Scampi Festival

NEW FOOD EVENT ON THE CRIKVENICA-VINODOL RIVIERA - SCAMPI FESTIVAL

The Crikvenica-Vinodol Riviera, an area renowned for its wide-ranging, high-quality gastronomy, is very active in promoting and protecting its food and wine heritage. This year, our Riviera will host the new Scampi Festival as part of the programme to promote Kvarner as a 2026 European Region of Gastronomy.

Three tourist boards – Crikvenica, Novi Vinodolski and Vinodol Municipality – have joined forces in pursuit of a common goal: to promote the Crikvenica-Vinodol Riviera through its wines and gas-tronomy and the high-quality ingredient that makes this area special – scampi. The project has been recognised by the Croatian National Tourist Board, which allocated resources, through the Fund for Associated Tourist Boards, for the realisation of a new wine and food event promoting scampi as a dish, the Riviera as a destination, and Kvarner in its entirety as a region of great im-portance in the overall Croatian wine and gastronomy context.

In May and June, featured restaurants on the Crikvenica-Vinodol Riviera will offer special menus with scampi dishes to further highlight this high-quality and valuable foodstuff that all visitors to the Riviera can enjoy. On May 23rd, a promotional walking and boat tour will connect the Vinodol Municipality, Crikvenica and Novi Vinodolski. As these three tourist boards are continuously devel-oping the destination’s outdoor offer, this project will also promote some local cycling and walking trails. By walking along the trails and experiencing the boat trip, visitors will get to know both the blue and green parts of the Riviera, which we feel confident will make them want to return to visit all the beautiful parts of this area. For all tour participants, various scampi dishes will be presented at seven scenic locations, accompanied by local wines and traditional music. This will connect the destina-tion’s gastronomy and outdoor offerings, a valuable combination that has already proved to be a major draw in attracting people to visit the Crikvenica-Vinodol Riviera.

Why scampi? Because this is a first-class seafood speciality and a symbol of our destination, espe-cially the Vinodol Channel, home to scampi larger and tastier than those in the open sea, due to the nature of the sea floor, sea temperature, and a large number of springs, resulting in a combination of brackish and salt water.
The concept of the Scampi Festival connects gastronomy, culture, tradition, education and enter-tainment, creating a unique experience for all visitors.
Food lovers: don’t miss out on positively surprising your taste buds while the blue sea and the green hinterland appeal to all your senses!