Edinburgh Fringe: Guide to Attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023

Edinburgh is famous for its festivals, with perhaps the most famous of all of them being the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This is also referred to as the Fringe Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, or just simply as The Fringe.

It may also be referred to as just the Edinburgh Festival, but given that Edinburgh has 11 official festivals each year, including the Fringe, that title is inaccurate. Its official title is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Anyway, title aside, the Edinburgh Fringe is a major festival which takes place every August in Edinburgh. It’s by far the biggest event the city sees each year, with millions of people flocking to the city to either watch the shows, or take part and host their own performances.

We lived in Edinburgh for a number of years, and always made time to take in some of the shows at the festival. We’ve also attended all the other festivals that take place in the city throughout the year, including Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and the Science festival.

With this in mind, we wanted to share a guide to help you plan your own visit to Edinburgh to see the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We’re going to share everything we think you need to know, from finding out what’s on to booking your accommodation.

As always, we’re also open to your suggestions, questions and feedback, and you can use the comments section at the end of the post for those. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

What is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. During the festival, which usually runs for just over three weeks, there are thousands of shows held across hundreds of venues in Edinburgh.

The Fringe festival started in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF). The EIF is also a performing arts festival, however, it has a more formal curation process. To appear at the EIF, acts have to be invited to perform.

In 1947, in a sort of protest about this invitation only process, a number of performance groups turned up in Edinburgh and hosted their own shows on the “fringe” of the EIF. By 1958, the Fringe festival had grown a great deal, and the Festival Fringe Society was born.

Today, the Edinburgh Fringe is significantly larger in terms of performances than the Edinburgh International Festival, and in fact, any other festival in Edinburgh.

This is down in large part to the fact that the Edinburgh Fringe is an open access festival. This means absolutely anyone can perform any kind of show. There is no curation or selection process.

As you might imagine, this means the quality can definitely be variable – this is part of the fun!

Historically there has been a bit of rivalry between the two festivals, however, this is less the case these days. Both festivals take place at the same time, and we definitely suggest it is worth attending performances at both of these festivals during your time in Edinburgh.

When is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023?

In 2023 the Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs from the 4th of August to the 28th August.

These dates vary slightly each year, but the festival is always held for just over three weeks in August, usually to include four weekends, starting on a Friday and ending on a Monday.

For example, in past years, dates have been:

2016: Friday August 5th – Monday August 29th
2017: Friday August 4th – Monday August 28th
2018: Friday August 3rd – Monday August 27th
2019: Friday August 2nd – Monday August 26th
2020: Cancelled, but originally scheduled for Friday August 7th – Monday August 31st
2021: Friday August 6th – Monday August 30th
2022: Friday August 5th – Monday August 29th

As you can see, the festival generally starts on the first Friday of August, and runs for four weekends, ending on the Monday after the fourth weekend.

What happens at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has a lot going on. In 2018 for example, the festival was host to 3,548 shows, which had a total of 55,000 performances across 317 venues.

Performers include a huge range of talent, from well-known names to unknown acts.

What is perhaps most fascinating about the Fringe, and essentially its guiding principle, is that it is an open access festival. This means there is no vetting process or oversight by the Fringe organisers as to the performers.

The role of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival organization is primarily logistical – they help ensure there are event spaces, programs, ticketing services, and information available to both performers and attendees. They also market the festival, running the official social media channels and so on.

In terms of what shows to expect, the Fringe is best known for the comedy acts. This is the largest type of show on offer, with around a third of Fringe performances being categorized as comedy.

However, as a performing arts festival with an open access policy there is no restriction on the type of act allowed. So, you can expect everything from theatre, to classical music, to circus shows, to cabaret, opera – the list goes on!

When we’ve visited, we’ve seen everything from stand-up comedy through to theatre, street performers to cabaret. We’ve watched a lady roll around on eggs and people swallowing swords.

There really is something for everyone at the Fringe.

Can I Take Part in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

You absolutely can take part as a performer in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – it’s open access, so it’s open to anyone.

If you want to host your own show, you just have to go through the registration process. This includes steps like finding a venue and making some key decisions such as whether it will be a free show or a paid show.

