PIF Zagreb 2026: 11 to 17 September, and much of it needs no language

PIF has been running since 1968, which makes it older than most of the festivals it shares a calendar with, and it has stayed what it was: an international festival of puppet theatre, for children and for adults, not one or the other. The 59th edition runs from 11 to 17 September 2026 on five stages around Zagreb. The thing worth knowing before you look at the programme is that a good part of it is marked non-verbal.

Where it plays

• Zagreb Puppet Theatre on Baruna Trenka 3, the home stage, five minutes from the main square.
• The Cultural Information Centre on Preradovićeva 5 and the Zagreb Dance Centre on Ilica 10, both in the centre and walkable from each other.
• The music pavilion on Zrinjevac, in the park, and the Travno cultural centre out in Novi Zagreb.

Choosing a performance without speaking Croatian

The programme marks each performance with its language, and the ones marked non-verbal work whatever you speak. It also marks an age: some pieces are from three years up, others from six or seven, and several are explicitly for adults, which is the part of puppet theatre that surprises people who last saw it as children. If you have an evening in Zagreb and no Croatian, the non-verbal adult pieces are the ones to look for.

Where next

1. 1 TagZagreb around the festival

   The upper town, the market and the museums, all within walking distance of four of the five stages.

2. 11.10.The marathon, a month later

   Same city, other crowd: 42 kilometres from Ban Jelačić Square, this year with the masters world championship.