Edinburgh Festivals Survival Guide 2025: Here are 12 tips to make the most of Edinburgh in August - including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

When people talk about the ‘Edinburgh Festival’ they tend to mean the numerous individual festivals that take place in the city over the month of August (and, in a couple of cases, the end of July).

The Edinburgh International Festival - offering the best in theatre, classical music, opera and ballet - was what started it all in 1947.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe arrived in the same year as an alternative to the ‘official’ invitation-only festival and has grown to become the world’s biggest arts festival - on a global scale only the Olympic Games and the World Cup sell more tickets.

1947 also saw the launch of the Edinburgh International Film Festival which was initially known as the ‘International Festival of Documentary Films’ and has become the longest continuously-running event of its kind in the word.

Two years later, in 1949, the first Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo was held at the Ross Bandstand, in Princes Street Gardens, while the Edinburgh International Book Festival joined the fold in 1983 taking place in a single tent - it now welcomes hundreds of authors to the Capital every year.

Later additions to the bulging summer rota include the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, the Edinburgh Foodie Festival and the Edinburgh Arts Festival.

With the Edinburgh Festival Fringe alone including over 3,350 shows across 265 venues, it can be an intimidating prospect working out how to plan your visit.

Here are a few tips to makingt he best of it.

Plan ahead

Turning up without booking a single show may make you feel like you’re keeping your options open, but it’s likely to mean that you miss out. Many shows sell out in advance, while finding time to plan while amidst the chaos of Edinburgh is tricky to say the least.

This it doubly the case if you are just through for a Friday or Saturday night, when the ‘Sold Out’ board looks like a page of a telephone directory. You’d be surprised how many people manage to come to Edinburgh for a night and fail to see a single show.

Get copies of all the festival programmes, take your time to flick through them, pick out a few shows that you are particularly keen to see and get them booked. We’d suggest two shows a day, which leaves you plenty of time to be spontaneous.

But don’t plan too much

The polar opposite of those who don’t plan at all are those that schedule every minute of any day, turning up in Edinburgh with schedules set in stone - eight shows a day every day, or until they drop.

You’ll know these people by their highlighted programmes and colour-coded spreadsheets, but while they’ll see plenty of shows they’ll have no time to add that late-minute addition to the programme or the buzzy comedian who suddenly becomes favourite for the Edinburgh Comedy Award.

Also, sometimes it’s fun just to see something at random. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe app has a function to find out the nearest show to you on next so you can take a punt - even if it is just to get out of the inevitable rain.

Make sure you know where you are going

This is more complicated than it may at first seem. Did you know that the International Book Festival is no longer in Charlotte Square? How about that Shakespeare For Breakfast isn’t where it was the five times you’re seen it previously? Is that show in Assembly George Street or Assembly George Square (that’s one that often catches people out)? Or that there’s a difference between the Underbelly and the Udderbelly.

Double-check every venue well in advance and know where you’re going - otherwise you’ll be one of the hundreds of people who turn up to completely the wrong venue every year.

Listen to the queue

When you’re looking to book a few extra shows you’ll no doubt read the reams of reviews that are released every day in a myriad of online and physical publications (none better than The Scotsman), but the truth is sometimes a show is becoming a success before the critics even know about it. Some of the best festival intel can be found in the queues you will spend an alarming time in. Get chatting to your queue neighbours and find out what they’ve seen and would recommend. You’re both going to the same show already so your tastes are probably fairly similar.

Don’t blow the budget on food and drink

You’re in Edinburgh to see festival shows, which isn’t a cheap business - but food and drink can be even more pricey. In the main venues a couple of pints will set you back more than a ticket for many shows, while you’ll be amazed how much somebody can charge for a cheese toastie while keeping a straight face.

Luckily, Edinburgh is a city blessed with a multitude of beautiful parks for picnics - the Meadows is close to most of the main festival venues, while Princes Street Gardens is perfect for when you’re in the city centre. You might even catch a spontaneous performance when you’re there.

Between shows, pop into a supermarket and buy some cheap between-show snacks. And remember that, unlike much of Scotland, you can drink alcohol in public in Edinburgh, so if you fancy a tipple there’s no need to go to a pub or venue.

