City Guide to Edinburgh, Scotland

City Guide to Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh's Festivals


Edinburgh is best-known for its August festival: a huge, month-long arts extravaganza that actually includes several festivals running at the same time. But there are festivals taking place in Edinburgh throughout the year - from the Edinburgh Science Festival in April to Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations at New Year's Eve, with its Hogamanay street party for 80,000. These are the major Edinburgh Festivals in the city's events calendar.

Edinburgh Festival Starts Ends About the Festival
Ceilidh Culture performers 2011 photo call

Ceilidh Culture

16 Mar 2012 - 7:30pm 15 Apr 2012 - 11:00pm Annual grass roots festival of traditional music and the arts taking place at venues across the... Read more
Science Festival Mummy

Edinburgh International Science Festival

31 Mar 2012 - 10:00am 13 Apr 2012 - 11:00pm The programme for 2012 has still to be announced but expect over 200 educational and interactive... Read more
Beltane Fire Festival procession

Beltane Fire Festival

30 Apr 2012 - 9:30pm 1 May 2012 - 1:00am On the last night of April and first day of May several thousand people take to Calton Hill to have... Read more

Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival

7 May 2012 - 9:00am 14 May 2012 - 6:00pm Touring children's theatre festival, taking place each May or June, with around 15 or so... Read more
Eva Green and Ewan McGregor in Perfect Sense

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012

20 Jun 2012 - 9:30pm 1 Jul 2012 - 11:59pm The Edinburgh International Film Festival, the longest continuously run film festival in the world... Read more
Jazz men

Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

20 Jul 2012 - 10:00am 29 Jul 2012 - 11:59pm The annual Edinburgh Jazz and Blues festival runs the gamut of jazz persuasions from more... Read more
David Mach's Devil's Head

Edinburgh Art Festival

2 Aug 2012 - 12:00pm 2 Sep 2012 - 11:59pm Established in 2004, the Edinburgh Art Festival is the newest major addition to Edinburgh's August... Read more
Virgin arches on the Royal Mile

Edinburgh Fringe 2012

3 Aug 2012 (All day) 27 Aug 2012 (All day) The Edinburgh International Festival may have come first, but generally it's the Fringe that... Read more
Tattoo 2011: Scotland the Brave

Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2012

3 Aug 2012 - 8:30pm 25 Aug 2012 - 10:30pm For scale, no show in Edinburgh can rival the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Literally hundreds... Read more
Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe

Edinburgh International Festival

10 Aug 2012 - 6:00pm 2 Sep 2012 - 10:45pm The flagship Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), a high-brow assembly of some of the world's... Read more
Book Festival in Charlotte Square

Edinburgh International Book Festival

11 Aug 2012 (All day) 27 Aug 2012 (All day) The temporary, tented village at Charlotte Square's Georgian garden, in the heart of Edinburgh's... Read more
Cat Deely in Edinburgh

MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival

24 Aug 2012 - 9:00am 26 Aug 2012 - 5:00pm The London media's mover-and-shakers descend on Edinburgh for three days for this annual get-... Read more
Mela Puppets

Edinburgh Mela

31 Aug 2012 - 6:00pm 2 Sep 2012 - 10:00pm As the names suggests, the annual "Mela" is a "festival" or "fair"... Read more
John Knox and the Storytelling

Scottish International Storytelling Festival

19 Oct 2012 - 7:30pm 28 Oct 2012 - 7:30pm A festival that celebrates the art of yarn-spinning and tale-telling held at the award-winning... Read more
Big wheel on Princes Street

Edinburgh's Christmas

25 Nov 2012 - 10:00am 4 Jan 2013 - 11:59pm Christmas, or Xmas for non-believers, used to be a quiet period in Edinburgh. It's less so now,... Read more
Hogmanay Street Party fireworks

Edinburgh's Hogmanay

30 Dec 2012 - 5:00pm 1 Jan 2013 - 9:00pm Traditionally, Hogmanay is marked in Scotland with friends and first footing at the strike of... Read more