Edinburgh Festival Hotels

The world"s largest celebration of the arts, the Edinburgh Festival is a massive explosion of cultural and artistic expression, with every available performance space in August - from the grandest concert halls to pub courtyards - helping play host to a packed programme of drama, comedy, performance, music and film. All over the city the streets fill with buskers, craft stalls, tourists, celebrities, performers, media types and festival-goers; posters plaster every vertical space and the centre of town takes on a slightly surreal, vital atmosphere. The Edinburgh Festival is actually an umbrella term which encompasses different festivals taking place at around the same time. The principal events are the International Festival and the much larger Festival Fringe , but there the are also film, book , and jazz and blues festivals, the Military Tattoo and the Edinburgh Mela .

August is when most things happen. The jazz and blues festival occupies the first week of August; the Fringe and the Tattoo run for the next three weeks, culminating on the last weekend of the month; the International Festival runs over the last two weeks of August and the first week of September; the film and book festivals occupy the last two weeks of August; and the Mela is held on the first weekend in September.

The sheer volume of the Festival"s output can be bewildering: it can be a struggle to find accommodation, get hold of the tickets, book a table in a restaurant or simply get from one side of town to another; you can end up seeing something truly dire, or something mind-blowing, and most people inevitably try to do too much. The unpredictable nature of the event is one of its greatest charms, so be prepared for - and enjoy - the unexpected. For year-round up-to-the-minute information, check out .

In addition to each festival"s own programme, various publications give full information about what"s on day by day. Every day the Fringe Office publishes The Guide , giving a chronological listing of virtually every Fringe show scheduled for that day. It"s available free from the Office and hundreds of other spots around Edinburgh. Of the local newspapers, the best coverage is in The Scotsman , which issues an excellent daily Festival supplement; their reviews and star-rating system carry a lot of weight. The List , a locally produced arts and entertainment guide, comes out weekly during the Festival and manages to combine comprehensive coverage with a reliably on-the-pulse sense of what"s hot and what"s not.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival or EIFF is part of the Edinburgh Festival, which takes place every August. Established in 1947, it is the longest continually running film festival in the world. When it was started by the Edinburgh Film Guild (the oldest continually running Film Society in the world) it was only for documentaries. At the time there were only a couple of other Film Festivals in the world (Cannes and Venice). The festival shows a range of films from around the world and screens not only feature length films and documentaries, but also shorts, animations and music videos. The Grand Jury awards "The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film" while the audience can vote for the "Standard Life Audience Award" and a panel made up of first time film-makers judges the "Skillset New Directors Award." There are also several awards given to short films. All films shown are U.K. premieres although many are also European or International Premieres.

Quite apart from August"s main Edinburgh Festival, the city is now promoting itself as a year-round festival venue, with number of different events well established. The climax of various Christmas events is Edinburgh"s Hogmanay , one of the world"s largest New Year street parties, involving torchlight processions, folk and rock concerts and fireworks galore. The Science Festival in April incorporates hands-on children"s events as well as numerous lectures on a vast array of subjects. There is a Puppet and Animation Festival in March, and a Children"s Festival in late May, with readings, magicians and specialist children"s drama. The Caledonian Brewery, 42 Slateford Road, runs its own German-style beer festival in early June. Check out for links to the official sites of all Edinburgh"s main festivals.