Slovenia's festival calendar, with official dates only

Autumn events: St Martin’s Day and new wine

October 2026 has already seen the 30th Ljubljana Marathon, on the 17th and 18th, and the quarter-century of Ptuj’s «Wine Is Not Water» festival, which ran until the 24th. November is the big month. Ljubljana gives the whole month to food with November Gourmet, Štanjel holds its wine festival in the first week, Maribor celebrates St Martin’s Day on the 11th and Strunjan has its persimmon festival the weekend after. The Slovenian Wine Festival fills the Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana on the 19th and 20th, and in Kranj you can follow the wine through the tunnels under the old town from the 20th to the 29th. For me it’s the best time for the wine regions, as I explain in Slovenia in November.

December and January: Ljubljana’s lights

Ljubljana switches its lights on in Prešeren Square on the afternoon of Friday 27 November, and the festive season lasts seven weeks, into mid-January, with a market and free events. On the coast, Koper rolls its Christmas programme, Fantazima, straight into a month devoted to the year’s new olive oil, starting on 15 January. In the mountains, biathletes gather on the Pokljuka plateau for the open European championships in the last week of January. The capital’s side of things is in Christmas in Ljubljana.

February and March: Kurentovanje and Planica

My unmissable event is the 67th Kurentovanje, which the organisers have set for the first week of February 2027, from Wednesday 3 to Tuesday 9. The kurenti, in sheepskins with cowbells round their waists, are the symbol of Slovenian carnival, and UNESCO recognises their rounds as intangible heritage. On 10 February, the Cankarjev dom opens its 10th Winter Festival. And from Thursday 18 to Sunday 21 March, Planica closes the ski flying season, with tickets on sale since 7 October 2026. The carnival has its own page, Kurentovanje.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Ptuj for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Summer events, still undated

Summer is open-air festival season, but by mid-October 2026 none had announced the following year’s programme. The Tourist Board places the Ljubljana Festival in summer, alongside the jazz festival, Ana Desetnica street theatre and open-air cinema at the castle, plus Bled’s Lights on the Lake, with more than 10,000 candles, and the knights’ tournament at Predjama, with Piran’s Salt-makers’ Festival in August. Maribor’s Festival Lent and Metaldays, where the Soča meets the Tolminka, had no 2027 dates either. I’ll add them as soon as they appear, starting with the Ljubljana Festival.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Ptuj on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Ptuj for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.