Edinburgh Book Lovers' Tour

The book tour, led by Allan Foster, was lovely. It was intelligent, witty and sharp. Allan is very humorous - and he thinks he's funny, which adds to it. It's not a huge tour (there were seven of us, guide included), which means you didn't get lost in the crowd - he'll include you, talk to you, ask questions, and so forth. It was interesting enough for someone who maybe didn't know a lot about the authors in question, but it was also good for someone who is well-read and knows these people. He takes you off the beaten path and doesn't just show you tourist things. It's not a star-hunting tour, either. He takes you to significant places in the history or background of the authors (pubs, medical college, etc.), and he talks about the authors like he knows them all. He has a great sense of timing and tells lots of stories, and he's a very colorful person. He seems more like a clever, funny writer who loves his city than he does like a tour guide, which makes him a great tour guide. I'm sure he gives the same tour each time, but he doesn't sound tired of it, and actually, even having done it, I'd still do it again. I spent the whole time alternately laughing and wishing I had a notebook.

Went on this tour on New Year's Day in the rain--and it was totally worth it! Allan is a wonderful tour guide and very funny. There were only three of us on the tour which gave it a personally touch. It also allowed us to see parts of Edinburgh we would not have normally seen and hear about the history of not just Edinburgh's literary figures, but the city itself. Would highly recommend this tour.

While looking for the Edinburgh Writers' Museum one day, we came across a modest sign in the shadow of a close advertising the Book Lover's Tour and decided to take a chance. After all, I'm a voracious reader, and my wife enjoys a good read now and then, and we both like to get to know new cities by walking their streets, and with a local guide who knows the history and culture, you can't go wrong.
And we certainly made the right choice going with Allan Foster his Book Lover's Tour!
Writer and sometimes guide Allan comes off as slightly crusty to begin with, and with his level, penetrating stare, you can imagine him cloistered in a darkening cottage in the Lothians on a windy night with a glass of whisky in the red glow of a dying fire going at the keys of a typewriter with something between an adversarial attack and a loving caress. But he's a good guy with a quick wit and a bottomless well of knowledge about the city's history and culture in general, and the facts, secrets, and gossip of its literary legends in particular. In fact, he's the guy who literally wrote the book on where to go to learn about Scotland's literary history.
Allan's first order of business is to get you off of the Royal Mile and into the city's other neighbourhoods, where every other building that's been repurposed and rebuilt over the centuries seems to have a connection to one or more writers like Scott, Stevenson, or Conan-Doyle. He'll tell you why they went to this pub or that school, what effect it had on their storytelling, and how it's changed over the years. Allan takes an interest in which Scottish writers his charges have read, and comes up with information specific to your area of interest.
If that wasn't enough, he's also a good source for recommendations for good places to eat.
If you love books and you're in Edinburgh, be sure to look up Allan Foster's Book Lover's Tour, it's definitely worth while.

Went as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The tour opted out of reviews and I can see why.

The tour guide was genuinely terrible. He barely spoke above a mumble and when someone at the back rightfully asked him to speak louder, he refused and was quite rude about it. Considering this was during the Fringe, the city was packed and very noisy. He was difficult to make out even if you were right beside him. This would be fine if he just invested in a speaker or earphones that many tours would utilise. The guide would often ramble about something not connected to the tour at all which was just frustrating.

The tour itself wasn't great either. Our first stop was 15 minutes away from the meeting point so begs the question why we didn't just meet there. The sights were loosely connected to the featured writers with admittedly the occasional interesting anecdote.

This tour may have been good in the past based on the previous reviews. But has taken a nosedive in the years since. If this was a free walking tour I could understand but I felt cheated out of £20.

Please save your time and money and just visit the Writers Museum for free.

Ever met an old man in the pub that talks low but thinks he is interesting. Yep, this is just that but with a walk included. He was hard to hear even when i was standing next to him. Someone said can you speak up and he said come closer.. what? Want me to sit in your arms? Very disappointing when the city holds so much promise. Invest in a bloody mic and control the size of the group. Definitely do not recommended.

To be honest, the reason why I gave three stars to this experience was that I had very high expectations on a book lover's tour in one of the most literary cities I have ever visited, but I'm afraid I was a little bit disappointed.

