To mark its 40th anniversary, Mercat Tours has unveiled the UK’s first-ever multi-sensory walking tours, creating an unparalleled immersive experience of Edinburgh’s remarkable history.
Guests will be transported back in time through sight, sound, and scent with the local, independent family business. Master storytellers will live-curate soundscapes via TourTalk headsets, and the experience will feature across both the historic Old Town walks and Underground Vaults tours. No two tours will be alike, offering a tailored journey every time as technology blends seamlessly with tradition.
For guests who choose to descend into Edinburgh’s Blair Street Underground Vaults, a bespoke scent will evoke the past of Edinburgh’s Old Town. This distinctive fragrance creates a mix of scents such as candlewax, leather, and woodsmoke with the natural aromas of the city’s forgotten underground streets and workshops.
Kat Brogan, Managing Director of Mercat Tours, said, “Mercat Tours was founded 40 years ago on the belief that ‘history is a damn good story, what it needs is a damn good telling’, and these new, truly immersive tours take that ambition to the next level. By crafting the experience live, our expert storytellers now have even greater power to stimulate the senses creating a deep, emotional connection to the city’s history. The result is a more real, personal and enduring memory formed than ever before.
“Our new storytelling experiences are an exciting UK-first for walking tours and is the latest example of how high and far we reach to offer a premium experience. Fundamentally Mercat Tours is and always will be about making connections between people and the past through the ancient human craft of storytelling. Here technology acts in the service of tradition for an entirely unique experience where stories, sounds and scents will conjure memories forever. From becoming the UK’s first visitor attraction to achieve B Corp status last year to now pioneering this new multi-sensory storytelling approach, at Mercat Tours, we never stand still.”
Storyteller Tania Dron, co-creator on the new immersion project, said “I’ve loved researching and creating sounds and music to weave through our tours. I can’t wait for our visitors to experience the heartbeat of our beloved city as we flow from stories to sounds through the sites. As the master of the experience, we Storytellers will now be conductor and artist too which is a real privilege. This isn’t just storytelling, this is time travel for the imagination.”
Mercat Tours offer a wide range of small group tours, lasting from approximately one to just over two hours and caters to diverse visitor itineraries, interests, and accessibility requirements. With multiple daily departures, tours feature tailored experiences including tactile elements and enhanced audio descriptions to accommodate neurodivergent visitors and those with visual impairments.
The new immersive experiences are now available on Mercat’s History Walks and Ghost Tours. Adult ticket prices starting from £25, with child and concession rates available. For more information and to book a tour visit www.mercattours.com
