Croatia's festive season runs from Sveti Nikola on 6 December to the Three Kings on 6 January, and the public holidays are Christmas Day (25 December), Sveti Stjepan (St Stephen's Day, 26 December), New Year's Day (1 January) and Epiphany (6 January). Christmas Eve, the Badnjak, is a meat-free evening, usually with salted cod (bakalar), and at midnight on New Year's Eve, Thursday 31 December 2026, the main squares in Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Osijek and Šibenik fill with open-air celebrations. This guide covers the dates, the customs, where the New Year's Eve parties are held and what is not announced yet.
Zagreb's Advent is covered in our separate guide. City programmes for 31 December are published in December, and where something is not confirmed this guide says so.
Sveti Nikola: 6 December
On the evening of 5 December Croatian children clean their boots and put them in the window. According to the tradition, Sveti Nikola (St Nicholas) fills them with sweets and small gifts overnight if the child has been good. In some regions he is accompanied by Krampus, who punishes the naughty. 6 December is not a public holiday, but it marks the start of the gift-giving season.
Badnjak: 24 December
The name Badnjak comes from the Yule log, which some rural families still burn on Christmas Eve. For most people, the evening is a meat-free dinner. On the coast the table has fried fish or squid and bakalar (salted cod), prepared either na bijelo (with garlic and olive oil) or as a brudet (fish stew). The sweets are fritule (small fried dough balls) and krostule. Many Croatians go to midnight mass.
Fritule, the fried dough balls served at Christmas. Image: Roberta F., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Božić and Sveti Stjepan: 25 and 26 December
Christmas Day is a long family lunch. On 26 December, Sveti Stjepan, which is a public holiday, people visit relatives, friends and neighbours. Shops are closed on both days, and restaurants are often closed or open only for booked tables.
New Year's Eve: where the parties are
At the last New Year's Eve, open-air celebrations were held on:
- Zagreb: Ban Jelačić Square.
- Split: the Riva promenade and the Perivoj Roberta Visianija park.
- Dubrovnik: the Stradun.
- Rijeka: the Korzo.
- Osijek: Trg Vatroslava Lisinskog.
- Šibenik: the square in front of the cathedral of St James.
The 2026/27 lineups and times have not been announced yet. The tourist boards usually publish them in December: Zagreb Tourist Board, the Dubrovnik Tourist Board and the City of Split.
The Stradun in Dubrovnik, decorated for the winter holidays. Image: donald judge, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In Dubrovnik, a traditional New Year's concert is held on the Stradun at noon on 1 January, organised by the tourist board and the city together with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, and a Dubrovnik Winter Festival fills the weeks around the holidays (dates not yet confirmed). Zagreb's Advent runs into the New Year; the 2026/27 dates are in our Advent guide.
Ban Jelačić Square in Zagreb, decorated for the holidays. Image: Branko Radovanović, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Zagreb's Advent: 28 November to 7 January
Advent in Zagreb officially opens on Saturday 28 November 2026 and runs until 7 January 2027, with a warm-up from 25 to 27 November while the stalls open and the first lights come on. The 2025 edition had about 140 stalls, seven music festivals and more than 90 concerts and performances; the 2026 programme and opening hours are published by the city in November. It is a walk rather than a single market: from the main square through the park at Zrinjevac, where the stalls and lights line the paths, to the Ice Park in front of the Art Pavilion on King Tomislav Square, which stays open every day including Christmas Day and New Year's Day, and to the Upper Town. Zagreb's New Year's Eve party has traditionally been held on Ban Jelačić Square, and the Ice Park ran until 2:00 on New Year's Eve in 2025. Alongside the Ice Park, Fuliranje, the food-and-drink festival on Strossmayer Square in front of the Academy of Sciences, started as a side event and is now where locals go after work; it is packed in the evenings and at weekends. International trains arrive at Zagreb Glavni kolodvor, which faces the Ice Park, so you step off the train straight into Advent. Our Zagreb Advent guide has the details.
Advent stalls on Zrinjevac, Zagreb. Image: Silverije, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
After the holidays: Carnival in Rijeka
The Rijeka Carnival 2027 runs from 17 January to 10 February 2027. The International Carnival Parade is on Sunday 7 February along the Korzo, the Children's Carnival Parade on Saturday 30 January, and the Carnival Queen Pageant on Friday 22 January. Watching the parades from the street is free. See our Rijeka Carnival guide.
The season at a glance
- 25 to 27 November: Zagreb's stalls open.
- 28 November: Advent in Zagreb opens (to 7 January).
- 5 and 6 December: boots in the window, then Sveti Nikola.
- 24 December: Badnjak.
- 25 and 26 December: Božić and Sveti Stjepan, both public holidays.
- 31 December: open-air parties in the main squares.
- 1 January: New Year's Day, public holiday.
- 6 January: Epiphany, public holiday.
- 17 January to 10 February: Rijeka Carnival.
What's open
In 2026, 25 December is a Friday and 26 December a Saturday, and 1 January is a Friday, so shops are closed over two long weekends; Epiphany on 6 January 2027 falls on a Wednesday. The holiday days are fixed, but the opening hours of museums and restaurants over them change from year to year, so check before you plan a day around them.
Shops are closed on 25 and 26 December, 1 January and 6 January. Many restaurants and cafés in the cities are closed on 25 December, and on the Adriatic coast many hotels and restaurants close for the winter. Museums vary; check the opening hours on the museum's site.
Tips
- Book dinner early: Badnjak and New Year's Eve tables are fixed-price menus in most restaurants.
- Come for the Advent: Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split are livelier in December than the coast is in the rest of winter.
- Dress warmly: the squares are cold at midnight, and the bora wind can be strong on the coast.
- Check the date: Sveti Stjepan on 26 December is a holiday, so shops and many services are closed two days in a row.
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