Krause Travels

Edinburgh is cool. It’s got castles, medieval streets, scenic climbs, beer, whiskey, food, history, friendly tourist-tolerant people—pretty much everything a visitor could want for a few days of sightseeing. Most of all, though, once a year, it has the Fringe.

The Fringe is a performing arts festival that takes up the whole city for three weeks in August for thousands of shows featuring comics, magicians, musicians, dancers, actors, and street performers. You can see a different act just about every hour of every day for the whole three weeks and never see the same one twice. Anyone can mount a show, and the festival is famous for helping launch the careers of people you’ve heard of, like Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson aka Mr. Bean, and Alan Rickman.

Lots of Americans, at least the ones we know, have never heard of The Fringe, but it’s worth a trip to Edinburgh just for that, never mind the castles and beer. We loved it so much a couple of years ago that we’re back to take it all in again.

Shows take place in dozens of venues all over the city, and we spend three days pinging around from one place to another to see ten shows. We see internet-famous acts like Michael Spicer and Jimmy Rees for the first time and return to see a new show by our 2024 favorite, The Thinking Drinkers, two former journalists who tell jokes and stories about alcohol while you drink it. Drinking and comedy is our favorite combination, so we also see In Pour Taste, two comedians who lead the audience through five wine tastings. Our favorite show this year though is Shamilton, an improv musical with the show tunes from Hamilton but improvised on a subject suggested by the audience, this time Margaret Thatcher. The talent of these singers and comics is unbelievable.

In between shows, we eat, or sit and relax with a drink in one of the many pubs throughout the city, or go on a sightseeing tour. It really is possible to do it all during the Fringe.

Fringe organizers have been doing this festival since the 1950s so they’ve got logistics down to a science with a great website, app, and a centrally located office staffed with helpful volunteers. But book early. Shows with buzz sell out and lodging fills up fast. If you’re looking for a modestly priced, quiet place to stay, we recommend housing on the University of Edinburgh campus. It’s a bit outside the hubbub of the city center but within walking distance of most of the shows as well as Holyrood Castle, which is worth a visit. The rooms are basic with twin beds, but the included breakfast is among the best we’ve ever had, and the university grounds are peaceful and beautifully landscaped.

The scenery, the sights, and the Fringe have enticed us back to Edinburgh three times, and we may return again some day, but now we’re looking forward to flying to Paris to pick up the bicycles we left in a car park bike cage last year and head to the Loire Valley for our first cycling trip in two years. We can’t wait!