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Calendar · Slovenia
Kurentovanje in Ptuj, the ski jumps of Planica, the Lent Festival on the banks of the Drava and the living nativity in Postojna Cave: Slovenia’s calendar runs from Carnival to Advent.
In the photo: Ilha e igreja do lago de Bled, Bled
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The festivals
Slovenia’s year of celebrations begins at the end of winter with Carnival. In Ptuj, the country’s oldest town, the kurenti—figures dressed in sheepskins with large bells at the waist—take to the streets to chase away the cold, a custom inscribed by UNESCO. In Cerkno, in the hills of the west, the laufarji wear wooden masks and stage the trial of Pust, the figure who personifies winter. At the end of March, the Planica ski jumps, near Kranjska Gora, host the final round of the ski jumping World Cup season.
Spring and summer bring festivals of flowers, music and traditions. Radovljica devotes a weekend in April to chocolate; Bohinj celebrates the wildflowers of the Julian Alps between May and June; Idrija fills its streets with lace-makers on the third weekend of June. At the end of June, Maribor opens the Lent Festival on the banks of the Drava, and Ljubljana hosts its jazz festival and the Ljubljana Festival, which fills the capital’s summer nights with opera, ballet and concerts. In July, Laško combines music, beer and flowers in one of the country’s oldest festivities.
September is the month of traditional dress and cattle: Kamnik gathers people wearing the traditional costumes of the country’s regions, and Bohinj marks the descent of cows from the mountain pastures. At the start of autumn, Maribor ceremonially harvests grapes from its vine more than four centuries old, and in October the streets of Ljubljana host the marathon. During the weeks of Advent, the capital lights up and sets up its Christmas market along the river, and in the final week of the year actors and singers perform scenes of the Nativity inside Postojna Cave.
16 festivals and events
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
February/MarchOn the days before Lent, in February or March depending on the date of Easter, ending on Shrove Tuesday. The duration varies according to the program.
Slovenia’s largest carnival takes over Ptuj’s old town: the kurenti, figures dressed in sheepskins with horned or feathered masks and large bells at the waist, parade alongside other traditional regional characters to drive away winter.
February/MarchOn the Sunday and Tuesday of Carnival, which fall between early February and early March according to the Easter calendar; the laufarji begin to appear in the streets on the preceding Sundays.
In Cerkno, in the hills of western Slovenia, the laufarji—figures wearing carved wooden masks—parade through town at Carnival and stage the trial and execution of the Pust, the moss-covered figure who carries the year’s misfortunes.
JuneOn the third weekend of June, from Friday to Sunday.
On the third weekend of June, Idrija, the former mining town in western Slovenia, celebrates bobbin lace with exhibitions, fashion shows, workshops and the national contest for young lacemakers in the main square.
June/JulyFor a few days in June or July; dates vary each year.
Founded in 1960, the Ljubljana Jazz Festival is the oldest continuously running jazz festival in Europe: for a few days at the start of summer it brings together Slovenian and international musicians at Cankarjev dom and at the Križanke outdoor theatre.
June/July/August/SeptemberDuring the summer, from June or July until the beginning of September.
Created in 1953, the Ljubljana Festival fills the capital’s summer with opera, ballet, symphony concerts, theater and folk music, in the Križanke courtyard, the former monastery remodeled by Jože Plečnik, and at Kongresni trg square.
June/JulyFor about nine days, beginning in late June and ending in early July.
At the start of summer, the Lent neighborhood, the old bank of the Drava in Maribor, and the central squares host Slovenia’s largest outdoor festival, with concerts on downtown stages, folklore, street theatre, and children’s programming.
SeptemberOn the third Sunday of September.
On the third Sunday of September, Bohinj celebrates the return of the shepherds and their cattle from the high mountain pastures: the cows descend, decorated with flowers, to the meadow at Ukanc on the western tip of Lake Bohinj, in a festival with music, dancing and regional food.
SeptemberOn a weekend in early to mid-September, usually Friday through Sunday, with the big parade on Sunday.
Every September, Kamnik’s old town, at the foot of the Kamnik–Savinja Alps, hosts Slovenia’s largest ethnological festival, featuring parades of traditional costumes from all regions, music, dance and handicrafts.
September/OctoberOn a Sunday in late September or early October, when the grapes are ripe, after a few days of wine festivities in the Lent neighborhood.
Every early autumn, Maribor publicly harvests the grapes of the Stara trta, the more-than-400-year-old vine that grows on the facade of a house in the Lent neighborhood, concluding days of celebrations with Styrian wines and dishes by the Drava River.
Your questions
Summer concentrates the music and traditions festivals, from June to September. Carnival at the end of winter, and the weeks of Christmas and New Year, are the other busiest periods.
In Ptuj, at Kurentovanje, with the kurenti and other traditional figures, and in Cerkno, at the Laufarija, with the laufarji’s wooden masks. In both towns, the busiest days are Carnival Sunday and Shrove Tuesday.
It begins on the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent, in late November or early December, and runs until January. The stalls occupy the banks of the Ljubljanica and central squares; check the season dates.
