Advent Zagreb 2026: dates, locations, ice rink, how to plan

The dates are official: the Zagreb Tourist Board lists Advent Zagreb 2026 from 28 November 2026 to 7 January 2027, opening on the Saturday before the first Advent Sunday and closing after Epiphany, 41 days in all. The 2026 programme is not out yet. In 2025 the city presented it on 13 November, sixteen days before the opening, so expect the same in November 2026. Croatia Atlas will publish a follow-up when the programme is public; this page holds what is confirmed now and what last year looked like.

What is certain for 2026

• Saturday 28 November 2026 to Thursday 7 January 2027, organiser Zagreb Tourist Board, official site adventzagreb.hr.
• The opening day is the eve of the first Advent Sunday; in 2025 it began with the lighting of the first candle on the Advent wreath at the Manduševac fountain on Ban Jelačić Square.
• The run includes all four Advent weekends, Christmas, New Year's Eve and the days up to Epiphany. The December weekends are the crowded ones; the first days of January are the quiet way to see the same lights.

The locations in 2025

The 2025 programme, presented by Mayor Tomislav Tomašević on 13 November 2025, named ten locations: the Manduševac fountain and Ban Jelačić Square, Zrinjevac, the Ice Park on King Tomislav Square, the Upper Town, European Square, Strossmayer Square, King Tomislav Square, Kvatrić and Kennedy Square. It also announced the Ice Park opening with a Nutcracker ballet and two festive Christmas trams. Media reports on the 2025 edition added the Mjesečev vrt light installation on the Strossmayer promenade in the Upper Town, a new sound installation in the Grič tunnel and more than 90 free concerts.

The Ice Park on Tomislavac

The ice rink on King Tomislav Square is the one paid attraction. In 2025 it opened on Saturday 29 November at 18:30 with a Nutcracker performance by the Leda figure skating club, the city's announcement says. In the previous season it ran daily from 10:00 to 23:00 and closed on 7 January; a 60-minute session cost 3.50 euros on weekday mornings and 4.50 euros after 16:00 and at weekends, skate hire 4.50 euros, children under six free with a parent, according to the price list published in December 2024. The 2026 prices will be on ledenipark.hr once the season is announced.

By train with the Advent discount

For the 2025 edition the Croatian railway HŽ Putnički prijevoz sold return tickets to Zagreb at half price from Friday to Sunday between 29 November 2025 and 7 January 2026, from every station in the country, first and second class, with the ticket to be stamped at the tourist board's visitor centre at Ban Jelačić Square 11. From Monday to Thursday between 16:00 and midnight, return trips on the Dugo Selo, Zagreb and Savski Marof line were free, and on Saturday and Sunday nights extra trains left Zagreb around 00:30 and 02:30 towards Sisak, Karlovac, Zabok, Krapina, Ivanić-Grad and Križevci. The 2026 offer is announced on hzpp.hr, usually a few days before the opening.

Planning the visit

• Entry to every location and to the outdoor concerts was free in 2025; only the ice rink charges. Budget for food and mulled wine at the stalls, and for the rink if you skate.
• Eight of the ten locations lie within a fifteen-minute walk of Ban Jelačić Square; only Kvatrić and Kennedy Square are further east, both on tram lines.
• Driving in from Slovenia, Austria or Hungary: from 15 November every motorway into Zagreb is a winter section with mandatory winter equipment, whatever the weather. Details in the winter equipment guide linked below.
• Zagreb in December: average daytime highs around 6 degrees and nights around freezing, with nine rainy days in the month, so the evenings at the stalls are cold and often damp. Dress for standing outside, not for walking.