Our Two-Day Itinerary in Edinburgh (Part 2) | Scotch Whiskey Tour and Edinburgh Dungeon

After our visit to the castle, we went ahead and walked to a place that offers Scotch Whiskey Experience. It is literally located outside the gates of Edinburgh Castle. Once again, we bought our ticket on that day only. We were lucky because they still have few slots left for the last tour that day which was around 5:20pm. They offer various tours, but we opted for the basic or they call it silver tour, which will let you see and try the following:

The tour will start by riding a whiskey barrel. It will travel you through the history and the process of producing Scotch whiskey. This ride is complete with narration, sounds and lighting effects.

After the ride, we went into a room that displays the stages of grain in the production of scotch whiskey. You can touch and smell the grains on display.

Then we were escorted by our tour guide to another room. He played a short video showing the different places where Scotch whiskeys are made, and how they are different from each other. They gave us a card, that you need to touch or rub in order to smell the aromas of each type of whiskey. From there, you can choose which kind you wanted to taste by placing your glass on the colored circle. Since we were on a silver tour, we only get to taste one, and I chose Speyside because it smells sweet. As for the others with a Gold tour, they can taste all the flavors.

Once all glasses of the guests were filled up, we proceeded to another room, to view the World’s Largest collection of Scotch Whiskey. This was the time that we tasted the whiskey. Despite the sweet smell of Speyside, it is still so whiskey, meaning bitter and strong. They surprised us by giving to us as a gift the glasses that we used during the tasting session. The tour ended there. They have a restaurant and shop where you can dine, buy whiskeys of course and other items as souvenir.

Credits to the Scotch Whiskey Experience website. This is their nearly 4,000 bottles of Scotch Whiskey.

I learned some stuff and had a great time during this experience, even though I’m not really into heavy liquors. But I would not recommend it, unless you are a fan of liquors, a drinker or just wanted to try different types of it. If you want to visit this because you want to learn how whiskeys are produced, then I would advise you to just go to distilleries around Scotland, where they will properly show you in actual how it is made.

Then we’re off to our next activity which was a visit to the Edinburgh Dungeon. The place was  a few minutes walk from the Scotch Whiskey Experience. There are also other Dungeons like this in London and in other cities, but we chose to do it here because according to some reviews, the one in Edinburgh offers the best experience.

 

The trip inside the Edinburgh Dungeon takes 80 minutes. You will be in a group and there are full cast of actors that will guide and lead you from one show to another. Each show have different themes based on the real history and legends of Scotland, and each sets are decorated with state of the art designs and special effects. All the performers were really good and convincing. Aside from the shows, there were also 2 exciting rides that you will get to experience once inside. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but if you decided to do this tour, you must be ready and attentive in every show. It was a fun, scary and awesome activity. I would recommend this one if you have at least 2 days to spend in the city, but if not, you may skip it and opt for other must see attractions in Edinburgh. By the way, it’s not allowed to take photos inside, but they do take pictures upon your entrance and exit which you will have to buy of course.

Before we head back to our accommodation, we had a quick dinner at Mc Donald’s because we were very tired and don’t want to search for other places to eat. We also stopped by a Tesco store to buy some food for breakfast the following day.

That concluded our first day in Edinburgh. It was a tiring but fun filled day.

What you Need to Know:

1.  The Scotch Whiskey Experience have limited slots per tour, so it is advisable to buy your tickets online, though you can also buy it on the day, provided they still have available.
2. There are various Scotch Whiskey tour experiences to choose from. The cheapest is the Silver tour, amounting to 15 Pounds. Click here to know more about the others.
3. The narration in the Whiskey Barrel Ride is available in other languages such as Chinese, German, Italian, French and others.
4. It is advisable to book your Edinburgh Dungeon tickets in advance online, as it is cheaper compared buying on the day. Plus you can choose the timing that best suits your schedule. They also have limited slots per tour.
5. Opening times for these 2 attractions depends on the season. So be sure to check their websites.
6. There are various ticket combos for the Edinburgh Dungeon. But the cheapest is 13 pounds. You may check their website on this link.
7. If your hotel does not offer breakfast, you can buy a combo meal at Tesco, which already have one big sandwich, small bag of chips and drinks for only 3 pounds.
8. We always walk or use the bus when going around Edinburgh. For the bus, you can buy a whole day ticket from the driver. Just keep in mind to give exact amount, as they don’t give change.