St. Martin’s Day in Poznań is the one day a year when a whole city queues for a croissant. On 11 November 2026, Poznań celebrates the name day of its main street, ulica Święty Marcin, with a costumed parade led by Saint Martin on horseback, free concerts, a craft fair and tens of thousands of St. Martin’s croissants (rogale świętomarcińskie). It’s also Polish Independence Day, so the city is in full holiday mode. Here’s everything you need to plan the day: the 2026 programme, where to find the real croissant, the Croissant Museum, getting there and where to leave your bags.
Arriving by train and heading straight to the parade? Store your luggage near Plac Mickiewicza and the Zamek and enjoy the day hands-free.
St. Martin’s Day in Poznań 2026: key facts
| Event | Imieniny Ulicy Święty Marcin (St. Martin Street Name Day), 32nd edition |
| Date | Wednesday 11 November 2026 (also Polish Independence Day, a public holiday) |
| Hours | 11:00–21:00 |
| Main area | Ulica Święty Marcin, Aleja Niepodległości, Plac Adama Mickiewicza and the courtyard of CK Zamek (Imperial Castle) |
| Parade | 14:00, right after the Mayor hands the keys of the city to Saint Martin on the main stage |
| Headliner | Katarzyna Nosowska, 18:00, Plac Adama Mickiewicza |
| Entry | Free; the area is run as a secured “mass event” with five entry gates and bag checks |
| Organiser | Centrum Kultury Zamek and the City of Poznań |
| Must-eat | Rogal świętomarciński, the EU-protected St. Martin’s croissant |
What is St. Martin’s Day, and why is Poznań so into it?
11 November is the feast of Saint Martin of Tours, the Roman soldier who famously cut his cloak in half to share it with a freezing beggar. Across Europe the date is marked with lanterns, roast goose and new wine. Poznań’s twist is that its main street, ulica Święty Marcin, is named after the saint, and the medieval St. Martin’s Church still stands at the bottom of it.
Since 1994, the Zamek Culture Centre has thrown the street a “name day” party, and it has grown into one of the city’s biggest open-air events. Because 11 November is also the day Poland regained independence in 1918, you get a double celebration: flags and official ceremonies in the morning, croissants and street theatre for the rest of the day.
The 2026 programme: parade, concerts and the Imieninowe Miasteczko
Good news for 2026: the parade is back. In 2025 the organisers dropped the procession for safety reasons, which caused a local outcry; this year it returns within a secured festival zone. Here is the main-stage schedule at Plac Adama Mickiewicza, as announced by CK Zamek in October 2026. Double-check ckzamek.pl on the day for last-minute changes.
| Time | What’s on (main stage, Plac Adama Mickiewicza) |
|---|---|
| 11:00 | Opening |
| 11:15 | Ptaszkowie Śpiewali – concert |
| 12:30 | Czemoo – youth rapcore concert |
| 13:30 | Poznańskie Senioritki – concert |
| 14:00 | Keys of the city handed to Saint Martin, then the parade sets off |
| 16:00 | Smolik / Kev Fox – concert |
| 17:20 | Poligrodzianie – Wielkopolska folk dance show |
| 18:00 | Katarzyna Nosowska – headline concert |
| 19:00 | Evening music and DJ sets until close |
The St. Martin’s parade (Korowód Świętomarciński)
At 14:00 the Mayor of Poznań hands the keys of the city to Saint Martin, dressed as a Roman legionnaire and mounted on a horse, and the procession moves off. Around 300 participants from 24 organisations take part: the city’s goat mascots (Koziołki), women in traditional Bamberka dress, mounted uhlans, a brass band from Swarzędz, circus performers, school groups and giant puppets of Mother Earth and Pegasus. The route loops along ulica Święty Marcin, Aleja Niepodległości and the streets Składowa and Towarowa, finishing back at Plac Mickiewicza, where the Pogłosy choir closes with a song written specially for 2026.
New for 2026: the parade will be livestreamed and shown on a big screen in the Sala Wielka inside the castle, handy if it’s raining or you have small children. For a street-side spot, arrive by 13:30 near the junction of Święty Marcin and Aleja Niepodległości.
