I have been in Edinburgh many times as a long-term visitor (we lived there most of a year). A private guided tour is really the best way to get into the history and interesting tidbits if you have the time. When my husband and I returned to visit Edinburgh after many years, we hired Gareth who customized our tour to cover places and topics interesting to us. Some info was a refresher course, and some details we hadn't heard explained before. He enjoys what he does, and is good at it. We spent 3 hours with Gareth, had lunch, then did a bus tour (hop-on, hop-off) in the afternoon to rest our feet. Gareth knew we had the bus tour scheduled, and having been a tour guide for the bus tours, he knew how to plan our walking tour to be different from what we would hear on the bus. Once we had booked our tour through EEWT, Gareth immediately set up private email communication to help us prepare for our visit to Scotland. He advised us on how to get into the city from our hotel, even which train to take, where to catch the train, and he met us as we got off the train. Super easy to connect with him. If you aren't familiar with Scotland, be sure to ask him for helpful tips, like how to dress for the weather, what public toilets cost, when NOT to use an umbrella, where to eat, and whatever you want. He answered all our logistical questions, and was available to advise us throughout the rest of our week in Scotland. If you aren't able to schedule a personal tour, check out his recorded audio tours for download.

We booked Gareth for a 2-hours tour of Edinburgh and appreciated his easygoing but very professional attitude. It was fun and at the same time fascinating- all those interesting and sometimes baffling stories about the architectural and cultural development of this city.
Gareth more or less immediately takes up on one's direction of interest. We also found the support by old plans and maps in his tablet which he shows "on site" absolutely helpful.
Thank you, Gareth, we loved the experience!
Birgit

We did this tour last weekend and were lucky enough to be the only people on the tour. It was excellent, Gareth was very informative and made it very interesting we learned things about Edinburgh and history that were surprising. Would thoroughly recommend this tour