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From St John's church at the west end of Princes Street, Lothian Road arrows south towards the instantly disappointing Festival Square. This soulless plaza in front of the Sheraton Hotel was conceived as a grand civic space, but it's turned into little more than a skateboarding park; plans to revitalise the area with a new cinema, fountain or even an ice rink have so far come to nothing.

Clustered around Festival Square, though, is the greatest concentration of upmarket arts venues in Edinburgh. Just across the road you'll find the cylindrical bulk of the Usher Concert Hall, behind which lurk two major theatres - the Royal Lyceum, which hosts part of the International Festival, and the Traverse, which plies its trade on the Fringe.

Crossing the square and behind the Sheraton, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre hosts massive, sell-out Fringe comedy shows. The Filmhouse, the city's leading independent cinema, is nearby, as is St Mark's artSpace, one of the best venues for choral music on the Fringe. Incongruously, though, all this high art rubs shoulders with the show bars and nightclubs along Lothian Road; late at night, this can be a rowdy and intimidating place to be.