The Riviera calendar: Exciting events to look forward to each year

The Riviera’s calendar is full of traditions and events that repeat every single year, some on an exact date, others simply whenever summer decides it is time. Here is a year-round guide to the events that are worth planning a trip around.

What annual events happen on the Makarska Riviera?

The Riviera’s calendar mixes fixed civic and religious dates, like Makarska’s Town Day on 24 October, with looser summer traditions that repeat every year without a single fixed date, such as the fishermen’s nights that rotate between coastal towns all summer long. Both kinds count as real, recurring events; you just plan around them differently.

Fixed dates of events you can put straight on a calendar

Every one of these events repeats on the same date each year, whether it’s a Riviera-wide tradition or a single village’s own patron saint’s fešta.

A handful of Riviera settlements, among them Zaostrog, Brist, Podaca, Promajna and Bratuš, so check with the local tourist board for more information about the dates of these events.

Recurring events without one fixed date

These happen every year, without fail: the calendar just doesn’t pin them to a single day, since they either move between towns or shift slightly depending on the season’s calendar.

Fishermen’s nights (ribarske večeri): held on a rotating basis throughout summer in towns from Brela to Gradac — grilled fish, live music and handcrafted souvenirs, with the next one always just a short drive away if your own town isn’t hosting that week.

Noć Kalalarge: an annual Makarska tradition since 1994, held in Makarska’s oldest street every August (the exact date shifts from year to year, but it always lands in the month). Expect traditional food and drink, klapa singing, and a genuine step back into old Makarska.

“Glavno da se klajmba” – mountaineering camp: held annually in Brela, at Kričak on Biokovo, as a memorial gathering in honor of mountaineers Toni Rosa, Igor Skender, Martin Užarević and Krešimir Milas. The camp draws more climbers every year from across the region. Alongside the climbing itself, togetherness and a relaxed, friendly atmosphere have become its trademark, with promoting Biokovo as a year-round climbing destination as the camp’s other core aim; the mountain’s maintained crags, wide range of equipped routes at every difficulty level and numerous alpine routes make it a natural fit for modern climbers.

Dan torte Makarane (Makarana Day): a yearly celebration of the town’s signature almond cake, though, unlike most entries on this list, its date has moved around considerably over the years, appearing in spring, autumn and as part of the December Advent programme in different editions. Worth checking the current year’s exact date with the Tourist Board before planning around it.

kaKultura (kKuTz): since the early 2000s, Tučepi’s abandoned mountain hamlets, Srida Sela, Šimići, Podpeć and others, come back to life for one evening each, hosting a summer-long programme of theatre, concerts, poetry and exhibitions. Every week through July and August the show moves to a different hamlet, drawing anywhere from 350 to 500 seated guests (plus more watching from rooftops, windows and trees), while around fifteen open konobas serve pršut, cheese, brudet, wine and cakes alongside a signature “velika teća” spread. Organised by the Municipality of Tučepi with support from the Ministry of Culture, it turns half-forgotten stone villages into one of the Riviera’s most atmospheric cultural events.

Autentica Food & Wine Festival: a growing eno-gastro tradition, running since 2024 and recognised with a “Simply the Best” award in 2026. Held every May across Makarska, Podgora, Baška Voda, Brela and Tučepi, with each town hosting its own festival day over the month, the exact dates shift each year. Expect a market of local OPG producers, show cooking with well-known chefs, traditional pastry workshops, wine tastings and a signature cocktail. Alongside it runs “Dalmatinska marenda“, a month-long project where participating konobas and restaurants across the Riviera offer discounted traditional midday meals.

Summer water polo tournaments across the Riviera: every summer, the water polo season builds toward finals day in Gradac, with youth and cadet matches between clubs including VK Gradac, VK Galeb MR and VK Podgora. Down the coast in Igrane, the swimming venue hosts its own run of summer tournaments, including the Igrane Cup and Mali Zale, often tied to visiting clubs’ training camps. Exact schedules shift from year to year, but between Gradac and Igrane, a water polo match is never far away on the summer Riviera.

Swimming Marathon “Around Brela Stone”: held annually in September, Brela hosts a round of the Dalmatian Open Water Swimming Cup, a season-long series of open water races across Dalmatia’s coastal towns. Swimmers start from the plateau in front of Hotel Soline with a choice of two distances, a recreational 1850 m single lap or a main 3700 m double lap, both setting off together and circling counter-clockwise around the town’s namesake landmark, Kamen Brela. The main race counts toward the overall Dalmatian Cup standings, drawing competitors from Croatia and abroad each year.

Blitvijada: every October, Podgora turns an entire weekend over to blitva, Swiss chard, with green restaurant menus, a signature blitva ice cream called “blitvar,” competitions for the biggest leaf and the fastest chard cleaning, and the BlitvaRun trail race opening the festivities on a stretch of coastal path normally closed to walkers. Rain has pushed the date around more than once in recent years, so confirm the current weekend with the Podgora Tourist Board before planning a trip around it.

Pin a date, or just show up and follow the music. Either way, the Makarska Riviera’s calendar of events rarely goes quiet for long. Some of these traditions you can plan a whole trip around; others you simply stumble into, which might be the better story anyway.

PHOTO | BORIS LUETIĆ | AUTENTICA