A Guide to Edinburgh's Fringe Festival
With hundreds of venues across the city hosting thousands of performances and events, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the largest arts festival in the world and promotes inclusivity through the celebration of the arts. Taking place throughout the month of August, this year from 4- 28th of August (2023), the festival takes over the city centre, largely giving Edinburgh it’s stellar reputation as the World’s Festival City.
The festival season here in August is particularly well suited for the traveller who enjoys the arts, music and cultural sector (and doesn't mind crowds), this guide will help you to make the most of your time at Fringe, including how to get to Edinburgh, where to stay, and recommendations for planning which shows to see.
The Royal Mile, one of Edinburgh’s most celebrated attractions and a UNESCO World Heritage site, hosts live buskers and events throughout the entire festival.
What’s in this post
Getting to Edinburgh
Where to Stay
How to ‘Plan Your Fringe’
Fringe on a Budget
Our Favourites
The festival sees a boost in local economy, and is no doubt fantastic for artists all over the world, but it also sees the population of the city triple for the month, which is no small feat for Edinburgh’s services and amenities. Leave spaces better than when you found them (especially to help combat the influx of rubbish that can inevitably come from a festival) and be kind to service staff and local businesses who are trying to keep up with the heightened demand.
“The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society was founded by artists to nurture and uphold the Fringe’s values of inclusivity, experimentation and imagination. The founding principle at the heart of the Fringe is to be an open access festival that accommodates anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them.”
Read more about the Festival’s founding society and the work they do here.
Getting to Edinburgh
The south side of Edinburgh Castle from Grassmarket
Edinburgh International is 7 miles from the city centre, and it’s extremely accessible to get into town from the airport via tram, bus, train or taxi, the former two being the most cost-effective. To see all of the ways to get to/ from Edinburgh Airport visit their site here.
From within the UK, visit Trainline, the best site to book trains within greater Western Europe. The main station within Edinburgh is Waverley Station, ideally situated between Old and New Town, but if you’re staying slightly west of the city centre, Haymarket Station might be a better option. There are also always cheap flights with Easyjet and Ryanair from in/around the UK, but if you have the time to train, the cost is usually comparable and it’s a really scenic journey up north.
We wouldn’t necessarily recommend driving into Edinburgh in August, only because the crowds make city driving harder than usual. So if you are staying within the city, consider public transport, or stay slightly out of the centre and walk, cycle or bus in.
Looking for some recommendations for your visit to the capital? See our post on our favourite ways to experience Edinburgh here:
Where to Stay
The Royal Mile in Fringe season. As exciting and accessible as staying in the city centre is, just remember that it’ll be busy for the entire month - meaning you’ll need to want that full-on experience or have some great earplugs. Check out our recommendations on which neighbourhoods to stay below.
Unfortunately, finding accommodation for the month of August in Edinburgh can be quite difficult. You’ll notice that places will get booked up months in advance, and they can be more expensive than the rest of the year. Our advice is to plan and book ahead and/or connect with friends or family within the city for advice or a spare room!
For where to stay if you do want your own accommodation, know that Old Town and New Town is the hub for Fringe Events, meaning you’re on the doorstep to everything. If that’s the experience you’d like to have, definitely look within Old and New Town or neighbourhoods that directly surround the centre such as Canongate, Southside, Newington, Haymarket, West End or anywhere on Leith Walk. If you’re wanting the experience of enjoying Fringe, but wanting to come back to a quieter place in the evening, consider neighbourhoods that are still within walking distance/ a short bus ride away. Check out Bruntsfield, Morningside, Stockbridge, Bonnington or Portobello - they’re mostly residential and don’t host any of the official venues but still offer fantastic amenities and food options.
There is always the added option of staying out of the city altogether and coming in for the day to enjoy the festivities. Bus and train links to Fife (the small peninsula council north of Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth), Glasgow, Stirling, North Berwick, and Falkirk are all quite good. Use Trainline or Rome to Rio to check the best routes out.
How to ‘Plan your Fringe’
If you’ve ever seen the lineup for events and performances on offer at the Fringe, it’ll be guaranteed to leave you quite excited but overwhelmed with where to start (the site shows over 3,500 results for ‘What’s On’). Each event listed will give all of the event details including the performer, which venue they’re performing at, how long the show is, price, and a portal for booking, among other things.
