Overview

I contacted Sandeman's to ask about how accessible this free tour was, they were not great and I decided to not go. My kids and I do a lot of inaccessible things and I pay the price later...but we changed our mind and ended up going. The meeting point is currently outside the Frankie and Benny's on the Royal Mile due to the festival but will move back to it's normal spot outside City Chambers once the festival is over. The tour splits into at least 3 groups before moving. English, Spanish and German, but when we went there were 2 groups in English at the same time. Our guide was James, and he really made a huge effort to make the tour work, with no prior warning that there was going to be a wheelchair user taking part...he actually rerouted 2 parts of the tour as we travelled, not to miss anything but to access things in such a way as to avoid stairs, that's great service in my book! So we started on the Royal Mile and travelled up into the area beside St Giles, we wandered to one of the closes, which are narrow but had no steps, so I was still included. We travelled down Victoria St passed the Harry Potter shop and along the Grassmarket. At each point I was able to locate drop kerbs and he stopped to make sure we weren't left behind. The tour lasts around 2h20m and approx half way you get to stop at a community cafe for a drink and a 'pit stop'. The toilets were fully accessible and large enough to move which I've had a few issues with at various venues this festival. When we went from Grassmarket up into Greyfriars Kirkyard I was anxious abou the flight of steps but James walked past them and in through the gate, the ground was a little uneven but manageable. That as I say is really awesome as a tour guide and we did not ask him to do this. When we then headed to the National Museum on Chamber Street he climbed up a couple of steps, he asked if I minded, and the other members of the group made sure they stood further over so I could see. Again, noone asked for this and since common sense is not supplied during the festival I appreciated the fact people considered this. This is a free tour and it's over 2 hours, which is quite unusual, factually I couldn't fault him and the fact they split by language so you can listen in whichever language you prefer helps. I hadn't been able to book online, and they really don't know what's going on with their facebook page, but so long as you're at the meeting point at Frankie and Benny's around 15 mins before the tour starts it's fine. They run other tours, one to the castle, one which is more graphic and one which tours pubs and ends in a nightclub but this tour gives you a taste of everything and lets you find your bearings. He pointed out places we may want to explore on our own and told the times the castle etc closed too. We all really enjoyed the tour, even as locals and my kids are 15 and 13 and they enjoyed it too.

Transport & Parking

the whole of the royal mile is closed for the festival so there's limited access. The anti-terror measures are more than large enough for a standard manual chair but I really don't know about powerchairs etc although my friend was in the Grassmarket today in a powerchair...parking is also limited during the festival and I'd recommend Chamber Street or beside Central Mosque

Access

The access was supposed to be poor but our guide did a really good job at adapting the tour to make it accessible which was awesome.

Toilets

The loo at the community cafe was larger than I expected and perfectly clean, someone had been there with a cord tag (which i had to untie). The floor was dry and my only concern was the queue for coffee obstructs movement to the loo so I had to ask people to move out of my way!

Staff

James was fast thinking and paid attention to make sure the whole tour was accessible, even though when I made contact I was warned this was not the case. He asked if we were managing and if he saw we were a little slower he made sure to wait before starting to speak about the next topic.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Festival Edinburgh is BUSY, you do need to be assertive as a chair user...or you'll never move. I'd be happy to self propel this without assistance but it's really down to personal choice. Having someone with you means less chance of tourists failing to spot you or walking over you.