The Imieninowe Miasteczko and inside CK Zamek
The outdoor “name-day village” runs from 11:00 to 21:00 and spreads from Plac Mickiewicza across the castle courtyard and the surrounding streets. Expect the St. Martin’s fair (Kiermasz Świętomarciński) with certified croissants and handmade crafts, a street of NGOs (Ulica Dobroczynna), acrobatic and circus acts, and a vintage 1950s tram parked at the Zamek stop that you can tour until 18:00.
Inside the castle (ulica Święty Marcin 80/82, open 11:00–21:00) there is a free family programme until 18:00: plays and a musical in the Poznań dialect, a dance session, a treasure hunt, a postcard-writing station and a “become Saint Martin” photo spot on the imperial throne. Only the art exhibition and the Polish Cinema Day screenings in Kino Pałacowe are ticketed. The castle also has a quiet room, step-free access and sign-language interpretation for part of the programme.
Fireworks? In earlier years the evening sometimes ended with a show, but the official 2026 programme lists DJ sets as the closing act and no fireworks. Don’t plan your evening around them.
The St. Martin’s croissant: what it is and where to buy the real one
The rogal świętomarciński is a heavy, crescent-shaped pastry of layered yeast dough filled with white poppy seeds, almonds, walnuts, raisins, candied orange peel and crumbled biscuit, finished with a sugar glaze and chopped nuts. It is not a French croissant: one rogal is a meal, and locals happily share.
The pastry has had EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status since 2008, so a croissant can only be sold as “rogal świętomarciński” if it’s baked to the registered recipe by a certified bakery in Poznań or a handful of surrounding counties. Look for the blue-and-yellow PGI logo or the certificate in the shop window. The city sells them year-round, but 11 November is when the bakeries work through the night and the queues wrap around the block.
Tips for croissant hunting on 11 November
- Go early. Popular bakeries and the stalls on Święty Marcin often sell out by early afternoon.
- Buy by the piece or by weight. Prices vary by bakery; a single rogal is a few dozen złoty, and some shops sell halves.
- Check the logo. A cheap “rogal” without the PGI mark is usually a different pastry.
- Take one home. They keep for a few days and travel well in hand luggage.
The Croissant Museum (Rogalowe Muzeum Poznania)
If you’d rather make a croissant than queue for one, book the Croissant Museum on the Old Market Square (Stary Rynek 41/2; the entrance is round the corner at Klasztorna 23). It’s a one-hour live show in a Renaissance townhouse rather than a classic museum: you roll and fill a rogal with traditional tools, learn the legends and some Poznań dialect, taste the result and leave with an apprentice certificate.
| English shows | 14:00 “Croissant & Goat Show” (about 65 min) daily in July–August and on weekends year-round; 15:30 “Croissant Show” on many Saturdays |
| Price | 47 PLN per person (ages 3+) |
| Booking | Online in advance at rogalowemuzeum.pl; places are limited and online buyers get priority entry |
| Good to know | The 14:00 Croissant & Goat Show includes a view of the Town Hall’s famous goats from the museum windows; the 15:30 show doesn’t. Open seven days a week, but check the calendar for public holidays |
Note that 11 November is a public holiday, so check the museum’s calendar for that date specifically; the surrounding days are a safe bet.
11 November is also Polish Independence Day: what that means for you
Narodowe Święto Niepodległości is a national public holiday. In practice:
- Shops and supermarkets are closed (Poland bans most retail trade on public holidays). Bakeries, cafés, restaurants and petrol-station shops stay open, so you won’t go hungry, but do any shopping on 10 November.
- Official ceremonies with flags, speeches and a military presence take place in the morning around Plac Wolności, before the croissant fun starts.
- Public transport runs on a holiday timetable, with diversions around the festival zone in the afternoon. Expect trams on Święty Marcin to be rerouted.
- Hotels fill up. Book early; it’s a long-weekend favourite for Polish travellers.