It was a very small tour (I think there were just five of us), which is a cool thing, but one of the first thing the guide did was to sarcastically comment on the fact that it was a small tour. It's ok, ghost tours attract more people, but what is wrong with a small group?

Also, the guide almost immediately realised that most of the people who joined the tour didn't know much of literature, and as a result his guiding us through the city was almost lifeless.

In addition to that, he was very hard to understand his mumbling. I was very sick that day, and as a result I had problems hearing what he was saying. I'm not sure whether he had a sore throat or what, however when I asked him to speak a little bit louder, he was not very happy with my request.

I was determined to make the most of the tour, so I tried to engage him and I asked some questions. I wanted to know, for instance, whether he recommended any nice independent bookshops, maybe old ones, but he just told us that Blackwell was the biggest one, what more did we need to know. Maybe it was a silly question, maybe I was trying too hard to frame Edinburgh as the city of my dreams, with old and dusty bookshops and amazing book lover's tour guides, I don't know.

Most of the things he was saying were very interesting, but his attitude was mood-killing.

At the end of the tour, he dismissed us saying "now you can all go and buy yourselves a bagpipe-shaped keyring".

Anyone can have a bad day, and trust me -- I was not having the best of times walking around with a cold in damp Edinburgh. But despite my cold I was very keen on learning about writers, and characters, and books, and bookshops in the City of Literature and I don't think that a small group of people (some of them not as "literary" as hoped) is an excuse for not even trying.

I don't think it's a good way to make literature accessible to all -- and not only to long-bearded hipsters living on the trees composing iambic tetrameters.

I'm sure Allan Foster is an exceptional writer and as far as I know he could be an amazing person as well. However, when the tour was over I was left with the sad feeling that what could have been an amazing experience simply wasn't.

This was a great tour with an interesting, informative & friendly guide. He told us facts, not just about authors, but about the history & politics of Edinburgh, although I would say it is more likely to be of interest if you are interested in the literary side of Edinburgh. I took my 8-year old daughter & he didn't charge for her & told her some stories aimed at her, mainly about Harry Potter & Peter Pan. However, most of it went over her head & his language was a little colourful at times! One tip is not to do what we did & wait around for 15 minutes, cursing the guide, only to realise the tour wasn't on that day. It's only on Wed-Sun, which it does say on the sign but quite low down so easily missed. Also he told us that the Sunday before, when it was raining, a car had deliberately accelerated through a puddle to splash his tour, so maybe best avoided on wet days!

We loved this tour. Allen is informed and passionate about the rich literary history of this city. He weaves tales of JM Barrie, Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stephenson, with Ian Rankin and J.K. Rowling. It’s fun, fascinating and worth every penny. He is not afraid to criticise the city for their apparent lack of commemorative plaques to those that made Edinburgh such a literary gem. To stroll around the city where both Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter came to life is a wonderful thing for any book lover.
My husband’s grandfather studied medicine in Edinburgh and Allen took the time to show him places associated with the medical college as well which was a nice touch.
Jean Grainger, author.

For lovers of literature, Allan Foster, offers one of the best walking tours I have done - and I have done many.
The places we visited were very pertinent and the sories Mr Foster told were both relevant, interesting, always entertaining.
The personal stories Mr Foster told about the people he discussed made them come alive.
If you are a reader, be sure to do this walking tour. Even if you hsve not heard of Scott, Stevenson etc. You will still gain much from this tour

Allan Foster was an extremely knowledgeable guide to a city he obviously knows well and loves. We got plenty on the more traditional names, like Conan Doyle and Stevenson, as well as contemporary writers like Rowling and Rankin ; however, looking at the photos on the flyers, I missed any references,even in brief passing, to Muriel Spark and Irvine Welsh, who are surely very relevant to Edinburgh's literary history? And Kate Atkinson, although not Edinburgh-born, has her Jackson Brodie bestsellers all set in the city---one of them is actually set during the Festival---and did not merit a mention. I am sure more people today are reading Welsh and Atkinson than RL Stevenson and Walter Scott, and I think this missing element of a witty and entertaining tour needs some upgrading.