The Fringe fills twenty-five days of August with comedy and everything else, in hundreds of venues across Edinburgh. Here is the city round them: choose a room, see what is near its door, save the places you want and plan the hours either side.
The 2027 programme isn't out yet. Until it is, choose one of the Fringe's big comedy venues and every place below is measured from it; before or after a show, the planner on your Vision Board does the sums.
A show's published start time is not its door time or its end. Tickets and changes: the festival's own site.
The end time is yours to set: festivals publish starts, not finishes.
Forty-one places, from a castle and a royal yacht to a hog-roast roll and a day by the Forth Bridge. Each card's picture is its own pin.
41 places
Open from 9:30am every day, high over the city. Tickets often sell out far ahead in summer, so book online; in August the Tattoo's stands fill the Esplanade. From Waverley it's a short walk, uphill all the way.
The Esplanade, Edinburgh EH1 2NG
Thousands of objects across dozens of galleries on Chambers Street. Free, with charges for some exhibitions; open every day, 10am to 5pm.
Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF
Every Sunday all year, 10am to 4pm: independent traders with hot food, bread, cakes, meat, fish, art and crafts.
Saunders Street, Edinburgh EH3 6TQ
Hills, cliffs and lochs in the middle of the city, and Arthur's Seat, an ancient volcano, looking out over all of it. Road closures in the park are posted on its page.
Queen's Drive, Edinburgh
Floors of hands-on illusions on Castlehill, the Camera Obscura show and a rooftop terrace. Open every day; book online to be sure of getting in.
549 Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 2ND
The King's official home in Edinburgh, at the foot of the Royal Mile and open all year. A free multimedia guide of about an hour leads through rooms of Mary, Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie. A working palace, it can close at short notice.
Canongate, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH8 8DX
More than 70 acres a mile north of the centre, with the Rock Garden, the Chinese Hillside and views back over the skyline. Open daily from 10am; the restored Palm Houses take tickets. Buses 8, 9, 23 and 27 run to its East Gate.
Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR
Seven miles south, a chapel founded in 1446 and known for its carved stonework and the Apprentice Pillar. Open 9am to 5pm, Sunday from noon, in 90-minute slots: book ahead. Lothian bus 37 takes 45 to 60 minutes from Princes Street.
Chapel Loan, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PU
Indian dishes as small plates to share, in the Old Town near the National Museum. Every day from noon, last orders 9:30pm; book online.
3-5 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT
A pub in a house built in 1759, named for the two old pear trees by its door, with a beer garden and a big screen. Open noon to 1am every day, with food from noon.
38 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9DD
Live bands every night in the South Bridge vaults, opposite the Tron Kirk, and free to get in: look for the red neon sign and go down the stairs. Monday is open mic.
4-6 South Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1LL
On the Royal Mile. Visitors aged 16 and over who don't live in Scotland now pay to go in; booking ahead gets you in faster and covers the guided tours and the Thistle Chapel. Open daily, from 1pm on Sundays.
High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1RE
Seen on a guided tour only, on the Royal Mile across from St Giles'. Tours sell out, so book days or weeks ahead; from June to August only standard tickets are sold.
2 Warriston's Close, Edinburgh EH1 1PG
Free to visit, with no booking to look round, across from the Palace of Holyroodhouse. In recess it opens Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm; free guided tours run on some days, best booked. Expect airport-style security.
Horse Wynd, Edinburgh EH99 1SP
The kirk is free to visit, but in August it is a Fringe venue and closed to general visits on many days. The kirkyard stays open day and night, all year.
Greyfriars Place, Edinburgh EH1 2QQ
Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson, in Lady Stair's Close off the Lawnmarket. Free, open every day 10am to 5pm, last entry 4:30pm.
Lady Stair's Close, Edinburgh EH1 2PA
Open every day, 10am to 5pm; buy tickets at reception on the day, with no booking. Its displays include human remains: for ages 10 and over, and under-16s come with an adult.
Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9DW
Whisky tours from 10am, the last at 7pm, on Castlehill. Look under 25 and you'll be asked for ID; the shop can be visited without a tour.
354 Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 2NE
A National Trust for Scotland property on the Royal Mile, open daily 10am to 3pm: go round on your own until 2:30pm with no booking, or join the 3pm guided tour. A steep spiral stair leads up; ice cream and coffee on the ground floor.
477B Lawnmarket, Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 2NT
The sweep of Victoria Street and West Bow down to the Grassmarket, restaurants stacked over shops in brightly painted buildings: one of the most photographed streets in the city.
Victoria Street, Edinburgh
An old market place below the castle, now lined with independent shops, bars and restaurants, and best seen on foot. Buses 8, 27 and 41 stop close by.
