Edinburgh Cab Tours

20/06/2024

There are worse ways to spend a short while on the Royal Mile while your guests visit St Giles Cathedral.

This guy is seriously good!

16/06/2024

Two days completed with Laura and Bob from Chicago who were on the last leg of a 16-day tour of the UK before heading home.

Day One saw us heading out on a wet-ish day to Stirling Castle, Doune Castle, the Wallace Monument and the Kelpies. Despite the drizzle it didn’t prevent Laura and Bob from having a great day.

Day Two started off better with clear, dry weather. We headed out to the Queensferry Crossing but not before stopping at the Dean Village for a walk round. Once that was done, we headed to Dunkeld, followed by the Queen’s View and then on to Blair Castle for the main stop of the day. They were truly blown away by the Castle.

After a short stop in Pitlochry for a coffee we made it back to Edinburgh a half hour later than planned due to a car that had flipped over on the carriageway.

Great couple of days.

09/06/2024

Over the last six or seven years I have been fortunate enough to get to know a number of St Andrews University students. Parents like to make sure that their youngsters get to and from the airport at the beginning and end of term. So they have continued to book with me over the years.

Lee Lee is the latest of my students to finally complete her studies and graduates this week. Today I picked up her Mum, Grandmother, and sisters and took them to Elie on the Fife coast for the start of a week of fun and celebrations.

Wishing Lee Lee all the best for the future.

06/06/2024

This week I have been lucky enough to have two tours with two separate groups of returning customers from ten years ago. It has been like meeting up with old friends.

My good looking group today were Sue and her sister Barb, along with her daughters Rowan and Bronwen who was also with her boyfriend Will. They have travelled from Nova Scotia to spend time in Edinburgh and for the Taylor Swift concert. But today was spent in Edinburgh and at Rosslyn Chapel. There were even some other Taylor Swift fans (from the US) at the Chapel and around the town.

It was a lot of fun to catch up with them all and to show them places that they hadn't been able to visit the last time round.

04/06/2024

Today was the perfect day for a tour of St Andrews AND Edinburgh. Marena booked this way back in January for her and Daniel.

One of the main reasons that they chose to come to Edinburgh this week is because Marena is a big Taylor Swift fan and it just so happens that the latter is performing over three nights this weekend.

So, because Daniel is a golfer Marena wanted to make sure that he got to visit the Old Course in return for them going to the Taylor Swift gig.

Winners all round I think!

30/05/2024

A nice little review from my Aussie group from a couple of days ago.

28/05/2024

Out today for a wee tour around Edinburgh with Stuart and his buddies who all hail from Perth, Australia.

We managed to almost complete the tour before the heavens opened….as if on cue. But I managed to “persuade” them to have a wee nip despite a few drinks the night before.

Hair of the dog on Calton Hill.

23/05/2024

Great day out yesterday with Jennifer and Les who hail from Boston.

The tour definitely had a theme for Jennifer. As the great-great-great grandaughter of Gilbert Burns she wanted to visit where he lived and worked.

For most of us the name Gilbert Burns is probably not that familiar. But he was the younger brother of Robert Burns, arguably Scotlands’s most famous poet. The family were originally born and brought up in Ayrshire on the west coast.

Gilbert and his wife, children and his mother eventually moved to the east coast where he eventually took up the post of factor of Lennoxlove House (formerly Lethington Castle). Lennoxlove is now the family home of the 16th Duke of Douglas-Hamilton.

We were fortunate enough to spend time with the Reverend (retired) Leslie Morrison at Bolton Parish Church where the entire family were buried and where Gilbert was an elder in the Church.

We also visited the monuments near to where the family lived and then took a guided tour of Lennoxlove House.

An outstanding day and we all learned so much.

18/05/2024

Great day out with these lovely ladies who had arrived from Canada the day before. They have known each other for well over twenty years and this was their annual trip together. Only one had been to Scotland before.

