Oh dear, our well-kept secret is out. Rough Guides, as part of its 25^th anniversary, promoted what it described as “ultimate experiences” across the world. In the UK the editors and writers voted the Edinburgh Festival as the top tourist experience. This has been followed recently by Wanderlust's awards where Edinburgh came 10th in the Best City category while the festival came 3rd and the Fringe 6th in the Best Festival category.

These pages hopefully contain useful information on Edinburgh and its August festivals for all fellow punters, both established and new. It should be particularly helpful to those who are trying the festival for the first time. However, beware all you newbies - you may get hooked! To get a flavour of the effect that Edinburgh can have on punters and artists alike, read ...

The World's Greatest Art Event and How to Survive It, written in 2006 by comedian Stewart Lee,
or Tales of the Unexpected written by Lyn Gardner before the 2007 festival.

Site last updated on 17th May, 2008.

The first sign of the 2008 August Feast has occurred with the publication of the International Festival's programme on the 2nd April 2008. See the initial thoughts of the media.

Over at the Fringe the current out-of-festival controversy surrounds the proposed introduction of an Edinburgh Comedy Festival by four of the Fringe super venues. Meanwhile, bad news for dance and physical theatre fans, the Aurora Nova venue will not be open at this year's festival. See the news snippets for the latest information on these and other stories.

It is now time to think about pre-ordering your Fringe programme which will become available in early June.

If you are interested in getting on the mailing list of a particular festival, and /or becoming a friend / supporter to receive advanced information along with advanced booking facilities the useful links page contains all the relevant links in the mailing list / friends / supporters section.

Here are some dates for your diary. Missing information will be added when it becomes available:

• International Festival. Tickets now on sale; festival dates 8th-31st August 2008
• Fringe. Programme launch on 5th June 2008; public booking opens on 9th June 2008; festival dates 3rd-25th August 2008
• Book Festival. Programme available on 12th June 2008; public booking from 20th June 2008; festival dates 9th-25th August 2008
• Film Festival. Programme is now available; tickets now on sale; festival dates (18th-29th June 2008). Remember that it has moved to June!
• Jazz & Blues Festival. Festival dates 25th July - 3rd August 2008.
• Art Festival. See the preview page for some of the exhibitions that will form part of the festival. Programme scheduled to be published mid-June. Festival dates 31st July - 31st August 2008.
• Military Tattoo. Booking has been in progress since late 2007; Tattoo dates 1st-23rd August 2008.

If you want to look back at the 2007 festival:

• news snippets (Aug 2006-Aug 2007)
• info, plus links to launches, previews, articles, et cetera
• final pre-festival thoughts.
• info on reviews and awards
• summary of 2007 visit.

You can also find Jonathan Mills' reflections on the 2007 International Festival here and the Book Festival's annual review for 2007 here.

Apart from info on this year’s festival you will find a freely available book, The August Feast: A Punter's Perspective on Edinburgh & its Festivals on this site. It includes the following sections which can each be browsed individually:

• a history of the main August festivals (also in pdf)
• a light-hearted personal account of visits to the Festival (pdf only)
• the problems of choosing from 2000+ shows on the Fringe (pdf only)
• useful links to individual festivals, venues, places to find reviews of shows, blogs, et cetera
• and finally, for those who are intrigued by the city and its architecture, a potted history of Auld Reekie (pdf only).

If you wish, you can download the entire book (pdf only).

I have added my thoughts on some of the threats to the future of the festival.

There is a list of Fringe venues with links to their web sites (where they exist). These web sites usually provide more information on shows than the rather terse descriptions that are found in the Fringe brochure.

• Fringe Venues – Performing Arts
• Fringe Venues - Event/Exhibition(s) only

And finally, you will find:

• some pictures
• bibliography & further reading for those who are interested in delving deeper