This process is outlined in detail with a series of excellent resources on the official site here.

If that sounds like too much work, many of the shows involve audience participation, which is an easier way to get involved in a Fringe show without actually doing any work!

Where Does the Edinburgh Fringe Actually Take Place?

There are over 300 venues which are registered as official Fringe venues. These cover a huge range of locations, from street corners through to pubs and cafes, and then on to the larger capacity locations which have more traditional theatre like layouts.

Each venue can contain multiple performance spaces, so in total there are actually well over a thousand performance locations where you can watch Fringe shows.

In the history of the Fringe, there have been some truly unique venue locations, including on the back of a motorbike, portable toilets, a taxi – the list goes on.

For the most part though, venues are individual locations. The way it works in terms of who performs where is that performers have to apply to each venue they want to perform at.

Some venues specialize in different types of shows or genres, and those that are closer to the city centre are often more appealing to acts.

If you are thinking of hosting your own venue, you can read how to do that on the official website here.

There are also four larger venue operators, which are Assembly, Gilded Balloon, The Pleasance and Underbelly. These each have their own central hub location which generally has multiple performance spaces, often across more than one site. They also operate popup bars and eateries during the festival.

In between the small venues and the large venue operators, there are also mid-size operators like theSpaceUK, Summerhall, and C venues.

Finally, there are also the street performers, who are primarily found on the Royal Mile – stretches of which become pedestrian only during the Fringe.

Basically, in August, it’s hard to go a few meters in Edinburgh without finding a Fringe venue with a performance happening. This is both exciting, and kind of overwhelming. Which brings us to our next question.

How Do I Find the Must See Shows of the Fringe?

This is the big question for everyone coming to Edinburgh. Which Fringe show is worth going to?

To be honest, there is no easy answer to this question. Everyone wants to see the next big thing, or the best show of the festival. And with over 3,000 shows to consider, the task of finding the “best” show is fairly monumentous.

Here are some options to help you find shows which should get you started.

Tip 1 – Use the Edinburgh Fringe Resources

The first place to look for Fringe shows is the official Edinburgh Fringe website, which is usually where shows are first announced.

They have a tool on the site where you can see all the shows that have been announced, plus you can filter by different types of show, save shows to your favourites, and create your own Fringe event calendar to keep on top of everything.

Obviously you can also book tickets for shows here too – see more on tickets in the next section. For exclusive news and information, you might also want to become a Friend of the Fringe. Prices for this start at £32 a year, and you get a range of benefits including an exclusive box office, exclusive offers, and access to special Friends of the Fringe only tickets.

Tip 2 – Read the local news sites

The majority of Edinburgh’s local newspapers and news and arts websites have extensive coverage of the Fringe shows, both during the Fringe, and also in the run up to it.

Popular shows that are announced for the Fringe are often mentioned on these resources in the months leading up to the Fringe, including predictions for the shows not to miss.

Some sites we recommend you check out include Edinburgh Live, The Scotsman, the Edinburgh Festival section of The List, the Edinburgh Reporter, the Edinburgh Theatre News section of WhatsOnStage and the EdinburghGuide.

National newspapers and listings sites also often have news on the bigger shows, as well as coverage during the Fringe. Some to check out include the Times, the Guardian and Beyond the Joke.

Of course, once a show hits national newspapers the tickets are likely to go very quickly, so if you see something you like the look of and tickets are available, we recommend getting them as soon as you can.

Tip 3- Look out for the previews

Many of the larger venues, and especially those in the Big Four (Assembly, Gilded Balloon, The Pleasance and Underbelly), host preview shows of their Fringe lineups.

These are a good way to get a taster for some of the shows on offer, and they tend to showcase some of their best acts. This is also a good way to see a number of shows to get an idea of what is out there, and usually tickets will be available for purchase after the preview from the on-site box offices as well.

Tip 4 – Look for the returning shows

Whilst many acts at the Fringe are one off performances, there are also many performers who come back to the Fringe for a second year (or for many more years!).

These acts are tried and tested and you are pretty much assured that the quality will be good. If an act is returning for a second year, it’s normally a sign that it did well in its first year. Plus you can read reviews from the previous year to see if it is going to be for you.