To satisfy the interests of everyone, we did a half day tour of Edinburgh and then for the golfers amongst the group we headed to St Andrews. After a great lunch we took them on a walking tour of the Cathedral grounds, the University grounds and then we walked the 17th and 18th holes before a bit of shopping at both the Links Clubhouse and the Old Course shop.

What a fantastic day with superb weather.

16/05/2024

Nice feedback from Candy and her group from earlier in the week:

Candy H wrote:

Thank you so much! We all had a wonderful time and you are a fantastic tour guide!

We will definitely recommend you to anyone we know who is coming to Edinburgh. What a wonderful city!

Candy and group.

15/05/2024

If you're a fan of hairy coos (and who isn't?), let us know and if we have the time then we will try to build them into your tour. We can't always guarantee that they will be as available as they were in these photographs.

11/05/2024

Fantastic couple of days with Joyce and Diane. The request was for a day tour of Edinburgh and then on the second day a tour that would explore some of our beautiful countryside.

So, yesterday was the turn for a visit into the Trossachs National Park, then on to the southern Highlands with stops at Kilmahog (Hairy Coos), Loch Lubnaig, Falls of Dochart at Killin, Ian Burnett (Highland Chocolatier), and a final stop at Dunkeld.

Before doing all of that we squeezed in a quick visit out to Rosslyn Chapel.

Anyone with a sweet tooth MUST visit the Highland Chocolatier.

09/05/2024

Super-enthusiastic Claudette & Tom from Florida enjoyed their day tour of Edinburgh. Tomorrow they begin a cruise of the Hebridean islands, so they wanted to squeeze in as much of Edinburgh as possible.

08/05/2024

As we now move into the busy, crazy, full-on part of our tour season, it’s nice to come home from a tour to find a couple of new reviews in for recent tours.

However, now and again a review comes in which makes me realise why I enjoy being a tour guide and that planning and preparing for each individual tour can be the difference between a good tour and a great tour…..and of course having great guests who are enthusiastic and inquisitive makes for a great day.

Here is the latest from Eugene and Carrie who I took on a customised tour.

07/05/2024

The forecast for yesterday was rain......but incredibly the rain gods behaved themselves and we didn't get rained on once.

Linda & Bert, and Shannon & Chuck wanted to visit the Stirling area before being dropped off at St Andrews. First stop was the Kelpies which are always a winner and with a perfectly still day we were able to get some fantastic mirror images in the water.

Then we headed to Stirling Castle which is a great castle to visit, as you don't tend to get the same volume of visitors as Edinburgh Castle.....so, it feels more relaxed and enjoyable. Before lunch we headed down to Stirling Bridge, the site of William Wallace's greatest victory against the English army in 1297.

After a stop for lunch, we headed over to the Wallace Monument for a few photos before taking a leisurely drive over to St Andrews.

26/04/2024

Day off today but here are a few pics of yesterday's tour. My guests had originally planned to do some Outlander locations but then changed their request to include rural/countryside locations, a couple of historic locations, perhaps a castle or old church, a beach/coastal route, quaint village/town, an Outlander location and somewhere nice for lunch.

Rosslyn Chapel - nearly 600 years old - ✅
Coastal route - Aberlady, Gullane - ✅
Dirleton Castle - 13th century castle - ✅
North Berwick - quaint Victorian holiday resort -✅
North Berwick beach - ✅
Somewhere nice for lunch - great seafood - ✅
Tantallon Castle - 14th century castle - ✅
Preston Mill - Outlander location & 17th century mill - ✅

This was a great day out. Sadly, it is an area that many people miss out on. But that was fine for us because we had Rosslyn Chapel, Dirleton Castle, and Preston Mill all to ourselves. We had a great seafood lunch at the Rocketeer in North Berwick which I can highly recommend.

Enjoy the pictures of our day.

25/04/2024

Edinburgh was looking splendid yesterday for my little cruise ship group……could this be the start of some drier, warmer weather?

24/04/2024

First cruise ship pickup of the year from Rosyth Terminal……and it’s a beautiful day.

