Edinburgh

Edinburgh has plenty to offer a tourist any time of year, so don’t spend all of your time rushing between darkened rooms—look around and enjoy it.

Edinburgh can be wet—and I say this as someone born and bred in Manchester—and you will almost certainly see some heavy rain while you’re there. On the other hand, it can sometimes be hot, and some of the smaller venues can get stifling when it does. Be ready for any eventuality and take an appropriate range of clothing. Layers are good.

Everywhere in Edinburgh is uphill. Sometimes it seems that everywhere you go, it’s uphill going and still uphill coming back, as though it was designed by Escher. It can be a tiring city to walk around. As I found one year, those expensive blister plasters do nothing apart from stick to your socks and ruin them.

Edinburgh is expensive, perhaps not as expensive as London, but many things will double in price for August (not just the accommodation) so be prepared for this when you are budgeting. Prices seem to have increased considerably above inflation since the pandemic, which may damage the festivals and the businesses that benefit from them in the long run.

As Edinburgh residents will tell you, driving around the city in August can be rather frustrating, with increased traffic, road closures and very keen traffic wardens, so it is best to avoid doing so if you can. Most venues are within walking distance of one another and of city centre accommodation if you allow enough time. Having said that, parking meters are substantially cheaper than here in Manchester and the trams seem to have reasonable prices for day tickets if you don’t want to or aren’t able to walk everywhere.

Check for any marches that may interrupt your schedule. I’ve got to venues in the past at the last minute because I couldn’t cross Princes Street due to the Fringe parade or Orange marches.