How affordable are Edinburgh's festivals?Image source, Getty ImagesByAimee Stanton and Andrew Picken, BBC ScotlandPublished11 August 2026Updated 12 August 2026Edinburgh is home to one of the world's biggest cultural events every summer as it is transformed into a festival city.The Scottish capital hosts the Fringe, the International Festival and the Military Tattoo alongside film, art and book festivals during August.Complaints about soaring prices in the city are nothing new – but recent years have seen increasing concerns about the cost of attending its summer festivals.So how affordable is the city for acts and audiences? BBC Scotland has analysed some of the main costs for festival-goers to see if they really are paying more.Feeling the impact of rising costsImage caption, Kaitlyn Smith says a day out at the festivals has become more expensiveKaitlyn Smith has attended the Fringe every year since moving to Edinburgh from Orkney 10 years ago.She has worked handing out flyers as a way to offset the expense of seeing a range of performances over the course of a day.The 25-year-old said the cost was the "biggest barrier" to local people getting the full festival experience."A full day out at the Fringe, you can spend £100 or £200 in a day," she said."If you are coming on holiday, you know you are coming to the Fringe. You know that you are saving up money to see it, but we're here the whole month and obviously we would like to try and do the Fringe as well."But you are paying £7 or £8 for a pint, £10 or £12 for food - that's one meal. And that's not even starting on your tickets for shows."She added: "I think the shows are worth it, but if you want to see a big volume, you just can't."What makes the city so expensive?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The Royal Mile is one of the city's popular destinations during the festivalsDarren Neale, venue director at Greenside Venue in Edinburgh, told BBC Scotland that almost every cost associated with running a Fringe venue had increased significantly over the years.He said utilities, insurance, technical equipment, transport and other operational costs had risen for the venue - but housing had seen the most dramatic change."The cost of staying in Edinburgh during August has risen exponentially over the last decade, creating challenges not only for performers but also for the staff and freelancers who make the festival possible," he said."We have seen our accommodation cost rise on average by 300% in the last decade."He added: "The festival's affordability is one of the reasons it has become the world's largest arts festival, and there is a real balance to be struck between paying people fairly, covering rising costs and keeping live theatre within reach of audiences."How much have accommodation costs increased?The price of finding somewhere to stay during August has long been an issue for the city and its festivals.A slump in Fringe sales in 2022 was blamed on rising accommodation costs but sales recovered in the subsequent years, topping 2.6 million last year.Earlier this year the city lost the TV festival to Manchester, with organisers citing challenges around "accessibility, affordability and sustainability".Figures shared with BBC Scotland from commercial real estate data group Costar suggest average hotel prices have been growing year on year since 2019.The average daily room rate in 2025 was just over £260, an increase of 9% on the previous August and 64% on pre-Covid levels. In comparison, the rate was £110 in Glasgow and £81 in Manchester.Staying in self-catering accommodation is not much cheaper.Figures from Visit Britain suggest renting an entire property in Edinburgh to sleep one or two people cost visitors £204.68 a day in August in 2025. The Glasgow rate was £161.67 and it was £106.92 in Manchester.However, the price for a short-term let can vary dramatically depending on the type – such as a private or shared room within property or booking an entire home - and the number of people.Visitors staying in Edinburgh this year will also have to pay the city's new tourist tax - an additional 5% on top of their original booking cost for the first five nights.Due to a lack of publicly available data, we were unable to analyse festival accommodation costs at university-run establishments.Last year 1.5 million tickets were bought by people with an Edinburgh postcode, up from 1.4 million in 2024.But high housing costs for those living in the city are not restricted to August. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), external suggests the capital boasts some of the highest average rents in the country.What about the price of tickets?Image source, Getty ImagesBut what about the cost of going to shows?We analysed the average price of the cheapest ticket at the six August festivals - nearly 600,000 shows since between 2016 and 2026 - to explore if prices have changed over the last decade.Our analysis found average ticket prices (excluding booking fees) increased in cash terms from £10 to £12.80.When adjusted for inflation, the price of this year's cheapest ticket has actually fallen over the last decade. The figure is £1.37 less than it was 10 years ago, when the average cost was £14.17.Sticking with real terms, average prices of the cheapest ticket were slightly higher before the pandemic but have broadly stayed around £12.75 since 2021 - despite the rising overheads for performers, production companies and venues.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Ticket prices make for an interesting picture in EdinburghThe figures also vary by festival.Over the last decade the average lowest ticket price increased in real terms from £19.83 to £20 at Edinburgh International Festival.However, there has been a real term decrease at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, from £14.17 to £12.80.Real term prices have fallen from £17 to £15.50 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and from £14.17 to £12 at the Edinburgh International Film Festiv
