The Scottish Parliament: - Visiting Holyrood

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Free Guided Tours

A guided tour in the Garden Lobby of the Scottish Parliament

We provide free tours with a Scottish Parliament tour guide.

The one hour tour takes you from the Main Hall to the Garden Lobby then the floor of the Chamber to see where the MSPs meet to debate.

You will also visit a Committee Room and explore further into the building, to allow views of the MSPs office block and historic Queensberry House.

Please note that this is a walking tour. There is lift access and we offer a wheelchair loan service as well as portable seating. Find out more about assistance with visiting Parliament.

For an idea of what you will see on the tour route, try our online photo tour:

Join us on a tour of the architecture, paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations that form the Parliament's Art Collection.

It is essential to book a guided tour as demand is very high and tours can become full.
You can book a tour by contacting visitor services.

You can normally book a tour 4-6 months in advance. You can check the booking periods for details.
Choose which day and time you would like to go on a tour. Each tour has a maximum capacity of 20, so if your party size is greater the group can be split.

Day of the week	Times of Tours (all times are subject to availability)
Mondays and Fridays and Tuesday to Thursday in recess	April to September: 10:20, 10:40, 11:40, 12:00, 14:00, 14:20, 15:20, 15:40
Mondays and Fridays and Tuesday to Thursday in recess	October to March: 10:20, 10:40, 11:40, 12:00, 14:00, 14:20
Tuesday to Thursday	No public tours when Parliament is working, but you can watch Parliament in action
Saturdays and public holidays	11:20, 11:40, 13:00, 13:20, 14:20, 14:40, 15:40, 16:00
Sundays	Building is closed to public
Tours are not available on these dates due to the Parliament's major events programme: 17th September; 2nd, 8th, 9th, 29th and 30th October; 6, 12, 26, 27, 29 November As we are a working Parliament the tour schedule can be altered, sometimes at short notice

Would you like to reserve one of our audio units? Our tours are in English, but visitors can use one of our audio units that provide a tour summary in Arabic, Bengali, BSL, Cantonese/Mandarin, French, Gaelic, German, Italian, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Urdu.