For over four decades, Kraków has hosted this salty sea shanty festival with so much success that it has spawned an astounding twenty other shanty festivals across Poland. The festival has risen to become not only the most important celebration of maritime music in the country, but the largest in all of Europe. Attracting salt-creased sea dogs, selkies, and sirens from across the continent, the biggest stars of sea songs perform on the festival stage and at afterparties in the Stary Port sailor tavern (the best part of the festival - after 22:00). In addition to concerts, expect a raft of workshops, photo exhibitions, and other accompanying events. Foreigners need fear not—while many of the performers are Polish, there are plenty of international acts as well.

Shanties 2026 will be holding events in several locations around the city, including Radio Kraków, Kino Kijów, the Kraków Philharmonic, Rynek Główny, Klub Żaczek and Stary Port tavern. See the festival website for details.