Travel tips
Edinburgh Festival
Today’s blog post is by Andrew Jamieson who works as a 9flats scout in Scotland. Scouts are our eyes and ears on the ground and provide services such as taking photos of your apartment and checking that it matches your description. Scout-approved accommodation get the green thumbs up and rank higher in our pages.
My name is Andy and I have been working with 9flats.com as a Property Scout this summer. I have lived in Scotland for over twenty years and wanted to tell you about the Edinburgh festival from a locals view point. I hope you enjoy the article and can come and experience the festival and all Scotland has to offer!
As city breaks go, a trip to Edinburgh during the festival is hard to beat! Aside from being home to Edinburgh Castle, an 11th century volcano top castle, world class museums and being the Scottish Capital, Edinburgh is also home to the Worlds’ largest arts festival.
To be technically correct, the Edinburgh Festival is a whole series of festivals which take part simultaneously, mainly, in August. From comedy to theatre to dance to opera, music, poetry, science, food and books, most tastes are catered for. The two most famous festivals are the Edinburgh International Festival from the 12th of August to the 4th of September and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Fringe, 5th-29th of August.
According to its organisers, the mission of the Edinburgh International Festival is “to be the most exciting, innovative and accessible of the performing arts in the World.” In comparison to the Fringe, it is more mainstream, sophisticated and intellectual with a focus on opera, classical music and theatre. This year’s theme is Asia meets Europe, and includes the premiere of an adaption of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which is reset in 5th century Korea! Other shows include performances from Scottish Ballet, Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and much much more.
The Fringe has been running for over 60 years and unlike the International Festival, there is no selection committee choosing who can and can’t perform. It is widely touted as an alternative to the International festival and a more relaxed and offbeat affair. The most prevalent shows here are comedy followed by theatre. The Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, in 2009 there were approximately 1.8 million tickets sold for over 34,000 performances of 2,098 different shows in 265 venues! To help navigate yourself around the organised chaos that is the Fringe, try the official app.
Since it is so popular, accommodation in Edinburgh during the festival guests booked up months in advance. An increasingly popular alternative is to stay in Glasgow and take the train through for the day. Trains run very frequently, up to every 15 minutes, and take less than an hour to get to Edinburgh. If on a budget, why not stay at one of this central flat which is a two minute walk from the train station. If you are after some luxury then try out this stylish apartment.