Edinburgh, at time of writing, is in the final week or so of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It’s much too busy in the major thoroughfares and a lot of people would be put out by this. The city doubles in population for the month. And it’s not just the Fringe. It’s the whole festivals season that brings this many in. Does Edinburgh in August have too many people? Is this overtourism? Let’s explore together.
What do you love about where you live?
Background
Bit of history. The International Festival was started in 1947 to bring the world back together after the Second World War. Comedians weren’t invited so invited themselves the next year, calling themselves the Fringe after a comment from a critic.
The military got involved in 1950 with the Royal Military Tattoo, an incredible spectacle of military bands and their displays.
There’s something for everyone. If you like classical artistry, the International Festival brings that all here. If you like off-beat comedy, that’s even more available than ever. (Normally you have to go on our walking tours for that). And if you want to see incredible military pomp we have that, too.
It’s no wonder we get so many people and the hotels become so expensive.
The cost to Edinburgh
It’s a massive hassle. To put it more mildly, it’s a pain in the arse.
The City Centre becomes almost unnavigable in large parts. The High Street and Lawnmarket areas of the Royal Mile become dense walls sometimes and slow-moving hordes at others. The George IV Bridge becomes a narrow nightmare.
There’s tons of noise. Millions of flyers. It means that every new building project which isn’t student housing is instead a hotel, at a time when the council has declared a housing emergency, then proceeded to do literally nothing to fix it. Every restaurant and pub uses it as an excuse to hike prices and they don’t often come down again afterwards. It’d be nice if there were local prices and visitor prices, some places in the Scottish Highlands do this.
There’s a lot of problems with hosting all of these people at once.
But I’m an eternal font of optimism
I love Edinburgh in August. It might be the busiest and most annoying time, and I’m highly aware of that as I have major sensory problems with huge crowds, and I despise walking slowly, but do you know what?
It’s like the whole world gets to see what I see all the time.
Edinburgh is an amazing city all over. It’s got brilliant architecture, lots of stuff to do, an incredible history, amazing tour guides, and all of that in a city which is about 1/18 the size of London.
| Comparisons | Population | Marks out of 10 |
| London | 8.95 million | 5 |
| Edinburgh | 0.5 million | 10 |
I love that we have incredible green spaces and quieter backstreets not even very far from where all the action is. The Royal Mile is full of people but it’s basically supposed to be full of people, it was a market street. Does it have too many tourist shops? Definitely, there’s 72 of them and they’re almost all the same (take a look at our recommendations instead).
Conclusion
My job is selling walking tours so of course my conclusion is always going to be to come to Edinburgh and go on one. But getting away from that for a minute, the thing which is so good about Edinburgh in August is that it is the city at its most lively and city like. It’s a time where there’s so much energy here you can really understand why this was an Enlightenment capital and “the Athens of the North“. Even the annoying bits have their charms. There is joy to be found in the huge numbers of people because sometimes they have dogs and stories and interesting things to say. There is hope in the flyer givers who are most often the performers themselves and they want to show you what they have to offer – it’s a hard gig in a city with so much on. And basically, yeah, it’s a great place to be for two days.
Does Edinburgh in August have too many people? Absolutely, but that doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
Also, I’m so glad I no longer do Harry Potter tours. JK Rowling’s beliefs are only getting worse.
The writer of this piece is looking forward to getting outside.
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