The acts that come back year after year are often well known and popular, so these are often a safe bet.

Tip 5 – Get on Social Media

During the festival one of the best ways to keep on top of what’s hot is by keeping an eye on social media. If people see a great show (or, conversely, a not so great show), they are likely to be quite vocal about it on social media.

Twitter is probably the best place to start, just keep an eye on tweets using the hashtag #edfringe, as well as #Edinburgh in general. We can also suggest following the official Edinburgh Festival Fringe twitter account, as well as the This is Edinburgh twitter account.

Other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook can also be useful, but as posts are not always public or searchable, we think Twitter is the best option.

Tip 6 – Check out the Big Four

The four major venues that we mentioned already tend to be popular venues for performers to want to try and play at. This means the vetting process can be more strict, and there is a good chance that these will be quality acts.

Often a fair bit of advertising is spent on these larger performance venues, so from a business perspective, they obviously want to recoup this cost with shows that audiences will want to see.

Of course, this isn’t a guarantee!

Free shows can be more of a gamble than paid ones hosted at big venues, but it is perhaps more satisfying to discover a hidden gem in some pub basement or street corner.

Tip 7 – Wander the Royal Mile

During the Fringe festival, the streets become filled with performers touting the virtues of their upcoming show.

This is largely concentrated around the Royal Mile, Cowgate, and St. Bristo Square areas of the city, but to be honest, you won’t get far through the main streets of Edinburgh in August before someone earnestly tries to press a flyer into your hand.

When you first arrive in the city, you will undoubtedly accept these with nary a care in the world. However, as you hold your flyer, you will become a magnet for other performers. Soon, you will be weighed down by a mass of flyers, for a range of shows you won’t possibly be able to attend.

To protect your sanity, and the environment, we suggest trying to be judicious over your flyer selection.

Instead of just accepting the flyer and walking on, if it’s a show you think you’ll be interested in, chat to the people handing them out and find out a bit about it. Consider taking a photo of the flyer instead of adding to your swelling pockets.

We have seen some of our favourite shows of the Fringe from random encounters on the Royal Mile, but we’ve also seen some of the worst shows via this somewhat haphazard approach.

You’re also going to see posters absolutely everywhere, and hey, if you can judge the quality of a wine by its label, surely you can have a go at judging an act by its poster? And if not, at least it will give you some clues as to the performance, as well as a general idea of what is on!

Tip 8 – Don’t worry about it

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a real problem in Edinburgh in August. Our suggestion, if you can manage it, is to try not to succumb to it. Try to go to a wide variety of shows, including free and paid, those you have heard about and those you haven’t, and that cover a variety of performance types.

Some of our most memorable Fringe experiences were at the shows we’d never heard of, and the ones we seem to talk about the most were actually the worst. People love to talk about the terrible shows they’ve seen (just listen to strangers talking on the Royal Mile for a few minutes, it’s bound to come up).

So just embrace the festival, have a good time, see as much as you want to, and enjoy the experience. That’s what it’s all about!

Do I Need Tickets for Shows at the Fringe Festival?

The answer to this is that it very much depends on the show and the venue, although in general the answer is yes.

There are three main models for show tickets at the Fringe.

First, the traditional model that you are likely familiar with, where shows are ticketed with pre-paid tickets at a fixed price.

Second, free shows. These are either ticketed or unticketed, and usually give the audience the option to pay a donation at the end. This usually involves a hat (or similar) being passed around after the show for you to donate. A good place to find free shows is the Free Edinburgh Fringe website.

Finally, shows may operate a sort of hybrid model, where they’ll have an option to buy a ticket in advance and guarantee entry (and maybe even a seat), plus have a pay what you want component.

Note that generally the street performances don’t require a ticket. However they will normally operate a pay what you want system, usually in the form of a hat that is passed around after the performance for donations.

Generally it is polite (and also expected) that you will provide a donation if you are attending a free performance of some sort. There’s no minimum – everything is appreciated!

Where Do I Buy Tickets for the Edinburgh Fringe?

