An Edinburgh Festivals travel guide – August is festivals month in the Athens of the north

Where the world comes to perform

From airy Queen’s Hall’s late-morning recitals, Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) days are packed with orchestral concerts in the (newly refurbished) Usher Hall and dance, opera and drama in the Edinburgh Festival, King’s, Playhouse and Royal Lyceum Theatres. The festival ends with the Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert in Princes Street Gardens, which is spectacularly visible from across the city.

Fringe benefits

Now, for many, the reason to be in Edinburgh in August, the Fringe runs a week ahead of EIF and takes over every nook and cranny. Comedy, shows, music and dance throng the streets and, on the second Sunday, the Meadows for Fringe Sunday. 

Military manoeuvres

The Military Tattoo is Edinburgh’s most spectacular August offering. On the Castle Esplanade, British services display teams and ensembles are joined by international colleagues for quick-fire manoeuvres and marching bands, poignantly followed by a lone piper from the Castle battlements and late-night fireworks.