Find quiet routes to walk, cycle or wheel to Edinburgh International Festival venues this August.

You can find full details of how to walk, wheel or cycle to Edinburgh Academy Junior School here, Edinburgh Park here or Old College Quad here, or via our venue pages. You can also visit the council website for an interactive map of quiet routes and to read more about the Meet Me Halfway campaign.

Councillor Lesley Macinnes, Transport and Environment Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, explains the campaign:

We’re absolutely delighted to welcome the Edinburgh International Festival back to the Capital after a most challenging period for the arts community, and the city as a whole.

Challenging though it may have been, one silver lining to the last year and a half has been the renewed enthusiasm for active travel, with more people than ever choosing to walk, cycle and wheel.

Whether it’s been daily wanders for physical exercise or cycling to work while restrictions were in place on public transport, active travel has been a lifeline for so many of us during the pandemic.

As we return to a sense of normality, we want to see that enthusiasm continue – and what better time to discover – or rediscover – the city on foot, bike or wheel than the magical month of August, when there’s so much to celebrate in Edinburgh?

As part of our Meet Me Halfway campaign, we’ve mapped out a range of routes to help people cycle, walk or wheel to festival venues safely and quickly. Whether taking a relaxing stroll from Leith to Edinburgh Academy Junior School from Portobello or Musselburgh via the QuietRoutes 14 and 11 or making use of temporary segregated cycle lanes before joining the National Cycle Network 76 to get from Gilmerton or Liberton to the Old College Quad. We’ve also drawn up advice for getting to one of the newest venues at Edinburgh Park by foot or bike.

Not only does choosing to walk, cycle or wheel benefit our health and mental wellbeing and save us money, but it can have a significant impact on the environment. We’re working to become a net-zero carbon city by 2030, and with private car journeys one of the biggest sources of harmful emissions, we really want to help and encourage people to opt for alternative, sustainable modes of transport.

We’d love to see people cycling into the city to take in a show or meeting a friend on foot before enjoying one of the International Festival’s outdoor events.

Throughout August we’ll be working with partners and sharing ideas to inspire people to change their travel habits. By meeting halfway, we can all help create a greener, cleaner and healthier city.