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Cultural Events
1. Athens Epidaurus Festival (01/06-24/08/2024)
Founded in 1955, the world-famous Athens Epidaurus Festival is Greece’s leading cultural institution and one of Europe’s oldest arts festivals. Held annually from June to August, the festival, incorporates a full programme of music, theatre, dance and visual arts. Showcasing the very best in performing arts from established and emerging Greek and international artists, it has hosted the likes of legendary soprano Maria Callas, the greatest male ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and some of the world’s biggest orchestras. Read more about it here.
2. Kalamata Dance Festival (12-21/07/2024)
The Kalamata Dance Festival is synonymous with the flourishing of contemporary dance in Greece. From 1995 to the present day, it provides the public with works dedicated to the poetry of the human body, hosting creators who are writing the very history of contemporary dance.
3. Ejekt Festival Athens (12-24/07/2024)
One of the most famous and much anticipated open-air music events in Athens known for bringing together up-and-coming artists with world-celebrated established acts. It began in 2005, bridging the gap of the Greek crowd for an alternative festival based on electronic music (EDM).
4. Vovousa Festival (13/07-10/08/2024)
Nestled in the Pindus mountains at an altitude of 1000 meters, Vovousa is beautiful village in East Zagori, Ioannina. Vovousa Festival the one and only Greek mountain festival for arts and sustainable development. Musical events, screenings, talks, performances, as well as activities such as hiking excursions and truffle hunting.
5. Sani Festival Halkidiki (15/07-26/08/2024)
Every summer, from July to August, Sani Festival, a cultural institution and Greece’s most historic privately organized festival, brings together Greek and international artists in the Sani Resort, in Halkidiki, northern Greece. Rooted in jazz, the first event took place in 1992 over three days. Since then, the programme has naturally evolved beyond one main genre, hosting a wide variety of musical acts, from the likes of pop and rock to classical and indie, alongside the ever-present jazz masters, ensuring an unforgettable experience for all music fans.
Sani Resort is punctuated by a small hill pinned with the majestic medieval Stavronikita tower. It’s here on ‘Sani hill’, with the tower as the backdrop, that the annual festival is being held. The hill of Sani, a natural amphitheatre, is an atmospheric place where art comes into harmony with the infinite sea, the starry sky and the natural environment. Sani Festival opens up bridges of communication between tourism and the arts, between Greek and foreign tourists. Halkidiki, also known as Aristotle’s place of birth, is less than an hour’s drive from the thriving cultural city of Thessaloniki.
For more information visit Sani Festival
6. Olympus Festival (Pieria)
Taking place annually in the months of July and August, Olympus Festival is a music and theater festival held in the town of Dion, just 10 km away from Katerini, in Pieria, northern Greece. Since 1972, many Greek and internationally renowned artists (Giorgos Dalaras, Marinella, Haris Alexiou, Maria Farantouri, Nana Moushouri, Milva, Goran Bregovic, Sezaria Evora), have honored the Olympus Festival and have marked it as a cradle of civilization for the whole region. Since 2010 the festival has established the institution of the honored country and collaborated with the great cultural centers and museums of these countries.
Among the main venues is the ancient Greek theater of Dion. It dates back to the Hellenistic era, and was built most probably during the reign of Philip V (221-179 BC). Here, about 2400 years ago, the Bakchen of Euripides were premiered. Other venues are Ancient Livithra archaeological park (known mainly from the Orphic myth), Ancient Pydna, Castle of Platamonas (one of the most beautiful and well preserved Byzantine castles in Greece), the Byzantine Church of the Holy Mother, Kontariotissa.
7. Rebetiko Festival Skopelos (Sporades)
The “Days of Rebetiko” Festival is organized every year in Skopelos and has become very popular on the island and beyond. It includes a full program of events on “Rebetiko” (the urban folk music popular among working class Greeks from the 19th century to 1950s.)
8. Cretan Diet Festival (01-07/07/2024)
Every year, the Municipality of Rethymnon, the Regional Unit of Rethymnon and the Chamber of Rethymnon, hold one of their oldest cultural events, the “Cretan Diet Festival”. The Festival is clearly oriented towards the promotion of award-winning Cretan products. Wine tasting, food and wine seminars, cultural activities, music and dance.
9. Eptapyrgio Festival (05/06-23/07/2024)
Held in in Thessaloniki’s Upper Town (Ano Poli), the festival features orchestral and jazz music, poetry recitals and more.
10. International Festival of Ancient Olympia
Ancient Olympia’s International Festival of the Arts culminates during the months of July and August. The festival is centred around the famous site of antiquity Olympia, site of the ancient Olympics, the nearby village of Floka and in the pedestrian zone of modern Olympia. Music, theatre and dance performances are the key focus.
11. Andros International Festival
The International Festival of Andros welcomes you every summer with a rich programme of theatrical, musical and artistic performances. Organized for the first time in 2015. Performances begin in the last week of July and last until late August.
12. Chania International Photography Festival (22-26/07/2024)
Held in the old town of Chania and created by Blank Wall Gallery, the festival’s aim is to gather more than 500 photographers from around the world each year, turning the Cretan town of Chania into an international centre of artistic expression focusing on photography.
13. Chania Rock Festival (26-28/07/2024)
Dedicated to rock and metal music, the annual Chania Rock Festival has become a festival institution in the Cretan town, hosting both Greek and international performers.
Sports
Aegean 600 (05-13/07/2024)
600 miles of sailing in this sea. An offshore race designed by sailors for sailors. Starting and finishing in Cape Sounio, Athens the course weaves around 11 island in the Aegean (Milos, Santorini, Kasos, Karpathos, Rhodos, Kos, Kalymnos, Patmos, Mykonos, Delos, Kea). The Aegean 600 is becoming known for its challenging course, with strong winds, currents, and varying sea conditions, as well as for the stunning scenery and cultural heritage of the Aegean islands. Under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism Organisation.
Olympic Festival Paris 2024 at the SNFCC (26/07-11/08)
Stavros Niarchos Park in Athens is transformed into a unique meeting point ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, from July 26 to August 11. The Hellenic Olympic Committee, in cooperation with SNFCC and under the auspices of the IOC, is organizing the Olympic Festival Paris 2024 which will offer a rich program of sporting activities and artistic events, as well as all-day screenings of Olympic events at the Park Kiosk. The festival will open with the live screening of the opening ceremony on July 26, and end with the live screening of the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Great Lawn of Stavros Niarchos Park.
