Guča Trumpet Festival | Tourist Calendar of Serbia
- Nikola Igračev
- 2 min
- 5 August 2022.
- Guide
The traditional Guča Trumpet Festival takes place every year in mid-August in Guča.
This small town with around 2,000 inhabitants is located at the foot of Mount Jelica, about 20 kilometers southwest of Čačak. During the four-day festival, it attracts up to a million tourists from all over Serbia, the region, and Europe.
Due to its massive attendance, the festival is among the largest trumpet and folklore festivals in the world. In fact, alongside the famous Rio Carnival and Oktoberfest in Munich, the Guča Trumpet Festival is considered the third largest ethnofestival on the planet by many criteria!
The festival takes place on the local stadium and features numerous brass orchestras from all parts of the country competing for the coveted "Golden Trumpet" award. It also includes concerts by popular performers of folk and popular music. Traditional games and customs, such as the "People's Decathlon" (shooting apples from a gun, long jump, stone throwing, high jump, wrestling...) and "Dragačevo Weddings," as well as a tourism and folk creativity fair, are in the spotlight as well.
The Guča Trumpet Festival is often described as the "fair of all fairs." In the carnival atmosphere dominated by the sounds of trumpets, the aroma of grilled meat, roasted dishes, and sauerkraut, along with a joyful atmosphere, songs, and laughter, both locals and an increasing number of foreign visitors have a great time in Guča.
Visiting the festival is completely free, including parking in public parking lots during the festival. Therefore, you don't have to worry about parking and tickets; you just need to secure accommodation if you haven't done so already. Due to limited accommodation capacity in Guča itself, you can find lodging in hotels, hostels, and motels in nearby Čačak and Arilje.
This year's 61st edition of the Guča Trumpet Festival will take place from August 5th to 7th. For more information about the festival program, you can visit the official Guča Trumpet Festival website.