Festival Theatre

A glass-fronted emporium, plumly situated amidst some of Edinburgh's finest bars and restaurants, the Festival Theatre hosts a year-round programme featuring some of the world's most prestigious dramatic, musical, dancing, ballet, comedy and family-oriented entertainment. The contemporary architecture and top-notch facilities belie the restored grandeur of the Festival's original 1928 auditorium, which has a seating capacity of nearly 2000.

Check out ground-floor Café Lucia for cakes, hot beverages and lunchtime light bites, or visit one of the Festival Theatre's trio of speciality bars (Johnnie Walker bar, Taittinger bar, Scottish Power Gallery) for something stronger.

And, as with all the greats theatres, no venue is complete without a stack of ghost stories to frighten the living spooks out of its punters (or at least give them something to ponder over while eating their intermission ice cream). Festival Theatre makes claim to some of the best tales around; take for example the tragic onstage fire of 1911 ad the subsequent sightings of the late great magician Lafayette. If that tickles your curiosity, get in touch via the website and book into a backstage tour - who knows what sort of spectres you might see?