Edinburgh festival with 14 year old?

[neva]

Am aiming to book a very, very last minute summer trip with dd. She wants to go to somewhere hot eg Barcelona or Milan, but I'm trying to persuade her that Edinburgh would be fun. She isn't convinced! Have found a room though I guess I will have to book it quickly... Have only been to Scotland once, and mainly remember the rain... But with all the things to do in the festival surely she wouldn't be bored?

There is loads to do, and Edinburgh isn't bad for rain. Just hanging round in places like the Royal Mile, the Grassmarket, or up around Bristo Square/Potter Row etc you will see lots of stuff happening and have more leaflets shoved at you than you know what to do with! The trickiest part is deciding what to do, but if you don't enjoy one show there'll be another one along in a minute

Yup, as AMuminScOtland says, Edinburgh's OK for rain. We get it all in Glasgow (seriously)!

Have a look at the festival guide online. Does she like comedy? Dance? There are millions of things on. And there are always ghost tours if she's into that (Mary King's Close is pretty scary).

Great shops too (huge big Harvey Nichols). The National Portrait Gallery and both Modern art galleries are fantastic. And there are loads of good places to eat. La Garrigue on Jeffrey St does great lunch/pre-theatre deals and the food is delicious. Coco Chocolate on Broughton Street is wonderful, it sells chocolate in any way you could want and you can sit in for a brilliant hot chocolate.

Thanks AMumInScotland. Dd is telling me she wants to experience something very, very different from England and to be in a culture with different foods and language, so Scotland doesn't sound as exciting or appealing to her as Milan, especially when most of her friends are going to exotic and hot places for summer. Any other thoughts welcome as I try to persuade her this will be a cool experience..!

Thank you Estelle

Edinburgh during the Festival is certainly full of different languages and foods, and with a huge amount of things going on. I'd agree that a holiday in Scotland in general is not going to have as much "different culture" from England - though we are surprisingly different from the English, you are not likely to notice it so much on a week's holiday as you would if you moved her long-term But the Edinburgh Festival is one of the biggest and best arts festivals there is around, so it is an event in itself, not 'a holiday in Scotland' if that is what she is picturing.

If she goes back to school full of tales of seeing stand-up comedians, street theatre, Shakespeare done by teenagers in gasmasks, or whatever else, her friends 'baking themselves in hot places' holidays will seem uneventful in comparison!

AMIS, you are convincing me, at least! I know that she will enjoy it when she gets there, even if it does rain, and it will probably be more inspirational/educational at the end of the day than, as you put it, baking in a hot place.