Edinburgh

Cinema

Of the large multiplex cinemas, the closest to central Edinburgh are the Odeon on Lothian Road in the west of the centre, and the Vue Cinema in the Omni Centre to the east. The Cineworld (formerly a UGC) at Fountain Park is about 1.5 km west of the centre, and offers cheaper entrance (particularly before noon) and a slighly wider range of international and independent cinema.

There are two independent cinemas near the centre of Edinburgh: the Cameo Cinema on Home Street is part of the Picturehouse Cinemas, and has cheap showings on a Wednesday. The Filmhouse Cinema on Lothian Road has a wide range of independent and world cinema. Daytime showings on a Friday are at a discount rate, and student rates are pretty cheap. Morningside, to the south of the city centre has the Cameo Cinema, although this is probably not worth the trip out of town.

Nightclubs

The club scene in Edinburgh is more cosmopolitan than is normal for the UK outside London. The usual range of student and cheesy venues are there - most of them are ranged along Lothian Road and just off it. There are also the flashier venues in the New Town, catering to people who want to get dressed up and pay 4 pounds for a drink. Beyond this are a number of smaller clubs catering to various alternative music tastes - indie, metal, techno etc. These are scattered around the Old Town along roads such as Cowgate, or are at venues on the edge of the town centre such as The Venue or Studio 24. Many nights are extremely cheap or free to get into midweek, which is perfect if you have no job to get up for in the morning, and the dress code in most venues is more or less non-existent, so as long as you can still stand when you go in you are likely to get very little hassle from door staff. All of the information websites listed in the gigs section below contain at least some information about club nights, and if you need any more ideas just sit around your hostel or find a pub like Bannermans and look at the flyers in there.

Live Music

There is a lively gig scene in Edinburgh, taking in bands of all kinds, from traditional pub rockers to bleeding edge indie and electro and bleeding ear metal. Some of the major venues include The Venue, Studio 24, Cabaret Voltaire, Bannermans and Subway Cowgate. If you just want to hear a random band, walk around the city centre for a while - around 20% of the pubs have live music on once or twice a week, and most don't charge for entry.

Edinburgh generally loses out to the larger Glasgow when it comes to large bands touring. There are probably 20 or so major gigs every year at the Corn Exchange or the Liquid Rooms. The festival in August is a good time of year to see major bands playing Edinburgh.

There are a range of websites providing information on gigs: Ents24 provide complete information about national tours, and patchier information about local bands, Edinburgh Metal Scene covers everything which could be regarded as metal, and Misfits Online covers everything indie (more coverage of club nights than gigs). Alternative Nation is more Glasgow-based, but provides some information about Edinburgh.

Ripping Records on South Bridge generally has the best range of tickets for gigs in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Tickets for major events are also available from the internet - see See Tickets and Ticketmaster Scotland amongst others. Pretty much all local gigs will also have tickets available on the door.