So you’d like to go to the Edinburgh Fringe but you haven’t booked anywhere to stay yet – is it a practical option on a budget?
Unfortunately for complicated-ish reasons there is a severe lack of short-term accommodation in Edinburgh during the Fringe, certainly compared with what there was ten years ago, and the odds of you getting an incredible bargain on a gorgeous apartment on the Royal Mile are somewhere close to nil. On the plus side, Oasis aren’t playing a sold out run of stadium shows during this year’s festival, so that will take a little pressume off the city’s accomodation stock in 2026.
However, don’t despair – here are five tips for sorting yourself out.
1. Throw (some) money at the problem
To state the obvious, there are always properties available, and yes, if you spend enough you’ll be okay. An unscientific survey of Airbnb in May 2026 suggests if you can stretch to about £200 a night you should be able to get a fairly basic single or double bedroom at peak Fringe – far, far higher than a decade ago but maybe it’s just easier to accept it’s expensive and concentrate on enjoying yourself. If you can divide a bedroom between two or a whol apartment between several you might even get a decent deal. Plus if you’re feeling brave, some of the more absurdly priced Aibnbs might drop their prices late, though don’t count on it.
2. Do it like a student
Part of the problem with short-term Fringe accommodation is that – long story short – a change in Scottish tenancy law a few years back meant that landlords were no longer able to put students on limited contracts with a ‘break’ for the Fringe. This doesn’t, however, affect student halls, which are by definition vacant in the summer and can usually be rented until fairly last minute. They start at around £150 a night now, which is ridiculous but cheaper than an Airbnb.
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3. Bunk up
If you look on the usual booking websites and find a miraculously cheap room in a central Edinburgh location, you’ve either hit the jackpot or you’ll discover it’s a dorm, shared with other people. Your instinct is probably telling you ‘absolutely the hell not’, not least because they’re not that cheap (if you can get a dorm room for less than £100 a night at peak Fringe you’re doing well). Still, it’s about the cheapest reliable accomodation going and they’re almost all very well located – it’s worth considering, at least.
4. Don’t stay in Edinburgh
This may sound a bit extreme, but once you leave Edinburgh the short-term lets crisis largely evaporates, so… don’t stay there. You can find somewhere much more affordable to kip in Glasgow, which is only an hour away by train – sure, that has its own complications and expenses, but if you’re taking in the Fringe fairly casually as apposed to obsessively watching shows until 2am it’s well worth considering.
5. Scour social media
If you can be bothered to pore over Fringe-related social media, you’ll almost certainly find something decent – there are tens of thousands of people heading up for the Fringe, and many of them will have last-minute dropouts, sublets that fell through, and random rooms that need filling. If you’re thinking of staying for at least a week and can be bothered to scour the Facebook groups or search obsessively through Twitter, the odds are very high that you’ll be able to find a room at a decent rate still.