Croatia Christmas Markets 2026 Beyond Zagreb: City by City

Outside Zagreb, Croatian Advent is a set of separate city programmes, and on 10 October 2026 only two of them have official 2026/27 dates: Split runs 27 November 2026 to 7 January 2027 and Opatija 27 November 2026 to 6 January 2027. Rijeka and Dubrovnik haven’t published theirs yet. In 2025/26 Rijeka ran from 29 November to 11 January, and Dubrovnik ran its winter festival from 29 November to 3 January and presented the programme only five days before the start. For 2026/27 the city has renamed that festival Advent u Gradu (“Advent in the City”).

The detail that changes which city you pick: Dubrovnik’s festival in 2025 had no Advent huts on Stradun, the main street, for the first time in many years. Restaurant tables stood there instead, and the huts sat on other squares, so if a hut-lined main street is what you came for, check the 2026 plan before you book.

Which dates are real and which are left over from 2025/26

Zagreb is separate and has its own page: Advent in Zagreb runs 28 November 2026 to 7 January 2027, and we don’t repeat its market-by-market guide here. Everything below is what the other cities did or plan, with the date of each source.

Opatija: the seafront as the market

Opatija’s Advent isn’t built around one square. It’s stretched along the water. In the 2025/26 edition the Novi list reported a Winter Garden in front of the Juraj Šporer Art Pavilion, an ice-skating area called Ledena čarolija on the Summer Stage, and Xmas Street Lungomare, food and drink stands along the promenade between Hotel Savoy and Villa Madonna. On Christmas Eve there was music and a programme in front of the town market from 10:00 to 12:00.

Opatija doesn’t close after the market: the town tourist board describes it as “both a winter and summer destination”. If you’re driving, there’s a parking break. The paper reported free parking on open public car parks in Opatija on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 16 December to 15 January in 2025/26. Treat the parking as the 2025/26 rule until the 2026 edition repeats it.

If you’re based in Rijeka, Opatija is an evening trip rather than a separate holiday: Autotrolej, the Rijeka operator, runs suburban routes between the towns. Our Opatija guide has the Lungomare walk and the getting-there detail.

Split: ice in the park, stalls on the waterfront

Split’s public call for the 2026 ice rink gives both the dates and the hours. The Split tourist board asks a contractor to build and run a rink of 900 to 1,000 m² in Strossmayer park, open 09:00-22:00 on weekdays and 09:00-23:00 at weekends for the whole event, 27 November to 7 January. The contractor sells tickets and rents skates “in its own name and for its own account”, so prices will come from whoever wins the call, and no stall list is in it. Don’t plan around either yet.

In 2025/26 the city’s own page listed Pjaca, the Riva, Prokurative, Strossmayer park, Mertojak park and Kolur Zvončac as Advent sites. The first four sit around the palace, close enough to walk between in one evening; Mertojak park is out in the residential east of the city. The Split guide covers the palace itself, and where to stay in Split compares the neighbourhoods if you want to walk home after the rink.

Rijeka: a square with a DJ

Rijeka’s Advent is about Riječka Rezolucija, the square in the middle of the city. In 2025 the programme ran from 29 November to 3 January with an opening concert, then a band or DJ most days of December and a New Year’s Eve DJ night, alongside the city’s main party on the Korzo. It’s a music square first: the programme lists bands and DJs, not a handicraft market.

The city’s wider Advent page ran 29 November 2025 to 11 January 2026, past Epiphany. For the rest of Rijeka, including Trsat and the winter hours of its sights, use the Rijeka travel guide; the city’s real winter event is Carnival, which arrives in January and February.

Dubrovnik: a festival with no huts on the main street

In 2025 the Dubrovnik Winter Festival had more than 200 events between 29 November and 3 January and a budget of €1.3 million, according to the city official quoted by HRT. Concerts take place on Stradun, while the food huts moved to other squares; Index.hr described tables and chairs for selected restaurateurs on the street instead. New in 2025 were a carousel on Brsalje and two ice rinks, in Uvala and Mokošica.

The same HRT report has the practical part. For residents, public transport was free from 17:00 every day; for tourists, the Dubrovnik Pass was offered at half price. And the tourist board said at least six hotels would stay open through the festival, so book early and check that yours isn’t closed for the season. Compare bases in where to stay in Dubrovnik, and note that the programme is typically presented late: the 2025 presentation was on Monday 24 November.

For 2026/27, only the new name and one act are known so far. The mayor said in July 2026 that the festival becomes Advent u Gradu with a new visual identity. The New Year’s Eve headliner already named for Stradun is in our New Year’s Eve comparison. Dates and the rest of the programme weren’t out on 10 October 2026, and whether the huts return to Stradun is not yet public.

Osijek, the inland option

Osijek is far from the coast, so it only matters if you’re travelling in Slavonia, but the 2025 edition ran in Tvrđa, the fortress district, on Holy Trinity Square. It opened on the weekend of 29-30 November and ran until 31 December, with an ice rink at Sokol and stalls open 16:00-22:00 on weekdays and Sundays and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. No 2026 dates yet.

Getting there in December

The coastal flight map thins in winter, and the one operator whose timetable we can quote straight is Croatia Airlines. On its London page, Heathrow-Split is listed on Saturdays from 31 October 2026 to 2 January 2027, and Heathrow-Zagreb runs year-round on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with Saturdays added from 4 January to 27 March 2027. Dubrovnik is listed via Zagreb. The page says timetables are subject to change, and it only covers one airline: flights from London to Split goes through the others and the January gap.

In practice, the Saturday flight on 28 November lands the day after Split’s Friday opening, so it still catches the first weekend, and a week-long loop from Zagreb to Split to Dubrovnik can start from the Heathrow-Zagreb flights. And for Rijeka and Opatija, land in Zagreb and drive, as the Opatija guide explains, or check Rijeka Airport’s winter timetable (it’s on the island of Krk) before you plan around a flight there.

What to check, and when

• Early to mid-November: Rijeka’s page on visitrijeka.hr, which carried the 2025/26 dates under “Rijeka Advent”.
• The week before the opening: Dubrovnik’s programme, which you’ll now find under “Advent u Gradu”. In 2025 it was presented five days before the start, so a December booking there is a bet on a programme you haven’t seen.
• Any time: the tourist board pages of Split and Opatija, which already show dates, for stall lists and ticket prices when they appear.
• Before you pay for a day trip: whether the operator runs it in winter. Boat excursions are the usual casualty.

New Year’s Eve has its own comparison of the three biggest squares, New Year’s Eve in Croatia.