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Music · Maribor
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.
In the photo: Maribor
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Lent Festival — Maribor
For about nine days, beginning in late June and ending in early July.
June/July
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
The Lent Festival is named after Maribor’s oldest neighborhood, the strip of houses and walls along the north bank of the Drava. It used to be the city’s river port, where the wooden rafts that floated down the river arrived. Today the neighborhood preserves the Stara trta, the oldest vine in the world, the water tower, and remnants of the old walls.
The festival began in 1993 with the idea of bringing life back to the historic center through art and culture. It grew to become the country’s largest outdoor festival and one of the oldest of its kind in Central Europe, organized by Narodni dom Maribor.
Over roughly nine days, the program spreads across more than twenty venues, from the Drava banks to the city park. Stages in the squares and other downtown spaces host Slovenian and international artists in pop, rock, jazz, and world music. At the same time other festivals run inside Lent: Folkart, an international folklore festival with dance groups from several countries in the main square; Jazzlent, dedicated to jazz; and Lent for Children, with workshops and performances.
At night, the riverbanks and downtown streets fill with people, food and drink stalls, street musicians, and dance, theatre, and circus shows.
It’s worth the trip to experience Maribor at the start of summer, with the historic center and riverside occupied by concerts and festivities, and to combine the visit with the wine hills of Styria and Ptuj, about half an hour away.
Concerts on the downtown stages at dusk. Folkart performances, with folklore groups from several countries, in the main square. Jazz nights at Jazzlent. A walk along the Lent riverside, passing the Stara trta and the water tower.
Choose the concert nights that interest you most: the big names usually perform on the main stage and require a ticket. Street programming, folklore and children’s events spread across the center and can be seen throughout the day. Venues are a few minutes’ walk from each other, and the train station is close to downtown. Bring sunscreen and water during the day and a light jacket for nights by the river.
Follow the official website for announcements of dates and artists. Buy tickets in advance for the most sought-after concerts and book accommodation in Maribor, because the city fills up during the festival days.
In the city
June/July
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.
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.
Your questions
For about nine days, from late June to early July. Check the official website for the year’s exact dates.
In Maribor’s center: on the Drava bank, in the Lent neighborhood, in the old town squares and in the city park.
It’s the international folklore festival held as part of the Lent Festival, featuring traditional dance and music groups from several countries.
Festivals and events in Slovenia
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.
JulyOn a weekend in mid-July, usually from Thursday or Friday to Sunday.
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.
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.