Chestnut Festivals of Europe: The 2026 Autumn Calendar

From the mountains of the Peloponnese to the hills of Portugal, the lesser-known chestnut festivals of Europe, with dates for the rest of the 2026 season.

From late October, the chestnut season reaches its peak. Across Europe’s mountains, small towns and villages celebrate the harvest with fires, roasted chestnuts, new wine, music and markets. A few of these festivals are famous. Most are not: they are village affairs, organised by local associations, announced on posters in the café window, and visited mostly by people from the surrounding valleys.

This calendar gathers the best of them for the rest of the 2026 season, from this weekend to early December. Each was chosen because it is rooted in a real chestnut culture, and because it is still, for most travellers, a discovery.

This is the first article in The Harvest Calendar, our series on Europe’s seasonal harvest events. Next: the olive harvest.

At a glance: the 2026 calendar

Dates are as announced by the organisers in autumn 2026. Village programmes change, so check before you travel.

Late October: the peak weekends

Kastanitsa, Arcadia, Greece · 24–25 October

The village named after the chestnut celebrates its harvest for the 42nd time. Instead of a stage, the festival is a walk: visitors follow the Dromos tou Kastanou, the Chestnut Route, through the lanes of a protected stone village on Mount Parnon, stopping for boiled chestnuts, pork with chestnuts, mountain tea and tsipouro. It is one of the few Tsakonian-speaking villages left in Greece.

→ Read more in Lost Chestnut Valleys of Europe

Aritzo, Sardinia, Italy · 24–25 October

High in the Barbagia, near the Gennargentu massif, Aritzo holds its 54th chestnut and hazelnut festival. The programme reads like a portrait of inner Sardinia: guided walks to the chestnut groves of Geratzia, tastings of local chestnuts with Mandrolisai wine, polyphonic choirs singing in the streets, and a parade by the Tumbarinos drummers of Gavoi.

Vinhais, Portugal · 23–25 October

In the far north-east of Portugal, close to the Spanish border, Vinhais celebrates the Longal, a chestnut variety prized for its flavour and easy peeling. Rural Castanea is now in its 21st edition, a showcase of the chestnut culture of Trás-os-Montes, one of the great chestnut regions of Europe.

Centa San Nicolò, Trentino, Italy · 24–25 October

A small mountain village in the Valle del Centa, south-east of Trento, celebrates its own valley chestnut. It is a rare chance to see the Alpine side of chestnut culture, far from the better-known festivals of Tuscany and Piedmont.

Marradi, Tuscany, Italy · 25 October

On the Tuscan side of the Apennines, Marradi’s Marron Buono market has run for 63 years. The 25th is its last Sunday this season: the streets fill with stalls of chestnuts, chestnut cakes, flour and tortelli filled with chestnut purée.

All Saints and early November

Kosmas, Arcadia, Greece · 31 October–1 November

At 1,150 metres, Kosmas is one of the highest villages in the Peloponnese. Its chestnut festival, only in its fifth year, coincides with the feast of its patron saints, the Agioi Anargyroi. Roasted chestnuts and wine are offered free in the village square, under its huge plane trees.

Trancoso and Góis, Portugal · 30 October–1 November

Two smaller Portuguese fairs fill the long weekend of All Saints. In the walled medieval town of Trancoso, the chestnut fair combines the harvest with “autumn flavours” from the surrounding region of Beira. In Góis, in the schist mountains of central Portugal, the Feira dos Santos brings together chestnuts and mountain honey.

El Bierzo, Spain · around 1 November

Across the valleys of El Bierzo, villages celebrate the magosto, roasting chestnuts over open fires and sharing them with new wine. Its roots lie in an ancient ritual, when the first chestnuts of the year were offered to the spirits of the forest. The best setting is the chestnut groves below the red peaks of Las Médulas.

Montella, Campania, Italy · 1–2 and 6–8 November

In the green mountains of Irpinia, inland from Naples, Montella grows a chestnut so valued that it has EU protected status (IGP). Its 42nd festival runs over two long weekends, with more than a hundred stands. It is one of the largest chestnut festivals in southern Italy, yet almost unknown outside it.

