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North of Princes Street, Edinburgh's New Town is laid out in an uncompromising grid, stretched between two vast garden squares. Charlotte Square, at the west end, is home to Edinburgh's Book Festival; at the eastern extreme, the newly-opened St Andrew Square Gardens are a year-round chill-out zone just yards from the central bus station.

For close to three decades, swanky George Street's been dominated by the Assembly Rooms, viewed by many as the nearest you'll get to a "proper" theatre on the Fringe. But times are changing: the Assembly has new local competition from the Universal Arts Theatre, in turn led by the team from Hill Street Theatre a few minutes' walk north.

Parallel Queen Street is a short walk downhill, on any of the grid's five north-south thoroughfares. Though Festival attractions thin out as you head north, Queen Street's home to the impressive Art Nouveau Scottish National Portrait Gallery - and, in a striking contrast, year-round comedy venue The Stand is right next door.