Edinburgh Dungeon

The Edinburgh Dungeon is a haunted world attraction that offers a pulse-pounding exploration of an interactive underworld show. The experience takes visitors through interactive rides and live shows that exhibit various events in Scottish history, with a focus on horror and thrills. The attraction includes high-end special effects, sets and professional costumed performers.

Some of the areas include subjects such as witchcraft, torture, murder and a little gore. The scares are more thrilling than horrifying and combine thrills with gallows humour. As such, the attraction overall is family friendly for older kids, though younger children may have a tough time. The Dungeon offers quite a few areas to explore that combine walk-through with rides and audience participation performances with costumed actors. You can find day pass tickets online that make the experience affordable for most families.

Edinburgh Dungeon - one of the highlights of 11 Best Family Things to Do in Edinburgh (Read all about Edinburgh here)

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Highlights and features of the Dungeon

The main attractions in the Dungeon include The Courtroom, Witches' Judgement, The Torture Chamber, Cannibal's Cave, The Anatomy Theatre, Burke & Hare: The Business of Murder, Mary King's Close, Castle Ghosts, Edinburgh's Vaults, Drop Dead: The Grassmarket Gallows and the Galloway Boat Ride. New attractions are added all the time, so check the website to see what's currently available.

All in all, the Edinburgh Dungeon takes about 70 minutes to go through and covers 1,000 years of Scotland and Edinburgh's history. The performances involve terrors, such as you and your family being accused of witchcraft as well as what it meant to face judgement in a 17th-century court. You'll experience the history and methods of some of the most infamous serial killers in Scottish history and the ghost story of Mary, Queen of Scots.

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Story of the Edinburgh Dungeons

The Edinburgh Dungeon is built to cover 1,000 years of Scotland and Edinburgh's more macabre history – the things you may not learn in school. The attraction was founded about 20 years ago and originally explored things like early Viking invaders, William Wallace and even the plague-ridden medieval alleyways of the city.

In over 11 shows and 2 rides featuring no fewer than 15 actors, you'll meet historic figures like Agnes Finnie, Burke & Hare, The Green Lady, Sawney Bean and other infamous characters. You'll have a full sensory experience with shaking floors, air jets, levitation tricks, optical illusions and more, all designed to put you into the heart of Scotland's dark history. It's one of 8 Dungeons across Europe that allow a thrilling and fun way to explore less savoury and more obscure areas of world history.

Good to know about the Edinburgh Dungeons

Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by adults, and no children under 5 are permitted in the Dungeon. The drop ride has a 1.4-metre height restriction, so check in before booking with younger kids. The Dungeon is committed to providing a safe experience for all visitors and is accessible for people with disabilities, though some floors are uneven. All government health and safety requirements and recommendations are in effect.

There is no onsite parking, but the Dungeon has a deal with a car park that’s about a 7-minute walk away, and there are also meters along East Market Street. Public transportation may get you there as well. You can purchase a souvenir photo package or visit the gift shop for t-shirts and other merchandise as well as beverages.

Location: 31 Market St, Edinburgh EH1 1DF, UK

Phone: +44 (0)1312 401041

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