Edinburgh winter festival one of best places to spend Christmas, organisers say

Organisers have said the Edinburgh winter festival is “one of the best places to spend Christmas”.

The festival is due to open to the public at 10am on Saturday morning.

With less than 24 hours to go until the seven-week festival opens its doors, City of Edinburgh Council leader Jane Meagher said the celebration is the “envy of the rest of the United Kingdom”.

“I’ve been talking to the stallholders here, many of whom have done markets across the UK, and they tell me that this is the one that’s the envy of the whole of the rest of the United Kingdom,” Ms Meagher said.

“It’s got its setting, it’s got its atmosphere, and people fight to come here.”

Ahead of the official launch this weekend, the city council leader said she is most looking forward to seeing Edinburgh “at its best”.

“I just love coming out of the office where I work and seeing the whole city lit up and all the different voices, languages and accents,” she said.

“It’s just got an exciting vibe and I think there’s nowhere better than Edinburgh to spend Christmas.”

The council has said that the set of Christmas activities brings around £240 million into the local economy, and Ms Meagher said on Friday that 80% of stallholders are either Scottish or Edinburgh businesses.

Alan Thomson, director of Unique Assembly – the art company which produces the Edinburgh Christmas celebrations on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, said the city itself will be “the star of the show”.

“I think the star of the show always for Edinburgh’s Christmas and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is the city,” he said.

He said the Edinburgh festival “seems to capture people’s imagination” as the skyline, the castle, the restaurants, venues and entertainment all “come together to make Edinburgh one of the best places to spend Christmas”.

“People are very excited about us opening tomorrow,” Mr Thomson said.

“We have a whole programme of free events that are taking place in the Ross Bandstand this year, which starts with a free concert tomorrow night, with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, who will be kick-starting the celebrations.”

He continued: “We have loads of other attractions opening next week. Santa Stories is making a return for people to come and visit Santa. The Ice Bar is returning; the Coorie Inn, where we have workshops and Ceilidhs, and this year a new attraction. We have a spiegeltent with Le Clique Noel and other cabaret performances that’s going to run all the way through the season as well.”

Mr Thomson said there is “so much for people to do”.

However, organisers announced last month that the Edinburgh Christmas ice rink was axed this year after nearly three decades.

The company said the decision was made during the summer, due to uncertainty while part of Princes Street was still closed due to a fire that tore through the former Debenham’s department store.

A spokesperson for Unique Assembly Ltd previously said the decision had to be made over the summer, at a time when key parts of the city centre were closed and there was “real uncertainty about when Princes Street would reopen and what the knock-on effects would be”.

Mr Thomson said on Friday that it was “unfortunate” that the ice rink had been cut from the 2026 programme.

“It has previously been on George Street, but we weren’t able to deliver that this year,” he told the Press Association.

He said the company has brought back its Coorie Inn attraction, which is a big Christmas tent with Christmas workshops and ceilidhs, alongside of other events.

“So there is other activity taking place, and the polar ice bar, which we have there, is back,” Mr Thomson said.

“That, along with the new spiegeltent and the cabaret programme, I think more than makes up for not having the ice rink this year.”

He added: “But (the ice rink) is not gone for good. We’re hoping that it will be back again next year.”

The Edinburgh winter festival launches on November 14 at 10am and will run until January 3.