11th Olive Festival in Zagreb 2026
Date: 28 and 29 March 2026
Venue: Hotel The Westin, Zagreb
About the Festival
The Olive Festival in Zagreb has become a renowned international event organised by the Zagreb Olive Institute. Although the association has been active since 2011, the first Olive Festival in Zagreb was held in 2016 at the Zagreb Fair. After a few years the Festival moved to The Westin hotel, and this year (2024) it is being held at the Sheraton hotel in Zagreb.
From the very beginning, the Festival's basic goal has been to bring olives and olive oil closer to Zagreb and to enable the public to recognise and buy the finest extra virgin olive oils produced in Croatia. Furthermore, through a series of expert lectures, it gives the public arguments about the nutritional and health benefits of using olive oil.
Of particular interest to the public is the guided oil-tasting workshop, where, with expert explanations from sensory analysts, participants learn to recognise the good characteristics of olive oil (fruitiness, bitterness, pungency, freshness, etc.), as well as potential defects (rancidity, vinegary notes, earthy or metallic odours). In this way the public becomes informed consumers and buyers of the finest oils. A workshop on making cosmetic products based on olive oil (face and body creams) and olive leaf (teas, hydrolates and macerates) is also organised. Both workshops attract a large number of interested participants.
The Festival's trade exhibition features 30–40 family farms offering quality olive oil and other olive products, as well as complementary items such as cheese, wine, fish, cured meats, honey and sweets. The exhibition also offers supplies for olive growing, plant protection and fertilising, as well as equipment and tools.
The Festival also aims to educate olive growers about agrotechnical measures in the olive grove, oil processing and storage, and to provide new knowledge about equipment for olive growing, plant protection and nutrition. This knowledge is shared by leading experts from our faculties and institutes, each in their own field.
Another area of unusual importance to olive growers is the analysis and evaluation of young olive oils produced each season. The analysis and evaluation is always carried out by an accredited panel of sensory analysts, trained for objective quality assessment in line with the highest standards. Samples at past Festivals have been analysed and judged by panels of assessors from Šibenik/Vodice, Split and Zadar. It is gratifying that this judging attracts a large number of olive growers from Croatia and neighbouring countries, so that the Festival has become an international event, to which olive growers from Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Montenegro and North Macedonia also send their oils, in addition to Croatia. Around 400 samples of the finest oils are evaluated at the Festival each year.
The Organising Committee of the 11th Olive Festival in Zagreb (2026) consists of: Biljana Ljuban (chair), Srećko Gross, Juraj Ivanković, Krunoslav Kovačević, Antonio Perica, Ivica Pešić, Nikša Šimunović, Višnja Šimunović and Aurora Volarević.
More detailed information about the 11th Olive Festival in Zagreb can be found at festivalmaslinazagreb.com.