Your Guide to Scotland's Capital
Edinburgh events calendar
Use this month-by-month guide to find Edinburgh’s biggest festivals, sporting events, seasonal celebrations, and citywide dates. We check dates against event organisers and link to our fuller Edinburgh247 listings wherever one is available.
Last checked: 1 August 2026. Dates marked TBC have not yet been announced by the organiser.
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New Year celebrations and Burns Night
Costumed swimmers take a New Year’s Day dip in the Firth of Forth at South Queensferry. Spectators can watch from the waterfront, while participant registration arrangements vary.
Venues across Edinburgh mark Robert Burns’ birthday with suppers, ceilidhs, poetry, whisky tastings, and live music. Individual programmes and booking dates vary.
International rugby and visual theatre
Scotland open their 2027 Men’s Six Nations campaign at Scottish Gas Murrayfield, with kick-off scheduled for 2.10pm.
Wales visit Murrayfield for the Doddie Weir Cup in Scotland’s second home fixture of the 2027 championship. Kick-off is listed for 4.40pm.
Manipulate Arts launches a new Edinburgh platform for experimental puppetry, animation, and visual theatre. The full international Manipulate Festival returns in 2028.
Six Nations under the Murrayfield lights
Scotland’s final home match of the 2027 Men’s Six Nations is a Friday-night fixture against Ireland at Scottish Gas Murrayfield, kicking off at 8.10pm.
Science, music, folk traditions, and fire
Concerts, workshops, courses, and sessions bring harp players and audiences to George Watson’s College for the festival’s 2027 edition.
Hands-on activities, talks, exhibitions, experiments, and family events return across the city for more than two weeks.
Calton Hill hosts the annual fire, drumming, procession, and performance event marking the arrival of summer.
Traditional Scottish music meets folk sounds from around the world through concerts, sessions, storytelling, workshops, talks, and ceilidhs.
Family performance and a major running weekend
World-class theatre, dance, and circus for children and families runs across Edinburgh, beginning with the festival’s popular Family Day.
The two-day programme includes the marathon, half marathon, team relay, 10K, 5K, and junior races, with city-centre starts and routes towards East Lothian.
Community festivals and Scotland’s largest agricultural show
Leith’s annual programme combines live music, theatre, art, markets, community events, and the Gala Day across neighbourhood venues.
The volunteer-led festival brings visual art, live music, theatre, film, and performance into an unusual or previously closed Edinburgh site.
Livestock, food and drink, rural skills, machinery, shopping, competitions, and family entertainment fill the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston.
Music, carnival, and a one-off sporting landmark
The men’s Tour de France starts in Edinburgh for the first time, with the opening stage travelling through the Scottish Borders towards Carlisle.
International performers, Scottish musicians, club shows, concerts, and free outdoor events fill venues across the city.
Hundreds of performers bring music, dance, costumes, parades, and international culture to central Edinburgh in one of the city’s largest free summer events.
Edinburgh’s main festival season
Thousands of comedy, theatre, music, circus, cabaret, dance, spoken-word, and family performances take over venues across Edinburgh.
A curated programme of opera, music, theatre, and dance brings major international artists and companies to leading Edinburgh venues.
Military bands, dancers, international performers, and large-scale effects fill the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade during the annual Tattoo.
The festival’s 79th edition presents independent cinema, premieres, filmmaker appearances, industry events, and public screenings across Edinburgh.
Commissions, exhibitions, installations, performance, and partner-gallery programmes appear across galleries and community spaces throughout the city.
Almost 600 writers from 41 countries appear in a 16-day programme of author events, debates, workshops, family activities, music, and performance.
Music and access to Edinburgh’s buildings
Psych, psychedelic rock, electronic music, and related sounds spread across several Edinburgh venues for a one-day multi-stage festival.
Historic buildings, civic spaces, workplaces, and normally closed sites welcome visitors for free tours, talks, and behind-the-scenes access.
Stories, folklore, and the arrival of winter
Storytellers, musicians, and tradition-bearers gather for live performances, workshops, talks, and community events rooted in Scotland’s oral culture.
Beltane Fire Society’s annual Halloween-night performance uses fire, drumming, movement, and storytelling to mark the Celtic transition into winter.
Edinburgh’s festive season begins
Edinburgh’s Christmas brings markets, fairground attractions, festive food, and seasonal events to the city centre. Individual attractions have their own opening times and ticket arrangements.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh hosts an after-dark trail with illuminated installations, music, fire features, and seasonal food and drink.
Christmas and Edinburgh’s New Year celebrations
The four-day programme begins with the Torchlight Procession and includes concerts, the city-centre Street Party, fireworks, and New Year’s Day events.
For wider figures on tourism, transport, population, and the city economy, see our Edinburgh statistics page.