Get your timings right

It’s crucial to know how long to plan between shows. Make sure you know how long it will take you to walk between venues - Google Maps is your friend - and add a bit of time if you have to negotiate busy streets like the Bridges or (god forbid - more of this later) the Royal Mile.

Also be aware that shows don’t always start or finish on time - particularly in the opening few days when issues are being ironed out. If you want a good seat at most Fringe shows you’ll need to queue up, so make sure you factor that in too.

We’d recommend a gap of at least 30 minutes between shows taking place at the same venue. Add how long your map app of choice says it’ll take to walk between venues to that. So, for example, if you have a show at the Pleasance Courtyard then one at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, allow 45 minutes between shows.

Visit the Royal Mile...then avoid it

No visit to the festivals is complete without a walk down the Royal Mile to enjoy the mass of street performers and endless people handing out fliers to their shows. Don’t accidentally get stuck there between shows though - it can take you a long time to extracate yourself.

Accept being fliered - it’s going to happen

Don’t be the person that’s rude to people handing out fliers - it’s just part and parcel of being at the festival.

Sometimes it’ll be a paid employee handing out the promotional fliers, but sometimes it’s the performer themselves merrily doling out pictures of their own face. Have a chat to them. They might have show tips or even offer you free tickets. In previous years you might have been fliered by the likes of Emma Thompson, Eddie Izzard, Linn Manuel-Miranda or Phoebe Waller-Bridge - that’s a story you don’t want to miss out on.

If you really don’t want another flier, just apologise and smile. It’s really not difficult.

The Edinburgh Festivals are not just the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Many people make the mistake of thinking the Edinburgh Festival Fringe IS the Edinburgh festivals. Don’t just limit yourself to the one part of the Edinburgh experience though - see a Hollywood star do a Q&A after a screening at the film festival, see a Booker Prize-winner and get a signed novel at the book festival, and catch an opera or ballet at the Edinburgh International Festival. Get outside your comfort zone - that’s what Edinburgh in August is all about.

Also, don’t just go to see a couple of names off the telly at the Playhouse and think you’ve ‘done’ the festival. You can do that in any city at any time of year.

Take advantage of cheap tickets

You can pretty much spend as much as you like at the festival, but there’s an Edinburgh experience for all budgets.

Take advantage of the two free parts of the Fringe - The Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival and PBH's Free Fringe. These shows often take part in pubs and allow free entry, with audiences asked to chuck some money in the performer’s bucket on the way out (at last count, the recommended amount was about a fiver).

Meanwhile the Monkey Barrel Comedy Club, which has one of the best standup lineups of the Fringe, lets people in for free to take up any unused seats just before shows start. Again, they ask you to give the performer money at the end. If you queue up early enough you can even get into sold out shows (probably because someody has gone to the wrong venue, or not allowed enough time between shows...).

There are also numerous offers on tickets to the various festivals - just keep checking all the websites and make sure you are signed up to all the relevant newsletters. At the Edinburgh International Festival, for example, a limited number of £10 concessionary tickets are realeased every morning for performances happening that day. Grab yourself a bargain.

If you’re up early you can also take advantage of preview prices (in the week before the festivals officially start) and 2-4-1 tickets on the opening Monday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, it doesn’t cost anything to wander around the various venues and beer gardens to take in the atmosphere. The Edinburgh International Book Festival garden is our favourite to while away a spare 30 minutes, while at Summerhall you can enjoy a beer or gin brewed/distilled on the premises.

Remember your tickets

Back in the day it was a simple matter of getting your tickets printed out and making sure you didn’t lose them, but now almost all tickets are sent virtually.

This means that your mobile phone will be the most important festival weapon in your arsenal. Make sure it’s charged up at the start of the day and take a charging pack and lead along with you to deal with flagging batteries.

At the start of the day make sure that you know where all your tickets are and that you can access them without any internet access - Edinburgh is filled with mobile blackspots.

In the worst case scenario, the venue can usually check your name at the door - but this can hold up the queue and should only be used as a last resort.

Dress for (all) the weather

The sun may be shining when you head out on your perfect festival day but don’t expect it to stay that way. Edinburgh weather is notoriously fickle in August, often proving the forecast staggeringly wrong. Always pack waterproofs and/or an umbrella, and make sure you have layered clothing so you can strip down for boiling hot venues and then get dressed again for whatever faces you when you head back out into the outside world.