Living-history events at Cēsis Castle go back to the Knights’ Celebrations of 1997 and the Baltic Medieval Festival, which from 2001 filled the castle park in the second week of June with more than 300 knights, craftspeople, musicians and dancers from up to eight countries. In recent years the castle has replaced the big festival with themed medieval days, and our search of the 2026 regional events calendar found no standalone medieval festival, which is why this entry is marked unverified pending a reply from the castle.
What does run every year is the castle’s medieval season from May to the end of September. On summer weekends ‘castle folk’ in period dress, including craftsmen, the castle gardener and the Spielmeister, offer medieval games, craft demonstrations and the castle-garden herb beds in the bailey; the ‘Living on a Powder Keg’ multimedia exhibition occupies the southern tower. Opening hours are 10:00–18:00 (to 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays from May to July), with ticket sales ending an hour before closing.
Dated events in 2026 were the Medieval Craft Days in the castle garden on 4–5 July, with an armourer, lantern maker, shoemaker and woodworker at work (the 2024 craftsmen days were held on 24–25 August), and the city festival ‘Cēsis 820’ on 17–18 July, marking 820 years since the town’s first mention in 1206, with a torchlight procession on the Friday, an artisan market on Rožu laukums and Rīgas iela and, according to event listings, a Hanseatic market with medieval crafts and food in the castle garden; most of the city festival is free, with the Saturday concert ticketed from about €7.
Cēsis is about 90 km north-east of Riga, roughly 1 hour 45 minutes by train. The castle complex at Pils laukums 9 also holds the 18th-century New Castle with the history museum and the castle park, where the Cēsis Art Festival runs from mid-July to the end of August. Check cesupils.lv or the castle’s Facebook page for dated medieval events before travelling.
