ABOUT US
Edinburgh's only public architectural walking tour
For urban explorers, students, and professionals
Tours in multiple languages
English | Russian | Lithuanian
Architecturally educated guides
Three walking itineraries in Edinburgh
Custom tours on request
Multi-day architectural itineraries on request
Cobble Tales runs walking tours that allow visitors to learn Edinburgh’s history through its buildings.
Our story
We believe that a city visit gains a lot more meaning when the traveller knows how the city was constructed and the motivations behind it. This knowledge should be available to everyone, not just specialised group tours.
This is why we lead public tours that allow everyone to discover Edinburgh through architecture!
Our Tour
Edinburgh is a very well preserved city, so our guides are able to reveal lifestyles and values of different periods just by pointing out particular town layouts, patterns, proportions of the buildings, materials and tools used, building details, and trade insignia.
Our Guides
The walks are led by architects and architecture students, who shed light on the building of Old Town, New Town, and Dean Village. We offer daily scheduled public tours for independent travellers, as well as private specialist group tours.
The Team
Our team consists of architects and architecture students, and judging by the reviews – everyone loves to tour with an insider!
Founder | Author | Guide
The founder of Cobble Tales, personally writes and designs all Edinburgh tour itineraries at Cobble Tales.
Olga tutors at Edinburgh University, as well as at her Alma Mater, Newcastle University.
Olga enjoys researching, and making sense of cities. Expect to find her in the library or staring at buildings questioningly. Loves to go off on architectural tangents so every tour is different!
Olga guides tours in English, Russian and Lithuanian.
Guide
Agustina is an Argentinian architect who is studying her second Masters degree in Architectural Conservation at the University of Edinburgh.
Agustina’s passion for preservation and restoration of the built heritage informs her tours and promotes the consciousness of taking care of buildings.
Agustina guides tours in English, Spanish and Italian.
Guide
Mohona is an architect from Bangladesh. She completed her Masters degree in Architectural History and Theory, and continues her academical research by commencing PhD in Architecture, both from the University of Edinburgh
Her current research and publishing focuses on the ‘Nationalism, Tropical Regionalism and the Modern Architectural Inception in Bangladesh, 1971-47’.
Mohona guides tours in English, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali.
Guide
Marie is a Masters student in Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. Having grown up in Paris and lived in Bath for her undergraduate studies, Marie enjoys complex cities with a rich historic architecture fabric, hence she has moved to Edinburgh. She is particularly intersted in the way old and contemporary architecture meet.
Marie is currently focusing on her 2 year Masters thesis project that explores co-living and co-working environments.
Marie guides tours in English and French.
Chinese marketing manager | Guide
Born in China, Wayne is now a firm Edinburgh local with 8 years of passion to discover Edinburgh’s story and history.
Wayne studied architecture in the University of Edinburgh and also worked in architecture firms after graduation.
He has keen eye for a good frame, and devotes a good part of his time to photography.
Wayne guides tours in Mandarin.
Guide
Nick is born and raised in Belgium and made a huge contribution to the Cobble Tales team with a great passion for history and architecture.
After finishing his architecture studies in Antwerp and Oxford, Nick moved to Edinburgh to continue research at the University of Edinburgh where he focuses on Scottish architecture in retrospect of 16th and 17th century Europe, particularly on the dissemination and interpretation of continental architecture and applied architectural mathematics.
Nick now lectures in Edinburgh University School of architecture and speaks at international conferences.
Guide
Cameron delighted our guests on Old Town tours, zipping up and down the Royal Mile with his energetic, bombastic delivery.
After finishing his architecture studies in Edinburgh, Cameron worked in practice and ran a participative design studio.
Cameron’s fascination with Patrick Geddes’s work in Edinburgh lead him to a research project in Mumbai.
He now studies his architecture Masters at Central Saint Martins in London.
Alumni
Capable architecture guides are like gold dust. We are honoured to have worked with them and congratulate them on their new projects.
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Frequently asked questions
Note that tours can and do go ahead in wet/snowy weather. However, sometimes the weather in Edinburgh can turn beyond reasonable conditions. Good news is, that usually does not last. The guide will seek to find a suitable reschedule for your party if necessary.
Cancellation of an architecture tour is accepted with at least 48 hours notice. For details please refer to our Terms and Conditions.
We will endeavour to accommodate a rescheduled walking tour for you with up to 2 days notice, but cancellation of the rescheduled date will not be liable to a refund. Slots may be subject to availability in busy times of the year.
Absolutely, if you are curious about cities and culture, an architecture tour will reveal lots of insights about Edinburgh.
Our guides lead tours in English, Mandarin, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, Hindi, Bengali and Urdu. For any guided tours that are not in English, please contact us.
Subject to guide’s availability.
We recommend 15 years as an average minimum age for good appreciation of the architectural and cultural context.
Yes, select any empty availability on the calendar and choose 1, at “Private Tour”. If you would like to start outside the advertised schedule, please contact us by email.
If you have booked a private tour, we can pick you up from any central Edinburgh hotel. Public tours start from central meeting points.
If you would like to take a guided tour with your children, please book a private tour so the guide can tailor the language and the programme to your family. Babies in buggies are accepted for free.
Yes, well behaved dogs are accepted on the guided tours, except Dean Village where we pass through a cemetery. Note that the Old Town can be particularly busy during summer.
We do not plan any facility stops, but alert your guide if you require one during the tour. Dean Village tours have no facilities available along the route – toilets are available just at the start and the end of the guided tour.
On most guided tours of Edinburgh, we climb from 20 to 100 steps. Our flattest architecture tour is in the New Town.
In the Media
Our Edinburgh Tours at the Festivals
We enjoy participating in local festivals and contribute to their programmes with our Edinburgh architecture tours. Previous festivals include Festival of Architecture, Architecture Fringe and Doors Open Days, as well as Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival.