There are a number of options for buying tickets for shows at the Fringe, which will depend on the show you want to see and the venue where it is being hosted.

For advance tickets, the first place to look is generally the official Edinburgh Fringe box office website.

Shows start to become available for booking on the website from January onwards for the festival that year, and as the festival dates gets closer more and more shows will be available to be booked. Note that not every show will have early ticket purchase available.

If you have chosen to become a Friend of the Fringe you will also have exclusive access to a Friends of the Fringe Box Office as well as the opportunity for discounted and early access tickets.

The full Fringe program usually launches in early June.

This is the date when all the ticketable shows will be available to book, and from that point on you will be able to book all shows as follows:

on the Edinburgh Fringe box office website
by phone (+44 (0)131 226 0000)
in person at the Fringe Office, which is at 180 High Street, Edinburgh.

It is a requirement that any performer at the Fringe has to make at least 25% of their ticket sales available for booking through the Fringe Box Office. This is also usually the best way to get early tickets for shows you really want to go to, although not every performer will opt in to have their shows on early release.

During the Fringe, you will also be able to use the Edinburgh Fringe app, (available for both Apple and Android devices), which should help you book tickets on the go. Just be aware that in Edinburgh in August there are a lot of people around, and mobile data speeds can suffer as a result

For cheaper tickets, another option during the festival is the Virgin Money Half Price Hut, which offers half price tickets throughout the festival, and can be found on the Mound Precinct.

Do also keep an eye on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe website and social media feeds, as discounted show offers and 2 for 1 deals do pop up from time to time.

As well as the official Fringe website, many of the venues operate their own ticket booking system. Some of these offer online ticket sales, as well as an in person box office or on the door sales.

If you know a certain performer is going to be at a particular venue, it’s always a good idea to check the venue website for ticketing purchase information.

Because the allocation of tickets often comes out of different pools of availability, if a show is showing as sold out on the Edinburgh Fringe Box Office, tickets might still be available through the venue, or vice versa. Some tickets may also be reserved for folks who turn up at the door. It’s always worth contacting the venue to find out before giving up hope!

How to Get Your Edinburgh Fringe Tickets

If you buy your tickets in advance rather than in person (recommended if it’s something you really want to see), then you need to get them somehow. You have a few options, depending on where you buy your tickets from and how far in advance you buy them.

If you buy your tickets from the official Edinburgh Box Office, you have the following options:

Have tickets posted to you. If you buy your tickets well in advance of the Fringe, you can opt to have them posted to you for a small additional fee. Tickets are usually posted in June.
Collect them in person. You can book your tickets in advance via the website and opt to collect them yourself. There are many locations you can collect tickets from, and you’ll need to bring a copy of your payment confirmation or the payment card used for booking. Note that usually you can’t collect pre-booked tickets from the venue, only from the official collection points (full list on the website here).

If you buy your ticket using the official app, currently these have to be picked up in person. The app is designed to make it easier during the festival to find and book tickets, but they still need to be picked up in person from an official collection point.

Due to the vast range of venues taking part in the Fringe, and the complexities involved with ticket verification systems and the technology required to implement a paperless system, currently there is no paperless system or print at home solution.

However, the Edinburgh Fringe has committed to a moving towards dramatically reducing the paper used by the festival. You can read about this, and other future plans for the festival, in the Fringe Blueprint document.

If you buy your tickets by other means, such as from a specific venue, then they will have their own process. Many offer the option for posting tickets, or you can opt to pick up your tickets directly at the venue box office.

For collection purposes it’s really important to keep track of where you booked tickets (directly with the venue or via the Fringe Box Office), because this will dictate where you pick those tickets up if you opt to collect them in person.

Is The Fringe Accessible?

Great efforts have been made over the years to make the Fringe more accessible, including improving wheelchair accessibility, adding closed captioning services and providing sign language interpreters.

As you might imagine though, given the wide range of venues and huge number of shows, accessibility is not universal, and really comes down to each venue to implement.

The best resource if you are looking for accessible shows is the Fringe box office website, which allows you to filter shows by accessibility (e.g., wheelchair accessible venues, captioned performances, signed performances), and to see what is available.