In our opinion, the site is the best place to start as it gives you the option to filter out the results:
Show/ performer
If you’ve received a direct recommendation, or see signage around the city of a show you like the look of, find them here)How to watch
As they now do online events as well as in-personCategory and genre
Categories include cabaret and variety, children’s shows, comedy, dance, physical theatre and circus, events, exhibitions, music, musicals and opera, spoken word, theatre, and dozens of genres from immersive to folk, mime to performance art.Suitability
If you have kiddos, this is a great filter to use.Venues/ nearby events
If you’re wanting to stay close to your accommodation, or look for something near your restaurant reservations)Accessibility
A great option if you, or anyone in your party, needs the venue or show itself to have wheelchair access, captioning and audio description, etc.Special Pricing
Another great accessibility feature if you’re doing Fringe on a budget or looking for great deals either for yourself and a friend or for a larger group).Country
If you’re looking to support artists from a certain country, you can also filter to find them!
There is also the option on the site to make an account with Fringe, which will place all of your events in a calendar, making it easy to see what you’ve already booked and paid for.
There are multiple other ways to find out about events, and we definitely recommend doing a mix of of these (along with a few pre-booked) to plan your Fringe.
Take Recommendations
Ask around for recommendations of people you know who have been to the Fringe. It may help finding a friend who has similar interests/humour to you so you can enjoy your experience (especially if it’s more of a pricier ticket), or ask around local spaces or other visitors to see what’s recommended.
Try looking on social platforms for reviews, it can be a great way to see performers advertising their shows.
Browse through the Fringe Guide
Although online can be easier to filter specific requests, there is something about browsing through the physical guidebook, which resembles a circa 90s phone book. Here, you browse through categories and see all of the events in one place, and it can be great to get inspiration within it’s pages.
Pick one up for free in the Fringe Shop on the Royal Mile (180 High Street EH1 1QS).
Be inspired by the city
Take a walk through the city and you’ll see signage and flyers everywhere, which is actually one of my favourite parts of Fringe. I think it’s really cool that the whole centre is transformed, and browsing through events on my evening runs or afternoon strolls is awesome. You’ll also be given flyers from event organisers and performers advertising their shows to the crowds, and they’re always more than happy to chat more about their show.
Try a Pick of the Fringe/ Best of the Fest
If you’re stuck with what to see but don’t want to commit fully to a pricey hour-long show, check out a few of the pick of the fringe/ best of the fest shows. This is when a venue selects between 4-6 performers/ shows and does a 10 minute taster of every show under one ticket. It can be a great way to see acts in bite-sized format.
Last year, we went to two, Johnnie Walker Princes Street and Assembly’s picks of the fringe, where we were able to see about a dozen acts under two ticket prices. We actually went to a few of the performers’ full shows after seeing their snippets.
Fringe on a Budget
Are you wanting to explore the Fringe on a budget? Know that it’s a very accessible festival in many ways, and they have loads of options for enjoying free and discounted events and shows.
Our personal recommendations are visiting the Half Price Hut at the Fringe Box Office and/or filtering for all of the free events listed on the site, check that out here. Find the Half Price Hut at the Fringe shop at 180 High Street EH1 1QS (the blue one), watch out for Assembly Close right next to it and head down the close to get to the box office.
For a few more ideas on how to enjoy Fringe on a budget see their post on it here.
Our Favourites
Bistro Square’s has really great atmosphere with loads of great food and drink options. Head from the University down to the George Street Gardens for the best pop-up food trucks.
Our favourite categories are music and comedy, but when we’re given a good recommendation, spot a free show that we’d like to check out, or see a new kind of performance that we’re keen to know more about, we’re definitely keen to try something new.
Last year, our favourites were:
Andrew Maxwell’s Krakatoa (comedy/ politics)
Circa Humans 2.0 (performance/ movement)
The Black Blues Brothers (performance/ movement/ music)
Assembly’s Daytime Best of the Fest
Johnnie Walker’s Pick of the Fringe
In terms of our favourite areas of the Fringe, we really enjoy the spaces hosted by Underbelly, which is in/around the University area just west of Potterrow and north of the Meadows. You’ll see the comically large purple cow within their George Street Gardens venue, that also has a really cool outdoor drinks and food area. Wander up to Bistro Square to the Gilded Balloon Space in Teviot Row House and enjoy the live music within their delightfully decorated beer garden gazebos.
Aside from this space, we actually really enjoy seeing the Royal Mile in full swing, although it’s always normally busy with tourists and travellers, it’s great to see artists and buskers performing for the crowds, we think it creates a really lively atmosphere and the street events are always pretty entertaining.
If you’re headed to Edinburgh in August, definitely have the festival on your radar as it’s an entirely different experience than normally visiting the city, with most travellers coming here specifically to partake in the events.
Happy Travels,
Sam + Steve
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