23/04/2024

What a great day yesterday with my little group who were on the first leg of their 19-day tour of Europe. They had flown in from New York early in the morning, checked their bags in at the hotel, toured the Castle and then spent the rest of the day with me.

Not only were they in fine spirits and full of energy but the sun also came out to play. Great group, great day, great weather.

22/04/2024

A later start today but just waiting for my group to come out to play.

13/04/2024

As promised a short time lapse video of the Falkirk Wheel in operation.

13/04/2024

Just want to say a big thank you to Beau and Adam for the fantastic review that they left on Tripadvisor and some of their photos that they took on the tour.

12/04/2024

A great day out yesterday with my group. As engineers they wanted to experience the Falkirk Wheel in action. It is a unique transportation system for canal boats which dispenses with having to negotiate through nine locks - I’ll post a time lapse of it in operation later.

From there we went to nearby Callander House. This is a superb property, with the original part being built in the 14th century, and then being further extended in the 19th century to the renaissance-styled stately home that we see today. For the Outlander fans amongst you, the kitchen was used in the dramatic scene where Murtagh murders the Duke of Sandringham.

As we were in the area, it would have been churlish not to pay a visit to the stunningly impressive Kelpies. The first word that one of my group came out with was “Wow!” They definitely have the Wow-factor.

10/04/2024

ESSENTIAL OUTLANDER TOUR

Yesterday I took Stacey & Stuart, and Stacey's mum Shirley on our Essential Outlander Tour. Stacey and Shirley are big fans of the TV series and were well up on the storyline and had their own predictions on how they think the final series will end when it eventually appears on our screens. The final book hasn't been written and doesn't have a projected publication date, so there are lots of theories amongst Outlander fans.

Although Stuart has watched a number of episodes of the TV show, he was along for the ride and for the chat and banter. It made for a real fun day with lots of chat, both Outlander and non-Outlander themed. They must have enjoyed it, as Stuart kindly posted a great review on my Google business page for which I would like to thank him.

I hope to see them again in the future. Here is Stuart's review:

"What can be said about Andy that hasn't already been said? He's nearly as interesting as a person as the tour itself. Just a fun guy to talk with and I wish we could have met after work for a drink.

We hired Andy to take us around for an Outlander specific tour. He showed up in a very comfortable van, appropriate music and images from the show specific to the locations we were seeing.

The best complement I can give is that Andy does this because he wants to and not because he has to."

04/04/2024

At last! A dry tour day today…..we even had some blue sky. The crowds have eased of slightly after the busy Easter weekend visitors, so a little easier for getting around the Old Town.

Here are a few pics from this morning. In addition to the usual spots my visitors wanted to try a real tradiotional pub used by the locals….so we went to Kay’s Bar in the New Town.

02/04/2024

Today I would have taken more photos but they would have consisted mainly of mist. Misty and drizzly!!! But here is my happy little group for the day.

But my intrepid little group from New Jersey didn't let the weather stop them from having a great time. They were a lot of fun......and I am sure they were going to be even more fun after their visit to the Scotch Whisky Experience this afternoon.

31/03/2024

Hope everyone has had a great Easter weekend. After a week of off-and-on rain the sun has finally put in an appearance.

Monika and Sabine from Bavaria had been to Edinburgh before. But by the end of the tour they agreed they had learnt so much that they weren’t aware of on their previous visit.

Such great day with two wonderful ladies.

28/03/2024

Another tour, another dreich (wet & rainy) day, but more importantly another happy little group all the way from California.

Marci and her family are in Edinburgh for a few days and wanted to make sure that they got off on the right foot by taking our Edinburgh Cab Tours Highlights of Edinburgh Tour.

Even when it rains, we still do our best to make the tour one to remember.

27/03/2024

Despite having travelled overnight from New York, stepping off the flight only two hours earlier and despite a mixed bag of weather today, had a great time with Katie and Tommy showing them around Edinburgh.

They made the most of it as they leave early tomorrow for Glasgow where Tommy will be competing in the World Irish Dance Championships. Wishing him all the best for the competition.

22/03/2024