Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh Festival dates

Edinburgh International Film Festival (20 June–1 July 2012)

Film critic Mark Kermode describes it as "like Cannes - only civilised". And who are we to argue? For previous visitors lucky enough to have sampled its unique atmosphere, this is what we now expect each year from the EIFF, now firmly settled into its…

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Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (20–29 July 2012)

The biggest of its kind in Britain, the Jazz & Blues Festival gets the festival season off to a swinging start in July, making sure everyone's in the mood before its larger festival cousins hit town. And expect that Glenn Miller classic along the…

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Edinburgh Art Festival (2 August–2 September 2012)

Although galleries across the Capital have long been saving their crowd-pulling shows for August, the Edinburgh Art Festival was established in 2004 with the aim of uniting and promoting their independent efforts. With the highest number of galleries in…

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe (3–27 August 2012)

Sprawling, diverse and just a little bit crazy, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is The Edinburgh Festival for the hordes of punters and performers that descend on the city every year. From its humble beginnings in 1947, when a handful of companies that…

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Edinburgh Military Tattoo (3–25 August 2012)

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo displays the musical talent of the British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and International military bands and display teams on the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle. It takes place every evening throughout August, come rain or…

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Festival of Spirituality and Peace (3–27 August 2012)

True to the spirit of the Edinburgh Festivals as a whole, The Festival of Spirituality and Peace is international, multi-cultural and multi-faith. It promotes open dialogue across the divisions of race and religion, focussed around a core programme of…

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Fringe by the Sea (6–12 August 2012)

Small but perfectly formed and set in beautiful North Berwick, Fringe by the Sea is a miniature of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Highlights include the Belhaven Spiegeltent, part of the 'tented village', which will be home to eclectic musical…

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Edinburgh Interactive (9–11 August 2012)

Edinburgh Interactive Festival is a day-long extravaganza of video-gaming, recruitment opportunities, screenings and talks, taking place alongside the Edinburgh Interactive Conference, a who's-who of the gaming industry with talks by influential games…

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Edinburgh International Festival (9 August–2 September 2012)

Founded in 1947, the Festival rose out of the ashes of the Second World War to provide 'a platform for the flowering of the human spirit'. Its most visible flowering, in August at least, is now 'the Fringe', formed the same year by actors denied space…

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Edinburgh International Book Festival (11–27 August 2012)

Amid the frenetic activity of the other festivals, this one is an oasis of calm. Talking place beneath canvas in the genteel surrounds of Charlotte Square, the Book Festival is a celebration not only of the written word, but also of the big ideas that…

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Festival of Politics (17–25 August 2012)

Away from all the chaos, the comedy and the craziness of the Fringe comes the chaos, the comedy and the craziness of politics. Getting its own platform in 2005, The Festival of Politics is now a main part of the latter stages of the summer season…

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Edinburgh Mela (31 August–2 September 2012)

Founded in 1995 to showcase the talents of Edinburgh’s ethnic minorities, Edinburgh Mela has now grown to regularly attract more than 20,000 people to its extraordinary range of theatre, dance, music and art each August, and it doesn’t take much to see…

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Scottish International Storytelling Festival (19–28 October 2012)

The Scottish International Storytelling Festival is an autumnal celebration of storytelling - both traditional and contemporary - in the Edinburgh-based Scottish Storytelling Centre. Though it takes place in October, this Festival is not unlike its…

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Edge Festival

The 2012 Edge Festival has been cancelled. Formerly known as T on the Fringe, August’s largest pop music festival, The Edge, has already managed to impress festival-goers and critics alike with that same enthusiasm and love for a tune that…

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Forest Fringe

Forest Fringe 2012 details are as yet unconfirmed. The Forest Fringe is truly the embodiment of what is 'on the fringe'. Throughout the year the volunteer-run Forest Café is home to free workshops in a multitude of disparate activities, from…

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Edinburgh International Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace Festival

With spiritual retreats, workshops and conferences, the festival welcomes guests from across the UK and further afield to enrich the sense of cultural exchange. The Middle Eastern Film Festival is included under the MESP banner, with a series of events…

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Edinburgh International Science Festival

Do you ever want to learn, but don't want to go through the rigmarole of reading things and writing notes and paying proper attention to very dull people in hot, busy classrooms? Don't worry, Edinburgh has the solution for you. And there's no…

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Edinburgh Beltane Fire Festival

What’s that coming over Calton Hill? Yes, it’s the annual Beltane Fire Festival, complete with fire, frolics and lashings of body paint (and a lot of cold, cold bodies underneath it). Celebrating the beginning of the summer season, this unique…

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Imaginate Festival

Earlier than the others which huddle under the Edinburgh Festivals umbrella in August, this Festival takes place in May and June, both in the Capital and on tour throughout Scotland (sometimes reaching as as far as Shetland). Like its more prominent…

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