The Edinburgh Fringe Box Office has a whole section of their website dedicated to accessibility for the festival, as well as a special staff in place to help with specific information, from helping arrange extra assistance to providing personal assistance tickets.

This would be our recommended first port of call for accessibility information for the festival.

What Other Festivals Take Place in Edinburgh in August?

Many folks who come to Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August aren’t always aware that Edinburgh is actually home to no less than five festivals during the month of August.

As well as the Fringe, the other four festivals are as follows, in order of when they start in 2023:

Edinburgh International Festival. The original performing arts festival, which has shows at six major venues and a range of smaller venues across the city. Expect everything from opera to dance to classical theatre and music. Same dates as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The most watched of the Edinburgh Festivals, with a televised audience in excess of 100 million people. Features military marching bands and performances against the stunning backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. Unmissable.
Edinburgh Art Festival. A month-long festival across a range of museums, art galleries and pop-up spaces. Focuses on promoting a wide variety of art related shows, including performances and installations across a wide variety of mediums.
Edinburgh International Book Festival. If you want to get away from the madness of the Fringe, we can highly recommend the book festival. Found in peaceful Charlotte Square Gardens in a specially created tent village, this is the place to come to grab a book and relax in a deckchair in the sun.

We have a complete guide to all the August Edinburgh Festivals to help you with planning your Edinburgh Festival experience.

Where to Stay for the Edinburgh Fringe?

The good news is that Edinburgh has a wide range of accommodation options, from hostels through to luxury hotels, and everything in between. There are also numerous apartments available for short term rental.

The bad news is that even with all these options, Edinburgh still fills to capacity during the August festivals, with the city hovering around 97% occupancy throughout August.

For this reason, if you are planning on visiting Edinburgh during the Fringe, we highly recommend you book as far in advance as possible so as to secure your preferred accommodation. Note that prices are usually higher in August due to increased demand.

Here are some options to consider for your stay in Edinburgh, which we have ordered by budget from least expensive to more expensive. These include some of our favourite places to stay in the city.

Castle Rock Hostel – This is a large and well-rated hostel with a castle theme, offering both dormitory and private rooms. It’s adults only, and has one of the best views of the castle of any hotel in the city. Five minutes walk from all the Fringe action.
Royal Mile Backpackers – This is a centrally located hostel on the Royal Mile which offers dormitory style location in a great location, just moments from the Royal Mile
Stay Central Hotel – This is a well rated budget hotel with rooms that can sleep between 2 and 9 people, making it ideal for a group on a budget.
Elder York Guest House – If you’re looking for a budget – midrange B&B option, this is one of our favourites. Rooms are small but comfortable, and the breakfast is good. Note there are quite a lot of stairs and no elevator.
Travelodge Edinburgh Central – Travelodge’s offer reliable good value accommodation across the UK, and this is a central option in Edinburgh at a good price
Holiday Inn Express – A 3-star hotel offering well-priced rooms in the Old Town and is located near the Royal Mile.
The Grassmarket Hotel – This is a 3-star hotel found in the Grassmarket area, making it close to multiple Fringe venues.
Leonardo Royal Hotel – A business focused 4* hotel in the Haymarket, about a 20 minute walk from the Royal Mile. We have stayed here and found rooms to be comfortable and the food was good.
The Balmoral – One of the most well known landmarks in the city, and found right next to Edinburgh Waverley train station. This 5-star hotel offers a range of beautiful suites, including the one where JK Rowling famously completed the Harry Potter series.
The Witchery – This boutique luxury hotel & restaurant is one of our favourite places to stay in Edinburgh. It only has a limited number of suites, all themed and decorated differently, and the restaurant is one of the best in the city. It’s also right next to Edinburgh Castle.

So that is a small selection of some of the options available. We recommend checking out the listings on booking.com for Edinburgh, which includes apartments, as well as the hostels on Hostelworld for Edinburgh.

We can also recommend apartment rentals as an option. You can see the Edinburgh listings on Plum Guide here, but do also see our list of rental websites in the UK here for more options.

