Edinburgh summer festivals

A view over Edinburgh

Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, is famous for its summer festivals. 

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises to check your understanding.

Edinburgh is the world’s festival city. There are twelve festivals throughout the year, half of which are celebrated during the months of July and August. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Scottish capital during the summer. Here are some of the events they can enjoy.

The Edinburgh International Festival

This is the original Edinburgh festival which began in 1947. Actors, musicians, dancers and opera singers from all over the world perform to huge audiences. You need tickets for most events which take place in theatres around the city.

The Edinburgh Art Festival

This festival is modern and has been celebrated for around ten years. It is a fantastic opportunity to see some of the city’s best visual art in art galleries and museums. Most events are free and include events such as fashion shows and art exhibitions.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This is the largest arts festival in the world with thousands of shows which take place across the city. Anyone can perform in the festival and over 20,000 artists take part, so there is always a huge variety of acts to choose from. Go to the Royal Mile, one of Edinburgh’s main streets, to watch performers such as magicians, acrobats and comedians for free. However, it can get very busy as thousands of tourists and local people fill the city streets to enjoy the shows.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

The largest book festival in the world began in 1983 and takes place every year in Charlotte Square Gardens in the centre of Edinburgh. There are over 700 events for children and adults who love books. You can meet many authors, talk to them, ask them to sign a book or listen to them talk about their stories. Children can listen to stories and watch illustrators draw pictures of the stories.

The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Music lovers come to this festival to enjoy music shows around the city. One of the highlights of this musical festival is the street carnival which is free to all. Artists perform street theatre, dance and circus shows in amazing costumes and everyone can enjoy the music and join in the dancing.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

This show is 65 years old and takes place every evening during the festival outside Edinburgh Castle. You can listen to pipers and drummers in military bands, watch traditional Scottish dancing and enjoy a firework display in the Edinburgh night sky. More than 200,000 people buy tickets to watch the show live and around 100 million people watch it on TV all over the world.

Discussion

Which of Edinburgh's summer festivals would you most like to see? 

Language level
Average: 2.8 (5 votes)
Personal online tutoring
EnglishScore Tutors is the British Council’s one-to-one tutoring platform for 13- to 17-year-olds.

Comments

Submitted by Winnie May Moe on Tue, 10/24/2023 - 12:29

Interesting!

Submitted by Kittykawaiiyi on Sun, 08/27/2023 - 20:40

Great

Submitted by theodore69 on Mon, 02/20/2023 - 07:17

I like this study break! get a few mistakes at matching but its ok!

Submitted by Arivelde on Wed, 06/02/2021 - 14:40

I really liked all of them, but the one that I've got most interested in was The Edinburgh International Book Festival, I really like reading books.
Profile picture for user empty

Submitted by empty on Sat, 08/10/2019 - 06:03

I really like to see the Edinburgh international book festival .Edinburgh is great !
Profile picture for user Youjiro

Submitted by Youjiro on Wed, 02/20/2019 - 07:43

I'd like to go Edinburgh international book festival to read book.I'm book lover so I want to see illustrator draws of pictures. some book store have book festival during holiday that take place in city park.I visited 2 weeks ago ,I bought three books myself.
Profile picture for user Batgirl

Submitted by Batgirl on Sun, 01/06/2019 - 16:47

I would really love to visit the Edinburgh Art and Book Festivals because I love listening to different stories and I'm really into art.
English courses near you