Liburnicon 2026
Croatia's seaside pop-culture and gaming festival returns to Ika near Opatija on 21-22 August 2026 with an "Outlawed Edition" theme, tournaments and a boardgame zone.
Liburnicon is one of the longest-running pop-culture festivals on the Croatian coast, and the 2026 edition lands at the Faculty of Management in Tourism and Hospitality (FMTU) in Ika, just outside Opatija, on 21 and 22 August. This year the festival runs under the banner of its "Outlawed Edition".
The festival mixes science fiction, fantasy, comics and gaming across indoor halls and outdoor space right by the Adriatic. For players, the programme includes a games and tournaments section (Igre i turniri) and a dedicated boardgame zone, alongside the talks, workshops, quizzes and role-playing content Liburnicon is known for. It is a relaxed, community-run gathering rather than a giant trade show - closer to a fan convention where you can actually sit down and play something.
For anyone in Kvarner, Istria or the wider region, it is an easy weekend trip: Ika sits on the Opatija riviera, so the venue is a few minutes from the coast and well connected to Rijeka. If you are travelling from further away, check the official site and Liburnicon's social channels for the detailed schedule and any ticketing information closer to the date, as the full programme is published in the weeks before the festival.
Image: Jernej Furman from Slovenia / CC BY 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seaside_at_Opatija,_Croatia_(52828694047).jpg