The UK's spookiest cities for ghost tours

When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team.

With Halloween just days away millions of people around the world will be busy carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, watching scary movies and dressing up to go trick or treating. In the UK though, the spooky season can be taken up a notch with a ghost tour or a visit to somewhere with a dark history. 

What better way to "spend a creepy evening", said Julie Delahaye in The Mirror, than "wandering through haunted quarters and criminal underworld hotspots", while hearing about a city's "most gruesome tales"? Here we pick out some of the spookiest cities in the UK where you can go on a ghost tour this Halloween. 

Edinburgh

Scotland's capital is "notorious for its unsavoury past", said Angela Upex in the Daily Record, and has been called "the most haunted city in all of Europe". The ancient, narrow streets of the old town "provide the perfect setting" for tours, said Forever Edinburgh, and "favourite" locations include Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh Dungeon, and the Blair Street Underground Vaults. GetYourGuide has various ghost and vampire tours while Mercat Tours offers halloween and history tours, plus a new "Witches: Trial And Truth" walk. Other terrifying tour options in Edinburgh include Auld Reekie Tours's vaults and graveyard tour, City of Edinburgh Tours's underground ghost tour and City Explorers's free ghost tour. 

London

In a city this old, there's "more than enough" stories of "blood-curdling crime, murder most horrid and spooky spectres", said Samuel Hopkins on Secret London. Classics include the Jack the Ripper Tour with Richard Jones and "The Ghost of London Past" guided tour at Charles Dickens Museum. You can also take a cab journey into London's dark past with a Black Taxi ghost tour and other options include The Ghost Bus Tours, The Cloak & Dagger Tour, and The Original London Ghost Walk. 

York

North Yorkshire's historic walled city "is possibly the world's most haunted", suggested National Geographic. With about "140 ghosts" and more than "500 recorded hauntings", York certainly "won’t disappoint" scare-seekers. It really is a "must-visit" for fans of ghost tours, agreed Laura Wybrow on Radio Times, and for those who like to "walk on the spooky side of life". The Original Ghost Walk of York is believed to be the oldest ghost walk in the world while other attractions include the Witches Tour, The Bloody Tour of York, and Dark Chronicles of York. 

Glasgow

There is a "darker side" of Glasgow, said Haunted Rooms, which some visitors, and even natives of the city, "go their entire stay without ever hearing about". Scotland's biggest city is said to be a "hotspot for paranormal activity" and there are "multiple locations" where people have reported "encountering otherworldly entities". Although "roaming around a graveyard" is not everybody's first choice of recreational activity, said Carys Matthews on BBC Countryfile, the Glasgow Necropolis is "not to be missed". Spread over 37 acres of land, the interdenominational burial site is nicknamed "The City of the Dead". Another of the UK's most "spookiest experiences" is the Gothic Glasgow Walking Tour, said Andrew Smart on Glasgow Times. On this spooky evening walk visitors can "see the city with a different pair of eyes".

Chester

With history of "Roman gladiatorial bouts" and "Roundhead sieges", Chester has "major ghoulish potential", said Rob Crossan on Condé Nast Traveller. Known as the "home of the haunted", Ye Olde Kings Head hotel and pub has appeared on a number of "paranormal investigation" TV shows – and "with cause". An 18th-century sword discovered under the floorboards was apparently buried after a duel to "ward off evil spirits". This has "done nothing" to "quell the knocks and noises of women chattering" which "plague the pub at night after last orders". Visitors can also explore the eerie haunts of the city's mysterious and murky past with Chester Ghost Tours, while Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts and paranormal investigations at Stanley Place and Chester Town Hall. 

Sign up for The Week’s Travel newsletter for destination inspiration and the latest news and trends.