Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Edinburgh Festival
The world-famous Edinburgh Festival
draws in visitors and performers from
all over the globe in August. Their pres-
ence alone transforms this small city,
making it feel like one of the most cos-
mopolitan-feeling communities on the
planet. The city center buzzes with
people, although you may find that
places like Leith remain relatively calm.
In addition to the principal Interna-
tional Festival, there is the more popu-
lar Fringe. Also coinciding with them is
the Topic Festival and a Jazz Festival.
The city's International Film Festival
used to take place then too, but it has
been moved to earlier in the summer.
For more details see p. 103.
typically the hours are Monday through Saturday from 9am to 7pm and Sunday from
10am to 7pm, though it is open later during the Festival and closes earlier in the
winter months.
City Layout
MAIN DISTRICTS & ARTERIES
Central Edinburgh is divided into the
Old Town,
where the city began, and the
larger
New Town,
where it expanded in the 1700s. Many visitors find lodgings in
New Town and tend to visit Old Town for sightseeing, dining, and drinking (note
that the local parlance generally drops the definite article “the” when referring to the
Old Town or the New Town; henceforth so shall I). There are hotels, however, in the
historic core of the city on
High Street
and in the
Grassmarket.
Almost everyone planning to travel to Edinburgh has heard of the
Royal Mile,
the main thoroughfare of Old Town, running from Edinburgh Castle in the west to
the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the east. Because of its once smoky skies, Old Town
earned the city the nickname “Auld Reekie.” Today, the air is fine and the district is
chock-a-block with tourist attractions, shops, and sidewalks full of out-of-town visi-
tors for most months of the year. Both British royalty and Scotland's
Parliament
(revived in 1999) are based in Old Town, as are city government offices and the
country's legal elite. An altogether more infamous street at the southern base of the
castle is the Grassmarket, where convicted criminals were once hanged on the gal-
lows—now it's home to restaurants, pubs, and hotels.
New Town
is actually fairly old. North of Old Town, on the other side of the
Princes Street Gardens,
New Town was first settled in the 18th century—about
one decade before the American Declaration of Independence was signed. By the
end of the 1700s, classic squares, streets, and town houses had been completed, and
the first New Town was soon expanded with more Georgian designs. New Town's
development was part of a “Golden Age of Edinburgh.”
New Town is the city's main shopping precinct today, with broad sidewalks and
smart shops, bars, and restaurants. Its busiest boulevard,
Princes Street,
offers
panoramic views of Old Town and Edinburgh Castle. Parallel to Princes Street is
New Town's second great boulevard,
George Street,
which begins at St. Andrew
Square and runs west to Charlotte Square. You may also hear a lot about
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