janisj

Gardyloo: You always give such good advice but (isn't there always a 'but' ) I'm not sure when the last time you attended the Fringe/Tattoo. My last visit isn't all that recent --it was in 2016 but the difference between the crowds even in 2000 and 2016 are almost unimaginable. My first visit was in the mid 80's (back then the International Festival was still almost as big a deal as the Fringe).

I attended in both 2015 and 2016 and before that in maybe 2003 or '04- I'm not 100% sure but early 2000's anyway. In '15/'16 The entire Royal Mile (all the way down to Canongate was like the photo. I couldn't believe the difference from just a decade+ before. Princes Street was wall to wall people. Princes Street Gardens was very busy. You could barely walk Grassmarket. The Botanic Gardens definitely was semi quiet but more people than I had ever seen on prior visits. The Britannia was fully booked up and no tix were available (I didn't mind that since I've been - but my friend was so disappointed).

Gardyloo

It's been a few years indeed, Janis, but my experience is colored by the fact that we always stayed with friends who had a big house in the New Town, so we never had to deal with the mobs in the Old Town. But the festivals have ALWAYS been a madhouse; if anything the city is much better equipped to deal with the big crowds now than they were before many Old Town streets (among others) were made traffic-free or before so many businesses - pubs, cafes, "pop ups" etc. were given the green light by the cooncillors.

I looked up a couple of videos from last summer, just as a reality check. For sure they show a lot of people, but it's not the kind of scene one would get outside Ibrox Stadium after Rangers have beat Celtic (or worse, the other way around.)

Of course peoples' tolerances are vastly different. The High Street seems more appealing on an August afternoon than Times Square on an August afternoon, given that Times Square is usually around 20 or 30 degrees hotter and twice as humid.