Events and Attractions

Drink in world-famous brands and learn from cocktail experts during this five-day international festival that celebrates the best mixology has to offer. Tales of the Cocktail travels across the sea from the US to bring education seminars by day and special events celebrating Edinburgh’s diverse cocktail culture by night.

Edinburgh Comic Con returns for a fourth year, with an extensive selection of illustrators and traders, special guests, and talent – perfect for all fantasy fans. Confirmed guests include comic book creator Garry Brown, Claudia Christian from Babylon 5 and Richard Oldfield from Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

Join hundreds of performers and thousands of revellers as they come together on Calton Hill to celebrate the ancient Gaelic festival of Beltane. This year marks the 30th anniversary of modern Beltane celebrations, which sees painted performers re-enact fire rituals marking the death of winter and the birth of summer on one of the most magical nights of the year.

Imaginate is Scotland’s international festival of performing arts for children and young people. It celebrates the best of children’s theatre and dance from Scotland and around the world to an audience of around 10,000 children, their teachers, and families each year.

Fans of two wheels can immerse themselves in Edinburgh’s cycling culture over 10 days in the capital. The Edinburgh Festival of Cycling has been listed as one of Active Traveller Magazine’s top 10 cycling festivals in Europe for 2017 and is aimed at challenging people’s perceptions of cycling putting Edinburgh on the international map as a cycling city. Events range from rides (both sporty and otherwise) and family activities, to cultural offerings.

Edinburgh International Film Festival showcases the most exciting, original and challenging new films from across the globe. Filmmakers, industry professionals and film fans converge on the capital city for a dynamic programme of fiction and documentary work that is intimate in scale but big in scope. You might even spot some stars of the screen at premiere events.

Based in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, the Architecture Fringe is an open platform for architects, photographers, engineers, landscape architects, visual artists, curators and musicians to explore architecture and its impact on our lives. Exhibitions, performances, discussions, screenings, installations, lectures, walks, music and temporary structures are all to be explored throughout Edinburgh over most of July.

Founded in 2004, Edinburgh Art Festival is the UK’s largest annual festival of visual art. It brings together the capital’s leading galleries, museums and artist-run spaces, along with new public art commissions by established and emerging artists, and an innovative programme of special events. Mostly free to attend, it includes pop-up venues, evening performances and artist talks.

The Edinburgh International Festival is a three-week celebration of the finest creators and performers from the worlds of theatre dance music and opera. Must-see events are Bloom – a large-scale sound and light installation that is projected onto Edinburgh’s iconic buildings – and the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert in Prince Street Gardens. Set against the iconic backdrop of Edinburgh’s historic Castle, this spectacular event brings together stirring orchestral music from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and magnificent pyrotechnics to make the end of the festival.

Readers can rejoice at the International Book Festival, with more than 800 authors in over 700 events. The programme includes novelists, poets, scientists, philosophers, sportsmen, illustrators, comic creators, historians, musicians, biographers, environmentalists, economists and Nobel and Booker prize-winners. Set in a specially created tented village in the heart of Edinburgh, it brings readers and writers of all ages together for inspiration, entertainment and discussion.

The Edinburgh Horror Festival is one of the first of its kind in the UK. Fans of the paranormal, supernatural, gothic and horror can revel in themes shows at Lauriston castle and experience magic, seances, theatre and ghost hunts with the festival’s popular variety night.

Experience a traditional Scottish Christmas with a funfair, Christmas markets, ice skating, free events and shows, and much more.

Many a sore head has been cured by jumping into the freezing water of the River Forth on New Year’s Day. The Loony Dook is a breath-taking annual dip that has been taking place at South Queensferry for 30 years. Join thousands of Dookers as they take the icy plunge in the shadow of the world-famous Forth Bridges.