Edinburgh Fringe

[RabbitsRock]

This has been on my wish list for years but I still haven’t been. Any tips from folks that have experienced it? And is the actual festival good too?

I love Edinburgh fringe. A great few days but can get pretty pricey quite quickly.

Anyone else?

Two top tips are:

1. Stay somewhere slightly outside of city and travel in by train. E.g linlithgow is a lovely town, 20 mins on direct train to edi and will be much much cheaper than ediburgh for an air bnb. It's also nice to be able to step away from the manicness that is Edi in August!

1. At the start of August there is a window of a couple of days when a lot of shows offer 2 for 1 tickets which helps makes things more affordable!

Are you thinking for this year? If so you may struggle for accommodation but as ppl said you could potentially stay outside the city and travel in.

I live in Edinburgh and my tips are:

• don't overplan, choose a few flagship shows you really want to see and wouldn't mind paying for (assembly, underbelly, gilded balloon, pleasance have the most "professional" shows with well-known performers and best quality production

• picking shows at random from the catalogue or app will be extremely hit and miss, aside from the shows you chose, a walk about the royal mile and other festival hubs like the grassmarket, potterow, will let you get a feel for the place, read review boards, meet performers flyering on the street and choose your other shows that way

• for free fringe, the hive, banshee labyrinth and three sisters are probably some of the most established venues, although pretty much every venue in Edinburgh will have something

• street performers on the royal mile are awesome! Just spending time watching those is fun

• always worth seeing a circus performance at the circus hub at the meadows esp if a first timer!

• all in all I'd aim to plan 3-4 quality paid / ticketed shows including a circus performance and look for reviews (on boards, on flyers and in festival magazines) and go with the flow for the rest!

• first weekend in August does 2 for 1 tx and performers handing out free tx to drum up interest in their shows.

Have fun!

You asked about the "actual" festival - there are a number of festivals on at the same time - book festival, Edinburgh international festival etc. all excellent quality.

And finally be prepared to see some really shit shows (esp free fringe) - all part of the experience 😂

It's great fun for a few days. I would stay in Edinburgh itself - much more flexibility to do late shows, part of the fun of the fringe is how it runs at all hours.