Things to do in Poznań around St. Martin’s Day
Give yourself at least one extra day. Poznań is compact, walkable and far less crowded than Kraków.
- Old Market Square (Stary Rynek) – freshly renovated, with the Renaissance Town Hall. Be there at 12:00 for the two mechanical goats that butt heads 12 times on the clock tower.
- Ostrów Tumski – the cathedral island where Poland’s first rulers were baptised and buried; the Porta Posnania visitor centre tells the story well.
- Imperial Castle (Zamek) – built for Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1910 and now the cultural centre that hosts the festival; worth a wander even on quieter days.
- Stary Browar – a 19th-century brewery turned art-and-shopping complex, a ten-minute walk from Święty Marcin (closed on 11 November itself).
- Goose season – Saint Martin’s goose is the traditional dish of the season, and many Poznań restaurants put goose on the menu in November. Book a table for the evening of the 10th or 11th.
- Lake Malta – lakeside walks, a thermal spa complex and a year-round ski slope, a short tram ride east.
Getting to Poznań and to the festival
By train: Poznań Główny sits on the Berlin–Warsaw main line. Fast trains take around 2.5–3 hours from Warsaw and under 3 hours from Berlin, and PKP Intercity runs frequent services from Wrocław, Gdańsk and Kraków. From the station it’s a 15-minute walk or a couple of tram stops to the castle.
By plane: Poznań-Ławica Airport (POZ) is about 7 km west of the centre, with direct flights from several UK and European cities. City buses and taxis reach the centre in 20–30 minutes.
On the day: the festival zone around Plac Mickiewicza is closed to traffic, so walk or take a tram to a stop just outside the perimeter. The main entrances have security checks; large bags slow you down, and glass bottles and alcohol are typically refused at mass events in Poland.
Where to store your luggage in Poznań for St. Martin’s Day
Most visitors arrive by train for the day or check out of their hotel on the morning of the 11th. The festival zone has security gates and a free cloakroom deposit, but queues get long once the parade starts, and there is no leaving and re-entering with a suitcase without going through the checks again.
The easier option is to drop your bags with Radical Storage in Poznań. Our partners are local shops and hotels near Poznań Główny, Plac Wolności and the Old Market, so you can store your luggage a few minutes’ walk from the parade route and pick it up after Nosowska’s concert. Every bag is covered by up to €10,000 protection, cancellation is free, and the network has 16,500+ locations in 2,300+ cities with a 4.8/5 rating.
Heading to the parade on Święty Marcin? Store your bags near Plac Mickiewicza and the Zamek and spend the day with a croissant in one hand and nothing in the other.
St. Martin’s Day in Poznań: FAQ
Wednesday 11 November 2026. The Imieniny Ulicy Święty Marcin festival runs from 11:00 to 21:00 around ulica Święty Marcin, Aleja Niepodległości and Plac Adama Mickiewicza, with the parade at 14:00 and Katarzyna Nosowska headlining at 18:00.
Yes. Entry to the whole festival area, the parade, the concerts and the family programme inside CK Zamek is free. The zone is run as a secured mass event with five entry gates and bag checks; only a few exhibitions and cinema screenings inside the castle are ticketed.
The rogal świętomarciński is a crescent-shaped yeast pastry filled with white poppy seeds, almonds, nuts, raisins and candied orange peel, topped with sugar glaze. It has EU Protected Geographical Indication status, so only certified bakeries in Poznań and nearby counties may sell it under that name.
The Rogalowe Muzeum Poznania is at Stary Rynek 41/2 on the Old Market Square, with the entrance at Klasztorna 23. English-language shows cost 47 PLN per person and should be booked online in advance because places are limited.
No. 11 November is Polish Independence Day, a public holiday, and most shops and supermarkets are closed by law. Bakeries, cafés, restaurants and the festival stalls stay open, so do any shopping on 10 November.
Radical Storage has partner locations near Poznań Główny station, Plac Wolności and the Old Market Square, all within walking distance of the parade route on ulica Święty Marcin. Book online, drop your bags, and collect them after the evening concerts. Each bag is covered by up to €10,000 protection and cancellation is free.
