Croatia is considered as one important festival hub of Europe. The festivals that are celebrated in this country have awesome venues like seaside bars, ancient forts, mystical gardens, Roman amphitheatres and lastly the air clubs. This country makes its every month special because of the festivals. All the grand celebrations whirls around folk songs, traditional musics, cultural dances. This newly independent country have dedicated citizens who commemorate each and every festival in such a way, that it have gained world wide recognition. In today’s era, young people travel around world not just for food, beaches and wine, but also to explore a country’s ancient culture by attending it’s festival. Croatia is mainly remarked for its festival which includes many secular occasions which had been celebrated for centuries and not only these, there are also two major, stunning and grand carnival “Dubrovnik” Carnival and “Rijeka” Carnival. From last decades, this country also holds international music festivals also which have different genres of musics that will leave you outbound. From open air pop to electronic musics, Croatia got something for everyone which makes it as the hottest spot in terms of festival celebration in the whole Europe. So let’s see what are the most amazing and famous festival of this country which you surely don’t want to miss out!
Sea Star Festival (24-25 May)
This music festival is considered as one of the biggest international music festivals, not only in whole Europe, but also across the world and why not, as it consists of various musics genres that you can ever imagine including the folks songs and traditional musics. What boost up this festival is it’s amazing beach venue where you can enjoy amazing cocktails and juices with mouth watering food. Well, not only this, you can dance carefree as the musics will drive you crazy. The festival helds at the Umag city which is located in the northern part of Istrian coastline. Artists and participants, apart from local people, come from 70 different nations and some of the top most popular and admirable artists who give amazing performances are Modestep, Fatboy Slim, Spiller, Brkovi and Urban & 4, and many others. It goes on for four days.
Let’s know about it’s interesting history which gave rise to such an awesome festive. This festival was first held on 25–28 May 2017. Initially, people thought of celebrating it for 2 days, but the jollification forced them to celebrate it for some more time where around 50,000 people attended it and made it a history. From rock, pop, disco, electric, techno, big beat to acid house types of musics, there was all total of 70 acts which was delivered that day. Sea Start festival is considered to be one of the festival of EXIT Summer of Love, which included other 3 festivals too. During 2018, it was a part of EXIT Freedom which included 5 other festivals and coming back to this year 2019, this festival will take place on 23rd May and will continue till 26th May. It will be a part of EXIT Tribe which includes total of 6 festivals including the Sea Star festival.
In Music Festival (24-26 June)
This is considered as one of the biggest and glorious pop and open air music festivals which gives you goosebumps due to it strong electric musics. It had been celebrated for more than decades. For such a dazzling festive, the venue should also be of that level which can attract thousands of visitors. Therefore, it is celebrated in the middle of Zagreb’s Lake, which is a man-made lake, Jarun, that is nothing but ‘Youth Island’. As the name says it all, this festival attracted modern generation the most because of some good pop musics. The festival goes on for at least three days where you will find some fine, talented and prominent artists who show their brilliance by giving stunning performances. Some of the famous performers are Franz Ferdinand, Alice in Chains, Pixies and Placebo, Roisin Murphy, Iggy and the Stooges and Arcade Fire, etc. This festival gradually became so popular, that it made Zagreb’s city to make a place for itself in the music map. Millions and millions come from different corners of the world just to attend this festival, making it a grand one.
Some of the other great performers like Frank Turner & Sleeping Souls, Kurt Vile & The Violator, The Cure, Foals, Peter Bjorn & John, Thievery Corporation and Sofi Tukker, along with many others local artists give their fabulous performances which you surely don’t wanna miss out. Apart from musics, you can also enjoy modern campsite, which is held for 8 days while the festival is ongoing. This is not the end, as there will be much more after-parties and fun things that will be going whole night after the festival gets over. Coming to this year, the festival will start from 24 June and will continue till 27 June. The celebration is so magnificent that made it acheive a place in the top 20 summer festivals of Europe list, in 2008. This year will mark it’s fourteenth celebration where there will be top lines up as already mentioned above and not only this, it was always regarded as one of the Croatia’s massive contemporary open air music festival.
Let’s have a quick look in it’s history. It was started on 2006 and was held at Šalata, where it was managed by a non-governmental organization known as “Multikultura”. Back then, some of the most famous local artists like Darkwood Dub, Edo Maajka and Ramirez entertained people to their best, at the same time the headliners were Morrissey and Franz Ferdinand, who brought more life to the festival and enthusiastic people over there. There is also another remarkable achievement that this festival had earned. It made into the list of top 50 summer festivals of the world during 2013, of CNN’s list. It also earned respectful name that is “the hidden festival gem of Europe”, given my New Musical Express (NME). From 2017, it is been listed as one of the worlds top music festival. So people, what are waiting for if you haven’t let yourself enjoy this amazing and wild music fests.
Špancirfest (23.08-01.09.)
It is known to be a street festival which is held annually in Varaždin since 1999. The duration of this festival is 10 days. It starts in the last weeks of August and continues till the beginning of September. This special festival attracts more than 100,000 tourists or visitors from all over the world. It is not only celebrated in Croatia, but also it’s neighboring countries also started to celebrate it. People from different countries along with locals come together to celebrate this festival and make it as these 10 days as the most cherishing moments of their lives. From shopping kiosks and eateries, performances being held at big with full light effects Concert stages to artists like dance performers, musicians coming to the streets showing their talents,etc. You can get full pack of satisfaction and entertainment if you visit Croatia and attend this festival. For all these 10 hot and sunny days of the festival, there will be several art displays, traditional paints and street art festival. It is usually common in northern part of the country. Different genres of musics that can be seen are classic musics which leaves a soothing effect to your ears along with cool and romantic contemporary musics which will leave people spellbound. A city like Varaždin is rich for its history and architectural heritage, so it’s a common thing for the visitors to find arts exhibitions and children performances.
The various events that makes this awesome festival even more worth watching are given below:-
- Moderato fest- it is a well known concert for classic and folk musics.
- Ritam fest- in this events people give their dance performances along with various musical expressions.
- Ulica fest- best known for puppet play, acrobats, street musicians performing, street artists and lastly jugglers.
- Jazz festival- as the name suggests, the music genre that is delivered consists of jazz.
- Hlapec fest- children below the age of 14 play different dramas, skits and musics.
- Komedija fest- the most famous event is this because it is all about comedy fest which people enjoys the most.
Now, are you ready to pack your bags and travel to Croatia? I thought so. But before you start your journey, make sure to visit the German website from Backpackertrail. There you can find more information on what to expect during your time in Croatia and with that information in mind you will be more prepared than ever, to have fun!
Lists of other major festivals
- January-
- Skiing on Sljeme
- Beat the Crowds on the Coast
- Night of Museums
- February-
- Feast of St Blaise
- March-
- Zagrebdox
- April-
- Music Biennale Zagreb
- Wild Asparagus Harvest
- Holy Week
- May-
- Sudamja
- Subversive Festival
- Ljeto na Štrosu
- June-
- Cest is D’Best
- INmusic Festival
- Design District Zagreb
- July-
- Hideout
- Courtyards
- Dubrovnik Summer Festival
- Split Summer Festival
- Motovun Film Festival
- Dance & Nonverbal Theatre Festival
- Ultra Europe
- Full Moon Festival
- August-
- Obonjan Island
- Vukovar Film Festival
- Sonus
- Špancirfest
- September-
- Festival of Subotina
- World Theatre Festival
- October-
- Zagreb Film Festival
- November-
- Feast of St Martin
- December-
- Human Rights Film Festival
- Fuliranje
