Taste of Summer is Coming: Vilnius Pink Soup Fest Kick Starts Season in “Coolcation” Hotspot
Summer season kicks off in Lithuania, an increasingly popular “coolcation” location, with Vilnius Pink Soup Fest, a 3-day event dedicated to šaltibarščiai, which attracted almost 100,000 people last year.
Lithuania’s most colourful celebration, the Vilnius Pink Soup Fest, is expanding to 3 days this year and will take place on 29-31 May. The decision to extend the event was due to the festival’s rapid growth, with visitor numbers jumping from 42,000 in 2024 to 93,000 last year. Unofficially marking the start of summer in Lithuania, this unique event is a celebration of šaltibarščiai, Lithuania's iconic cold beetroot soup.
Featuring giant foam slides, crazy costumes and races, the festival feels like a Baltic equivalent of La Tomatina (a food fight festival in Spain) or Oktoberfest (a traditional German beer fest). At the festival’s heart is a true Lithuanian delicacy, which can be sampled in its traditional form or with creative modern twists. Events will be held all across the city, with even the city’s airport and train station getting the pink treatment.
“Lithuania’s Nordic climate means the summer is filled with pleasantly warm sunny days and long atmospheric nights. Now in its 4th year, Vilnius Pink Soup Fest takes place in late May, which is a joyful time of year when locals fill the city’s streets and green spaces until late in the evening. The festival’s light-hearted activities and quirkiness reflects both the atmosphere of this season and the open, fun-loving character of Vilnius' residents,” says Eglė Girdzijauskaite, Head of Communication at Go Vilnius.
The festival is a gastronomical celebration, but also an unofficial celebration of the arrival of summer. So with winter over and many travellers turning their attention to the summer season, now is the time to start planning a trip to Vilnius. In 2026, the trend to find cooler alternatives to often uncomfortably hot Mediterranean countries is set to continue. This rise in “coolcations” prompted record tourism numbers across Scandinavia and the Baltic coast in 2025.
Visiting Vilnius Pink Soup Fest promises a stunning combination of riotous colour and silliness, welcoming locals, and delicious food. The centerpiece of the festival is the Pink Soup Parade, and visitors can expect to see dancers, marching bands, and waiters racing through the streets with bowls of pink soup. Packing pink clothes is advised, as there is an award for the best šaltibarščiai-themed costume. One of the festival’s partners is also organising a 10.5-kilometer walk through the streets of Vilnius.
European summer travel is undergoing a noticeable transformation. For many years, tourists planned holidays around sun-soaked beaches and warm Mediterranean cities. Lithuania is emerging as one of these new, “cooler” destinations, as Skyscanner's Travel Trends 2026 is showing a 59% increase in travel searches for flights from the UK to Lithuania's second-largest city that's just an hour by train from Vilnius.
During a summer stay in Vilnius, visitors can spend a long summer afternoon visiting galleries and museums, walking one of the many nearby nature trails or even taking a day-trip to Trakai – a popular destination known for its lakes, a stunning medieval castle and traditional cuisine. In addition to that, due to frequent and reliable connections by rail and coach, Vilnius can serve as the starting point for a longer Northern European coolcation.
More about Šaltibarščiai
Šaltibarščiai, first mentioned in the 18th century, dates back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and is traditionally made by mixing beetroot, cucumber, dill, and kefir. In recent years its stock has been rising fast in culinary circles, with it currently placing 2nd in Taste Atlas’ ranking of the world’s best cold soups. Its vivid colour has made it an Instagram hit, and the health benefits of its key ingredients – probiotic kefir and antioxidant-rich beets – have further fueled its popularity.