Grassmarket, Edinburgh
The National Galleries' gallery on the Mound, between Princes Street Gardens' two halves, open daily 10am to 5pm.
The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL
Free to visit, with charges for some exhibitions, and open daily 10am to 5pm, ten minutes' walk from the National and fifteen from the Royal Mile.
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD
Up here for a bird's-eye view of the city, among the National Monument, the Nelson Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument and the City Observatory. Be ready for a few steps.
Calton Hill, Edinburgh
Open daily 10am to 5pm, shut for lunch 12:30 to 1:45pm. Tickets at the kiosk, by card only: no booking and no under-5s, and it's stairs all the way to the top.
East Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh EH2 2EJ
Thirty-seven acres of park in the castle's shadow, split by the Mound into East and West, with the Ross Fountain and the Ross Bandstand.
Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
A stop on the Water of Leith Walkway, between the Modern galleries and Stockbridge; the riverside path runs on to Leith, about 3.5 miles from Stockbridge. The bridge at Powderhall is still closed.
Dean Village, Edinburgh
A concert hall for up to 2,200 between the Royal Lyceum and Traverse theatres: classical, rock and pop, dance, spoken word and more.
Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH1 2EA
From April to October, first entry 9:30am, last at 4pm, closing at 6pm, and you stay as long as you like. The way in is on the second floor of Ocean Terminal; the tram stops there.
Ocean Drive, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6JJ
Once the heart of the city's sea trade, now a place to eat and drink: The Ship on the Shore opened as a tavern and coffee house in 1834, and Leith has three restaurants with Michelin stars.
The Shore, Leith, Edinburgh
One of the city's best-loved seaside spots, three miles from the centre; buses 19 and 26 run there from Princes Street.
Portobello Promenade, Edinburgh
Open 10am to 6pm from April to September, last entry an hour before closing; book online ahead. The penguin parade is on hold because of avian flu, and the lemur walkthrough is shut.
134 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh EH12 6TS
Hog-roast rolls on Victoria Street, every day from 11am until the pork runs out.
34 Victoria Street, Edinburgh EH1 2JW
An Old Town bar open noon to midnight every day, with whiskies of its own bottling sold only over its bar.
80 West Bow, Edinburgh EH1 2HH
A historic oyster bar and restaurant in the middle of the city, open to 11pm and to 1am Thursday to Saturday, food until 9:30pm. The bar is for over-18s.
19 West Register Street, Edinburgh EH2 2AA
A shop, caffè bar and restaurant on Elm Row, trading since 1934: Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, last caffè orders 4:45pm. There's a second one in Jenners on Princes Street.
19 Elm Row, Edinburgh EH7 4AA
Open 8am to 11pm, to midnight Thursday to Saturday. Mostly walk-in: after 6pm only groups of six or more can book, and the wait can run to an hour.
3a St Andrew Square, Edinburgh EH2 2BD
A World Heritage Site since 2015 that carries trains only. Take the train to Dalmeny for South Queensferry, where there's a viewpoint, a coffee kiosk and boat trips that go under the bridges.
South Queensferry, Edinburgh
A day on the coast, 35 minutes by train and a 15-minute walk downhill. Open daily, 10am to 6pm from April to August; book the wildlife boat trips out to the gannets and puffins ahead.
Scottish Seabird Centre, North Berwick EH39 4SS
Under half an hour by train from Edinburgh, then a short walk. Open daily 9:30am to 5pm from April to September; book online. The North Range, the King's Bed Chamber and the Court Kitchen are closed for conservation.
Kirkgate, Linlithgow EH49 7AL
The Fringe's own box office, entered through the Fringe Shop on the Royal Mile. Its Half Price Hut sells same-day tickets from the festival's first Wednesday; 2027's opening hours aren't out yet.
180 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1QS
Every place round the venue you chose, at its straight-line distance. Streets, rivers and stairs make the real way longer: the route link on each card asks a map for it.
Save the places you want, here in this browser, then see whether one fits round your show. Download it or print it to take along.
Nothing saved yet: press ♡ Save on a place above.
The festival's dates, its venues and the shows listed here come from Edinburgh Festival Fringe's own pages: its schedule ↗ and its venues ↗. Its line-up is not out yet: shows join this page when the festival announces them. Checked 17 October 2026.
Every place links to its own site, which has the last word: hours, prices, bookings and what is on all change, so look before you set out. Distances here are straight lines between points on OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), never walking distances.
The pins' city scene is AI-assisted art from the Guide's own Pintastic Voyage kit (see the Credits).
