Tuesday July 21st 2026
Pianodrome venue in Bruntsfield (photo by Devon Peterson
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
From a working sauna and a venue built from old pianos to comedy clubs hidden beneath Edinburgh’s streets, the Fringe continues to transform some of the city’s most unusual spaces into unforgettable performance venues. This year is no different, with performers taking to stages in some truly unexpected locations.
With these unique performance spaces popping up all over the capital in the month of August, we put together a list of the Edinburgh Fringe 2026’s most weird and unique venues.
This year’s hottest venue: Sauna Theatre at Summerhall
Heating things up this August, Summerhall has partnered up with new company Sauna Sessions Arts Club. The new project is set to be the UK’s largest sauna and first purpose sauna built to showcase theatre, art and culture, creating (literally) this year’s hottest arts space.
Performances at this venue mostly includes theatre, creating a bizarre and unique experience for both the audience and the performer. Bound to keep your palms sweaty, Sauna Theatre will welcome performances such as a morning rave and the world’s greatest Aufguss artists.
Heated to around 90 degrees centigrade during performances, Summerhall has introduced potentially this year’s weirdest and most unique venue.
Summerhall
The creepiest venue: Summerhall Anatomy Theatre
Sticking with the former school of veterinary studies turned iconic art spaces, Summerhall also potentially takes this year’s top place for the creepiest venue due to the many performances taking place in the Victorian buildings anatomy theatre and laboratories.
Creating a fascinating contrast between its history and today’s comedy and theatre, the venue’s historic yet creepy layout really adds to the shows on offer, creating an atmosphere unlike any traditional theatre.
Pianodrome venue in Bruntsfield (photo by Devon Peterson
The venue built from pianos: Pianodrome
Described as ‘a radical re-imagining of the piano in today’s throw away culture’, Pianodrome CIC have created a unique and playable sculpture made entirely from disused pianos, welcoming audiences to sit in the amphitheatre to watch musical performances.
Following St Oswald’s Church is Bruntsfield coming under community ownership in 2020, a pianodrome has opened in the Bruntsfield venue constructing the unique amphitheatre amongst the stone pillars and stained glass of the old church.
The unique venue is welcoming popular musicians and bands to this year’s festival, creating an intimate performance where you are literally surrounded by music.
Underground Edinburgh: The Caves
Just The Tonic at The Caves is an iconic Fringe venue, hosting performances right under Edinburgh’s historic streets. During the festival, the gloomy caves transform into a labyrinth for creativity and performance with six different performance spaces on offer.
The venue, on Niddry Street South, just off Cowgate, turns the capital’s unique underground spaces into an atmospheric hub for art with the venue putting a large focus during the festival towards comedy.
Initially built as workshops in 1788, the caves under South Bridge quickly became a dank slum, rumoured to be a haven for outlaws and serial killers Burke and Hare.
So, despite lighting up the dark caves with the beauty of art and live performance, the venue’s eerie past creates a fascinating place to watch shows in Edinburgh’s city centre.
Dynamic Earth
The science venue: Dynamic Earth
Edinburgh’s popular interactive science centre is hosting a packed lineup of immersive planetarium shows at this year’s festival, creating a visually incredible experience within the centre’s 360 dome screen.
Despite being veterans at the festival, the centre offers one of the best visual experiences on offer at the festival, straying away from stand-up and creating immersive experiences.
Still offering scientific shows, during the Fringe the venue also uses the immersive dome to create unforgettable visual experiences such as a journey through Pink Floyd’s music and an evocative independent theatre production exploring the relationship between humans and the natural world, alongside many more.
The most unique show is most likely Whisky Under the Stars which offers a ‘cosmic tasting event in the planetarium’ led by in-house astronomers, marking the 300th anniversary of geologist James Hutton.
The temporary circus village: Circus Hub at the Meadows
When strolling through Edinburgh’s Meadows, one venue is bound to stand out. Standing alone in the large green space of the public park is a temporary circus village that appears for just a few weeks each August.
Circus Hub has become a staple of the Fringe, hosted by Underbelly who are one of the big hitters in the Fringe venue space, the festival’s first ever major venue dedicated to circus is returning for its 11th year.
Announcing a packaged programme for 2026, the venue is made up of the Lafayette (which is a 550 seat big top) and The Beauty (a 5000 seat spiegeltent), with the whole venue able to host over 1000 people.
The historic hub: St Giles’ Cathedral
Described as a ‘major, historic hub for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’, the home of the Scottish Reformation and countries national cathedral is once again opening its grand doors to host a variety of performances under the glare of its iconic stained glass.
The centuries-old place of worship creates a popular venue due to tourists and the number of great shows on offer. The cathedral turned Fringe venue 187 host shows that suit the building’s essence such as chilled choir performances and live piano shows.
An entire pop-up village of theatres: George Square Gardens
The gardens tucked away amongst Edinburgh University buildings, George Square Gardens, transforms during the festival into an entire pop-up village of theatres, bars and food stalls built specifically for the Fringe.
Taking over the gardens, Underbelly and Assembly (both popular venues during the festival) host massive gardens of performance spaces, bars and food stalls which attract thousands of visitors each year.
With Underbelly’s iconic upside down cow towering over the gardens, George Square becomes the beating heart of the Fringe each year offering a massive variety of shows from world-class comedy to dramatic theatre.
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