Town'. Crowned with statue of Henry Dundas - 'the uncrowned king of Scotland'

Pass by without stopping

New Town

Edinburgh

We'll proceed along upscale George Street, meeting a young man who would gain literary fame and fortune in Canada, and passing the site of Edinburgh's greatest religious schism - the Disruption of 1843. Turning into Hanover Street we'll pass the Royal Society of Edinburgh - where James Hutton's seminal paper on the age of the earth was presented. We'll also pass Milne's Bar, haunt of the 1950's poetry scene!

Pass by without stopping

Old Town

Edinburgh

Ascending the Mound and crossing the Old Town, we'll meet Edinburgh's most notorious criminal and its greatest philosopher, and see the cafe where Harry Potter was 'born' and the site where the disastrous Darien Scheme was hatched in the 1690s.

Pass by without stopping

Bristo Place

Bristo Pl, Edinburgh EH1, UK

We'll pass Edinburgh's world-renowned Medical School, where we'll hear of some famous alumni, both inside and outside medicine! Next we'll pass George Heriot's school, inspiration for Hogwarts and site of Scotland's first hot air balloon flight! Passing into East Fountainbridge we'll hear of a night club bouncer foiling a gang attack, and later reaching global fame!

Pass by without stopping

West Princes Street Garden, Edinburgh

Princes Street, Edinburgh

We'll meet a world famous woman author getting married in virtual secret, and hear why cemeteries in old Edinburgh needed security towers! Also we'll hear a story of a tough young nightclub bouncer foiling an attack - and later rising to global fame!

Pass by without stopping

Charlotte Square

West end of George Street 40 Charlotte Square, , Edinburgh, EH2 4HQ

In this twin to St Andrew's Square we'll meet a little boy with a VERY big future - and his very unusual birthday present; also we'll unearth the pub haunt of Edinburgh's top contemporary crime writer!

Pass by without stopping

New Town

Edinburgh

Continuing into Queen Street we'll meet another little boy, destined for literary greatness, pass the house where a historic medical discovery was made and the site of possibly the most 'steam-punk' attraction ever made - all will be revealed!

Pass by without stopping

Newhaven Harbour

Pier Place, Edinburgh, EH6 4LP

Heading north now, we'll hear of greyhounds, speedway riders, and perhaps the greatest tragedy ever to affect the city, before reaching the sea at Edinburgh's delightful fishing port of Newhaven, birthplace of a warship that was the world's biggest!

Pass by without stopping

Leith

, , Edinburgh, EH6

Continuing along the coast, we'll enter Leith, hearing of whisky, red wine, Oliver Cromwell, Rabbie Burns, a cannibal family, and a young queen's return to Scotland...plus, the first of two of the world's first golf courses we'll pass on our tour, with the story of the first Open Champion, surgeon John Rattray, nearly killed by his trade, but saved by his hobby!

Pass by without stopping

Portobello Beach

1 Promenade, Edinburgh, EH15 2DX

Heading east still, (and stopping for a short refreshment break) we'll hear of the world's greatest ever assembly of warships, and also solve the puzzle of which navy were menacing Edinburgh in 1779! We'll meet two of the greatest stars of the early 20th century stage, one who was born in Edinburgh, one who died here, and also reveal perhaps Edinburgh's greatest culinary secret!

15 minutes

Holyrood Park

Holyrood Park Education Centre 1 Queen's Drive, , Edinburgh, EH8 8HG

Returning to the city we'll cross Holyrood Park, site of our Royal Palace and historic Abbey, and also encampment for Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army of 1745. Coming out of the park, we'll pass the first of two girls' schools which became world famous in fiction!

Pass by without stopping

The Pleasance

60 Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ

Crossing the street which becomes The Pleasance, we'll encounter historic Jewish Edinburgh, and see a famous architect's first, very beautiful Edinburgh project. We'll also hear the tale of when Scott met Burns for the one and only time!

Pass by without stopping

The Meadows

Melville Dr, Meadows Compass, Edinburgh, EH9 1ND

Crossing this beautiful green space, we'll hear stories of its history as a loch, its present as a student playground, and of the great 18th century intellectuals who lived and walked in the area.

Pass by without stopping

Merchiston

Merchiston, Edinburgh EH10 5AU, UK

Heading now towards upscale Merchiston, we'll surprise you with a very famous American visitor of the 1840's, and also reveal a couple of Edinburgh's industrial firsts, also passing close to the estate of Scotland's greatest mathematician and the home street of our most famous present-day writer, J.K. Rowling.

Pass by without stopping

Craiglockhart

Craiglockhart, Edinburgh EH14 1DE, UK

Passing through 'Happy Valley', we'll encounter Great War poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, who met in 1917 during recovery at the pioneering military psychiatric hospital founded in a converted hotel here.

Pass by without stopping

Morningside Road

Morningside Rd, Edinburgh EH10, UK

Making our way cross-town now, we'll pass close to the lodgings of a pre- WW1 German naval spy, and along the home street of Robert Louis Stevenson's beloved nanny Alison Cunningham, whose resting place is nearby. In the legendary suburb of Morningside we'll find out what happened when rich and poor lived as near neighbours, but also of riots, wars against the English, and Oscar Wilde, among other stories!

Pass by without stopping

Bruntsfield

Bruntsfield, Edinburgh EH10 4JT, UK

Returning towards downtown Edinburgh, we'll meet a young Sunday school teacher who achieved sporting immortality in a life cut tragically short, before reaching literary Bruntsfield and our tour's second former girls school, one which inspired one of the great Edinburgh novels, 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'.

Pass by without stopping

Lauriston Place

Lauriston Pl, Edinburgh, UK

Here we'll see our former maternity hospital, the first to be purpose-built in the city; birthplace of a world-famous actor and site of the UKs first ante-natal clinic. Just across the road we'll pass our historic fire station, HQ for what was the world's first municipal Fire Service!

Pass by without stopping

Grassmarket

21 Grassmarket, Old Town, Edinburgh, EH1 2HS

Here in the capital's unofficial town square we'll hear of some of Edinburgh's most notorious crimes and an unexpectedly explosive event late one night, not to mention find out what Edinburgh lads of the 1600s did for their Saturday entertainment!

Pass by without stopping

Cowgate

Cowgate, Edinburgh, UK

We'll travel the length of the 'poor relation' of the Royal Mile, meeting revolutionaries and poets, and seeing the building which houses the only surviving pre-reformation stained glass in the whole of Edinburgh - bearing the coat of arms of a very important lady in our history!

Pass by without stopping

The Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh, EH99 1SP

Nearing the completion of the tour now, we'll pass the famous but initially controversial modern home of the reconstituted Scottish Parliament, opposite Edinburgh's own royal palace - Holyrood.

Pass by without stopping