Ano Doliana, Arcadia, Greece · 7 November

A third Arcadian chestnut village closes the Greek season: a one-day village feast with chestnuts, music, dancing and local food, from late morning into the evening.

St. Martin’s and late November

The magusto, northern Portugal · 11 November

On St. Martin’s Day, villages across northern Portugal light bonfires and roast chestnuts, drinking água-pé and new wine. Tradition says it is the day of the “Summer of St. Martin”, when the sun returns for a few days before winter. It is less a single festival than a national custom, best experienced in the villages of Trás-os-Montes.

Marvão, Portugal · 14–15 November

Perched on a granite crag above the Alentejo, close to the Spanish border, Marvão is one of the most spectacular walled villages in Portugal. Its 42nd Festa do Castanheiro fills the lanes inside the castle walls with chestnut sellers, smoke and music. A two-week Quinzena Gastronómica da Castanha, a chestnut menu season in local restaurants, follows until 29 November.

Lousã, Portugal · 20–22 November

In the Serra da Lousã, known for its schist villages, the 35th honey and chestnut fair is one of the last of the season, and a good excuse to explore the mountain’s stone hamlets in late-autumn colour.

Early December: the last fair

Bocognano, Corsica, France · early December

The season ends in the mountains of central Corsica. For three days in early December, the Fiera di a Castagna brings together producers from across the island, with chestnut flour, cakes, charcuterie and crafts. It draws around 20,000 visitors a year to a village of a few hundred people.

Already passed? Save these for 2027

Some of Europe’s most beautiful chestnut festivals take place earlier in the season:

• Val Bregaglia, Switzerland — Festival della Castagna, late September to mid-October.
• Soriano nel Cimino, Lazio, Italy — Sagra delle Castagne, the first three weekends of October.
• Lovran, Croatia — Marunada, three October weekends in Lovran and the villages above it.
• Collobrières, Provence, France — Fêtes de la Châtaigne, Sundays in October.

Tips for chestnut festival season

• Arrive early. Village festivals fill quickly by midday, and parking is limited.
• Bring cash. Many small stalls don’t take cards.
• Stay overnight. The best moments are often the evening music and the quiet morning after.
• Buy directly. Chestnuts, flour and honey from the growers support the communities that keep the groves alive.
• Check the programme. Village events can change at short notice, especially if the weather turns.

Frequently asked questions

When are chestnut festivals in Europe? Mostly from early October to mid-November, with the peak around the last weekend of October and All Saints’ Day (1 November). A few, like Bocognano in Corsica, continue into December.

Which country has the most chestnut festivals? Italy and Portugal both have dozens every autumn. In Italy they are called sagre della castagna; in Portugal, feiras da castanha and magustos.

What is a magusto? A Portuguese chestnut feast, held around St. Martin’s Day (11 November), with chestnuts roasted over a bonfire and new wine. In Spain, a similar tradition is called the magosto.

Are chestnut festivals free? Most are free to enter. You pay for food, chestnuts and drinks at the stalls, though some villages, like Kosmas in Greece, offer roasted chestnuts and wine for free.

Beyond the map

A chestnut festival is one of the simplest pleasures of a European autumn: smoke in a village square, a paper cone of hot chestnuts, a glass of new wine, music from a stage or a street corner. It is also a way to support the small mountain communities that still look after their old groves. Pick one this season, go early, and stay until the last fire burns down.

The Harvest Calendar series

• Chestnut Festivals of Europe (this article)
• The Olive Harvest: Europe’s Oil Festivals (coming in November)
• Potato Festivals of Europe (coming)

Carry the season with you: Beyond the Map Field Guides

Autumn Photography in Europe — The Beyond the Map Premium Guide Chestnut woods in October light, smoke over a village fair, the last colour of the season. This guide is for the weeks when Europe’s countryside looks its best.

Hidden Europe — The Beyond the Map Map Every village in this calendar, and hundreds more, on one map of the Europe most travellers never see.

→ Browse all Field Guides

Explore more: Lost Chestnut Valleys of Europe · Europe’s Last Harvest Rituals · Seasons