Welcome Oh dear, our well-kept secret is out. Rough Guides, as part of its 25th 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. An allocation of tickets for the end of the International festival firework concert will go on sale on Monday July 21st, 2008. Fringe competition - win £100 worth of tickets. If you are on the Fringe email list you will have received the details of this competition by now. If you are not then you can find the info here. Closing date for entries is August 1st, 2008 at 10:00am. Saving money on art exhibitions ... note that if you plan to go to more than one exhibition that comes under the auspices of the National Galleries of Scotland (Portrait Gallery, Modern Art Gallery, National Gallery of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy) you can purchase a summer season ticket for 2, 3 or 4 exhibitions. For example, the full price to get into 3 exhibitions is £18-£20 while a summer season ticket will cost £14. There is also a concession summer season ticket (£10 for 3 shows). See here for full details. You can purchase them at the galleries or on the web. Site last updated on July 27th, 2008.

Latest Top Items More problems with Fringe booking system Art programme on web site Initial art reviews Picks & Previews Programme Launches ... International Festival ... Fringe ... Forest Fringe ... Book Festival ... Art Festival ... Jazz & Blues festival Comedy "gang of 4" saga ... initial news ... further reaction ...more in the Herald ...pre Fringe programme launch gnashing of teeth ... post launch and the debate continues ... no sponsor ... city council joins fray Read all the news

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

Over at the Fringe, the programme was launched on June 5th, 2008. 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.

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:

• International Festival. Festival dates 8th-31st August 2008
• Fringe. Festival dates 3rd-25th August 2008
• Book Festival. Festival dates 9th-25th August 2008
• Film Festival. Finished.
• Jazz & Blues Festival. Festival dates 25th July - 3rd August 2008.
• Art Festival. Festival dates 31st July - 31st August 2008.
• Military Tattoo. 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 plus recent years 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