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Food and drink · Laško
Since 1964, the small town of Laško, on the banks of the Savinja River, celebrates its beer and its flowers in July, with concerts on several stages in the town center, a parade of decorated floats, marching bands and fireworks over the river.
In the photo: Laško
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Laško Beer and Flowers Festival — Laško
On a weekend in mid-July, usually from Thursday or Friday to Sunday.
July
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
Laško is a small spa town in the Savinja Valley in eastern Slovenia, known for its thermal waters and for the brewery founded in the early 19th century, one of the oldest in the country. The surrounding valley is a traditional hop-growing region. Every July the town brings together the two things that made it famous, beer and flowers, in a multi-day festival.
The festival began as a small flower exhibition organized in the early 1960s and has taken place every year since 1964, making it Slovenia’s oldest tourist event. Over time it added music stages and also became one of the country’s largest music festivals.
During the festival days the old town center of Laško hosts concerts on several stages, with Slovenian musicians and artists from neighboring countries, from brass bands to rock and pop. There are flower exhibitions and arrangements that decorate the streets and squares, performances by folklore groups and traditional costume displays, meetings with brewers and family-friendly programming. On Saturday night the fireworks over the Savinja are usually one of the highlights.
On Sunday the parade moves through the streets with floats that showcase the brewing tradition, flower cultivation and regional customs, accompanied by marching bands, and the festival ends with a gathering of brass bands.
It’s worth the trip to experience a long-established summer celebration in a small riverside town, and to combine it with Laško’s thermal baths and a visit to Celje, about ten kilometers away.
The Sunday parade with floats decorated in flowers and marching bands. The fireworks over the Savinja on Saturday night. The concerts on stages in the old town center. The flower exhibitions and street and square arrangements. A visit to the brewery and the town museum.
Choose Saturday for the concerts and the fireworks or Sunday for the parade. The center is small and the stages are close together; on festival days the streets fill up at night. Laško has a train station near the center on the Ljubljana–Celje line, and the train avoids traffic and parking shortages. On hot July days wear a hat and drink water.
Laško beer, served at all the stalls, and Styrian traditional dishes such as grilled sausages and cold cuts.
Check the official website for dates, the program and entry rules for the year. Book accommodation in advance in Laško or in Celje, because demand is high on the festival weekend.
In the city
July
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.
Your questions
On a weekend in mid-July, usually from Thursday or Friday to Sunday. The dates each year are published on the official website.
In the Savinja River valley in eastern Slovenia, about ten kilometers from Celje, with a station on the Ljubljana–Celje rail line.
No. In addition to Laško beer, there are concerts on several stages, flower exhibitions, folklore, family programming and the Sunday parade.
Festivals and events in Slovenia
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.
MarchIn March, from Thursday to Sunday, at the event that closes the Ski Jumping World Cup season.
Every March, the Planica valley, near Kranjska Gora, hosts the final stage of the Ski Jumping World Cup, held on the Gorišek Brothers’ flying hill, one of the largest in the world.
AprilOn a weekend in April, usually after Easter and before the May 1 public holiday.
For a weekend in April, the old town of Radovljica, near Bled, turns into a large chocolate showcase, with producers from across the country, tastings, workshops and demonstrations at Linhartov trg square and the town manor.
May/JuneFor about two weeks, from late May to early June, during the flowering season of Bohinj’s meadows.
In late spring, Bohinj, in the heart of Triglav National Park, devotes two weeks to the flowers of the Julian Alps, with guided botanical walks, exhibitions, workshops, and restaurant menus featuring wild plants from the valley.
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.