fringe theatre festival , Edinburgh , Info wanted

Has anyone been to this theatre festival ? How are the tickets sold? Are there any time shares in this area, or do you have a suggestion for a small rental flat.Is a car necessary? What is the best time to go? Does it get very crowded? How is the weather? Thank you for any information . Beth

sandiego said:

Has anyone been to this theatre festival ? How are the tickets sold? Are there any time shares in this area, or do you have a suggestion for a small rental flat.Is a car necessary? What is the best time to go? Does it get very crowded? How is the weather? Thank you for any information . Beth

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We are going to the Fringe Festival this August for the first time. However, my daughter's BF lives in Scotland, so we've gotten a lot of info. from him.

You can buy tickets online now - they have a website http://www.edfringe.com/ You can also buy tickets after you arrive. Some things are free. Most shows have half-price tickets for some shows as well. The first weekend of the event many shows are half-price and the week before, many shows are heavily discounted. Note that it's not all theater - it's everything from music, to comedy, to performance art, to Penis Puppets (I'm not kidding!) They have a printed catalog that you can buy online starting in June. It's the size of a small telephone book!

We rented a flat for a week that I found online. However, if you are talking about going this August, you may have a problem finding accomodations at this late date since this is a huge event.

I understand that it gets very crowded - this is the biggest event of it's kind in Europe. By "best time to go," do you mean time of day or which days? If you like walking and stay in Central Edinburgh you won't need a car for the festival itself. My daughter says expect cool weather, compared to what we are used to in CA in the summer. We are taking coats and umbrellas.

Feel free to email me if you have more questions. (Click on my name)

My recommendation is to not buy tickets in advance unless you have a must see. The exception is Tatoo which is a must see but at this late date would be probably unavailable. The catalogue is available on the website. The wonderful thing about fringe is also it's most problematic. There are so many things happening at once, it is overwhelming. There is a free carnival like atmosphere on th royal mile. You can pick up a directory there and decide what you would like to see. When we were there two years ago, in one day we took an underground tour of the city, went to a Brahms concert (while the other half of the family went to a political puppet review), saw the Chinese circus and then went to tatoo. Chose not to catch the midnight showing of any of the performances but could have if we wanted to see something else. There were about 200 choices per day of things to do.

Weather in Scotland is always unpredictable so come prepared. The fringe lasts the month of August and as far as I know is always crowded. I parked my rental car and did not use it.

This year I will be going for two nights (14-16). I am returning my rental car upon my arrival to Edinburgh and will take a cab to the airport on the 16th.

If I can be of any further help, let me know

The Tattoo sold out within hours, but there are still lots of tickets on ebay. That's where we got ours.