Advent in Dubrovnik 2026: opens 28 November, all concerts

After twelve editions as the Dubrovnik Winter Festival, the city's Advent has a new name: Advent u Gradu. The city presented the 2026 programme on 21 October (Advent u Gradu). The last festival drew more than 100,000 visitors in 36 days, and 17,000 people filled the Stradun on New Year's Eve (Advent u Gradu). The Stradun stays the music stage, with a concert every Saturday from the opening to Christmas and then six evenings in a row from 28 December to 2 January. Mayor Mato Franković has said the main street will be lit as a photo point without huts or extra café tables, and the other events spread to the squares around it (DuList). How Dubrovnik compares with Zagreb, Split and Zadar is in our overview of Advent in Croatia.

Advent in Dubrovnik 2026: Stradun concerts by date

So far only the opening has a start time: Silente play at 19:00 on 28 November (programme). Last year the New Year's concert began at 21:00 with Jakov Jozinović, followed by Dino Merlin, with Hiljson Mandela after midnight (The Dubrovnik Times). The December Saturdays are the big concert nights; between 28 December and 2 January there is music on the Stradun every evening.

Opening day, Saturday 28 November

The first day runs from morning to night. At 09:30 a free themed walk through the old town with a folklore performance starts at the tourist information centre at Pile. At 10:00 the Pile carousel opens; it turns until 3 January, from 12:00 to 21:00 on weekdays and from 10:00 to 21:00 at weekends. At 15:00 Santa Claus arrives at the Rector's Palace for children, and at 19:00 Silente open Advent u Gradu on the Stradun (programme).

More concerts and dates

The city's announcement lists five more dates (Advent u Gradu):

• Saturday 12 December, morning: Torta Party with Andrea Šušnjara on the Stradun, organised by the Dubrovnik Tourist Board.
• Monday 21 December: Christmas concert at Hotel Lacroma.
• Thursday 31 December: New Year's concert of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra at the Marin Držić Theatre, conducted by Ivan Šćepanović, with soprano Nela Šarić and tenor Roko Radovan.
• Friday 1 January: a shortened repeat of the New Year's concert.
• Sunday 3 January: Mreža ljubavi, a concert of sacred music in the sports hall, closes the programme.

New Year's Eve 2026 in Dubrovnik

Thursday 31 December has two parts on the Stradun. Minea sings at the children's New Year, and in the evening Crvena jabuka, Plavi orkestar and Adi Šoše see in 2027. Mayor Franković announced Plavi orkestar in July, and frontman Saša Lošić Loša confirmed it in a video (Index.hr). Last year Dubrovnik kept its midnight fireworks over the old town (Croatia Week). Who plays in Split, Zagreb, Pula and Zadar is listed in New Year in Croatia.

Children's programme and the other venues

The city's cultural institutions put on theatre shows, music and creative workshops for children at venues across the city. The programme site sorts the events into four strands: the children's programme, Stradun LIVE, Advent na Vojnoviću and Advent Park Dubrovnik, each with its own calendar (programme). The new visual identity comes from the Dubrovnik graphic designer Orsat Franković and studio Flomaster (Advent u Gradu).

Getting there and parking

The shuttle leaves about 30 minutes after each landing and stops first at Pile, the gate to the old town (Platanus). From November to April no catamaran sails between Split and Dubrovnik, so the coach remains (FlixBus, our comparison). Drivers need to know the camera zone around the old town: entering without clearance costs 260 euros per offence for a private car. A prepaid booking at prepaidparking.sanitat.hr for the car parks at Pile or at the cable car station clears the number plate, with entry at most 20 minutes before the booking starts (City of Dubrovnik). The rest is in our guide to the Dubrovnik traffic zone.

Cable car and sunset

The cable car to Srđ runs in November from 09:00 to 17:00 and stays closed in December (Dubrovnik Cable Car). Anyone who wants to look down on the old town from Srđ goes on the opening days, 28 to 30 November. At the start of December the sun sets around 16:20, according to the sunset table in our cable car guide, so the old town is dark well before the 19:00 opening concert.