If you can’t find anywhere in the city centre, do consider looking a little further afield. There are a number of towns within a 30 – 45 minute bus ride of the city which also have accommodation. Another option is to look at options in Glasgow, which is less than an hour away by train and bus.

Tips for Attending the Edinburgh Fringe

Having attended a number of Fringe Festival events during our time in Edinburgh, we wanted to share some quick tips to help you get the most out of your visit, however long you are coming to Edinburgh for.

Dress for Any Weather

Edinburgh does not have what could be called a reliable weather pattern. Well, it’s reliable in that it’s reliably unpredictable.

In August in Edinburgh we’ve experienced everything from sticky 30C /86F temperatures to far cooler days where the temperatures barely crawls into the low teens C (low fifties F).

Rain is a possibility at any time of year, with August being no exception.

The good news is that the weather never seems to last very long. If it rains in the morning, it can be sunny in the afternoon.

Of course, this all makes it somewhat challenging in terms of what to pack and wear. The key is lightweight layers that you can remove and carry easily, plus something to keep you warm if the temperature drops. We can also suggest either a light raincoat or a travel umbrella.

Wear Comfortable Shoes

Edinburgh is a wonderfully walkable city, and you are likely going to be spending a lot of time on foot during the Fringe. With that in mind, you are going to want to wear some comfortable shoes. Check out our guide to the best travel shoes for men to get you started (ladies version coming soon!).

Photography and Video

For the vast majority of shows, photography and video is not permitted. In our experience, only the street performances really allow for photography. Most of the indoor shots in this post are from press events we have attended where we had specific permission to take photos of the performers.

Overall, unless it is explicitly allowed, we’d suggest you avoid taking video or photos at the venues as you may be asked to leave.

Don’t forget your tickets!

A great many of the Fringe shows require tickets, so it is really important that you have your ticket in advance of the performance.

If you opt to pick up your tickets, make sure to leave plenty of time prior to the show to do that, and identify where you’ll be picking your tickets from.

If you’re having your tickets delivered by post, make sure to leave plenty of time for them to arrive before you come to Edinburgh.

Go with the Flow

There are two reasons for this tip. The first is that Edinburgh gets mind bogglingly busy in August, meaning the streets are crowded, the pavements are slow moving, and it’s going to take you longer to get anywhere.

So our suggestion is to just relax, accept this as a fact, and allow extra time in your itinerary for getting between venues.

The other reason for this tip is to not worry about overplanning and seeing everything, or missing the hottest acts that everyone on Twitter is going nuts for. It is a fact of the festival that you won’t be able to see everything, and you will undoubtedly miss some cool stuff.

But you will also have an experience that is unique to you, see some fantastic shows, and have a great time. So focus on that, and let the fear of missing out just wash away.

Do your research and planning

As you are reading this post, and have gotten all the way down here, I would say that you are already on top of this tip.

It is important to do at least some research and planning for your trip to get the most out it. Certainly, you’ll want to book your accommodation well in advance, as already suggested. You might also want to look at a street map of Edinburgh if you haven’t visited before, to get an idea of the layout.

We’d also advise booking at least one or two shows in advance so you have something planned out, but also to leave plenty of space that you can fill with discoveries as you go.

The unheard of shows that you discover can often turn out to be the best Fringe experiences, and you don’t want to overfill your calendar to the point you can’t see any!

Don’t forget to see Edinburgh and Scotland!

With all the excitement of the Fringe, don’t forget to spend a bit of time sightseeing in Edinburgh. There’s a great deal to see in the city, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. See our guide to things to do in Edinburgh to get you started, as well as some of our resources at the end of the post.

If you want to escape the crowds, you might consider planning a break in your time in Edinburgh to catch your breath. Between the busy nature of the Fringe and the crowds at the attractions, a trip out into beautiful Scotland might be just the ticket.

We’ve taken multiple day trips from Edinburgh, including trips to the Scottish Borders and a tour of a number of Whisky distilleries. We also explored Outlander Filming locations and many more sights.

We nearly always use and can highly recommend Rabbie’s Tours for day trips from Edinburgh. They offer small group tours to all the major sights in Scotland, with knowledgeable drivers and comfortable vehicles.