With the festival in full swing, we pick our favourite places to visit in Edinburgh
For the culture fan, the theatre aficionado and the stalwartly water resistant, there is only one place to be in August. Edinburgh – where student theatre proliferates like overemotive fruit on the vine, no garment, no matter how feathered or transparent, is deemed inappropriate at breakfast and McDonald's is the prime spot for glimpses of the famous. There is nowhere quite like the Scottish capital during the festival – which has been running since 1947 – so allow AnOther to give you a few ideas for great things to see, wonderful places to shelter from the rain and some cultural alternatives should the relentless yelling on the Royal Mile start to get you down.
Play – Love to Love to Love You, 18-21 August
Having debuted in London last month, Florence Keith-Roach's anarchic sex-disco-drama comes north for a four night stint at the Royal Over-Seas League.
Restaurant – Salt Café, Morningside
A delicious addition to Edinburgh's food scene, with a menu that skips exuberently across seasonal favourites and delectable seafood, while being just beyond the stretch of the festival madness.
Comedy – Joseph Morpurgo: Odessa, Pleasance Dome, until August 25
Morpurgo produces an hour of comic solo brilliance, incorporating a patchwork of scratchy VHS footage and impersonation, to tell the story of a fire in Texas, and the policewoman trying to solve the case.
Bar – Bramble, Queen Street
A well established New Town favourite, that serves delicious cocktails in a cosy basement around the corner from Prince's Street.
Night – Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street
Located in a cave beyond the cobbles of the Royal Mile, Cabaret Voltaire produces a marvellous blend of live bands and club nights.
Gallery – Scottish Gallery of Modern Art One/Modern Two, Belford Road
Stockbridge is one of the most beautiful parts of Edinburgh, a Georgian haven filled with cheeseshops and pubs, split by the Water of Leith. Following the river west takes you to one of the best modern art galleries in Scotland – split between two buildings, one an old orphanage – housing a marvellous collection of Dada and Surrealist art.
View – Calton Hill
Littered in monuments including a Grecian acropolis, and the Robert Burns Memorial, this beautiful hill has views across the whole city.
