The Edinburgh Festival Fringe - the world’s largest arts festival
If you are visiting the UK in August it is well worth taking the trip up to Scotland to attend some of the events of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For three weeks Edinburgh is transformed into a city of music, art and performance, with the streets, pubs, clubs and theatres packed with eager festival-goers. This year the festival runs from 5th-27th August and there are over 260 different venues, and almost two thousand – yes, two thousand – different shows on offer. It is one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world, and includes comedy, dance, music, exhibitions, opera, theatre and children’s events. This year we have Australian opera singer Ali McGregor, comedians such as Ricky Gervais of “The Office”, and Rikki Beadle-Blair of Stonewall, as well as countless plays such as “The Tale of Rampant Rabbit” from Washing Line Productions, to mention but a few.
The Edinburgh Festival itself started in 1947, and some theatrical companies “gatecrashed” the official festival by organizing their own events alongside it. This was the start of the Festival Fringe, which has now grown to huge proportions, and is greater than the official festival itself.
It only takes four and a half hours to get to Edinburgh from London Kings Cross, on the regular train service, which has buffet and restaurant services. Alternativeley if you are coming to Edinburgh from further afield, there is Edinburgh Airport 13km, (8 miles), to the west of the city with connections to many European cities, as well as to Atlanta and Newark.
Over the period of the Festival Fringe the demand for accommodation in Edinburgh increases tremendously, so it may be wise to book your hotel well in advance. However, I have found that even if you decide to go on the spur of the moment, it is usually still possible to find a place to stay in one of Edinburgh’s many hotels or bed and breakfasts.
Filed under: Scotland
