VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION – All group tours depart from Bus Stand ZE, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3BQ (opposite Howie’s Restaurant).
Tour 3 - Rosslyn Chapel, the Borders & Hadrian's Wall bus tour from Edinburgh
Times
Please check in with your driver guide at Bus Stand ZE, Waterloo Place 15 minutes before departure
Departure
08:45Return
19:15Duration
10 hours 30 minutesPrices & Booking Terms
Included
- Free cancellation/rebooking up to 24 hours before departure
- Luggage allowance of up to 15 kg (33 lbs)
- Transport in a luxury Mercedes Wee Red Bus
- Fully guided services of a Heart of Scotland tour leader
Not Included
- Entry fees to attractions
- Meals and refreshments
Tour Highlights
- Average group size of around 12
- Rosslyn Chapel
- Scotland / England border viewpoint
- Melrose Abbey and town
- Hadrian's Wall
- Housesteads Roman Fort
- Walk along Hadrian's Wall
- Jedburgh Abbey
- The beautiful Scottish Borders
- Northumberland National Park
Dates
2024 Season
2025 Season
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
According to TripAdvisor travelers as of October 2024
Itinerary
The tour travels to the amazing and mysterious 15th century Rosslyn Chapel, across the historic Scotland / England border and south to Hadrian’s Wall, a World Heritage Site celebrating the power – and northern limit – of the Roman Empire.
Rosslyn Chapel has always been mysterious and Scotland’s best-kept secret achieved worldwide fame after publication of ‘The Da Vinci Code’.
An architectural gem, its superb stone carvings are still not fully understood. Many visitors leave with their own theory but all are amazed. The short walk through the glen to ancient Roslin Castle is also fascinating.
'The origin and meaning of Rosslyn Chapel’s mysterious stone carvings have long been the subject of much debate'
Given the Da Vinci Code’s subject matter, it’s no surprise that the beautiful and highly ornate 15th-century chapel features in it. It has long been the subject of much theorising and conjecture about its origins and the meanings of its famous stone carvings.
Many of these are amongst the best of their kind in Europe, with many depicting symbols relating to Old Testament texts and characters, the mysterious medieval order of the Knights Templar and to Freemasonry. Incredibly, some carvings even seem to show American plants such as maize and aloe vera, carved fifty years before Columbus’s voyages, while others have thus far defied interpretation.
We travel south to charming Melrose for lunch. Melrose Abbey is believed to be the final resting place of King Robert the Bruce’s heart. Scotland’s great writer Sir Walter Scott (whose monument dominates Princes Street in Edinburgh) lived nearby and loved this beautiful area. One of the highlights of this tour is crossing the ancient Scotland/England border at Carter Bar in the Cheviot Hills.
'Hadrian's Wall is the best-known frontier in the Roman Empire'
We follow in the footsteps of feuding clans and families, known as Border Reivers, who fought a series of violent raids across the border hills until the end of the 16th century. Today it represents the political border between two historic and proud nations.
Hadrian’s Wall is one of the most important monuments built by the Romans and is a stunning example of their engineering skills. It cuts Britain in half just south of the Scottish border. It is the best-known frontier in the Roman Empire and stands as a reminder of one of the world’s greatest civilizations. Built almost 2000 years ago to contain the fierce Picts in Caledonia it stretches for 73 miles and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.
We travel to Housesteads Fort (National Trust) in Northumberland National Park, the best preserved Roman fort along Hadrian’s Wall. Here you can enjoy a free nature walk along one of the most dramatic and photographed stretches of the wall.
On our return to Edinburgh we stop in the Border market town of Jedburgh to stretch our legs and for photos of the famous abbey.