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The Festival is part of the Baltic Manors Route, which is currently taking shape across the Baltic Sea Region. Manor associations, tourism organisations and cultural heritage partners are joining forces to make this shared heritage more visible, more accessible and easier to experience as a travel offer. The Festival gives visitors a first impression of what the Route can become: not one fixed line on a map, but a network of places, landscapes, stories and regional experiences connected across borders.

Visitors may choose one regional event close to home – or go festival hopping and plan a longer journey through several regions. For the first time, the overview on www.baltic-manors.eu/en/baltic-manors-festival.html brings together eight participating regions, dates, programmes and practical information in one place. It helps visitors discover events across the Baltic Sea Region and turn them into individual trips along the Baltic Manors Route from one manor house to the next. Each festival event has its own character, shaped by local traditions, landscapes and communities. Taken together, they tell a wider Baltic Sea story: manor houses are not only historic monuments, but open, living places of culture, hospitality, exchange and new rural life. In many cases, visitors can enter places that are rarely accessible in everyday life – often through guided tours led by the owners themselves – and see how historic estates are being reimagined for the present.

 “The international Baltic Manors Festival gives our shared manor heritage a visible, lively form. It brings together the people who care for these places, the regions that surround them and the visitors who want to discover them. For many guests, it may be a first opportunity to experience the Baltic Manors Route as a real travel offer, by visiting several manor houses, landscapes and local cultures along the way,” says Manfred Achtenhagen, Chairman of the Baltic Manors Association.

Festival events around the Baltic Sea

The regional festival offers reflect the diversity of manor culture around the Baltic Sea and show how differently old places are being filled with new life:

• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern / Germany (20-21 June 2026) – a midsummer weekend of discovery: During the MittsommerRemise, around 80 manor houses, estates and cultural sites open their doors for one weekend. Encounters with the people rescuing these historic houses, a rich cultural programme and organised bus and bicycle tours make the revival of this unique cultural landscape tangible – from lovingly restored estates to places still in their wonderfully unfinished state.
• Nemunas Valley / Lithuania (27-28 June 2026) – fireworks of culture: At Panemunė Castle, this year´s programme focusses on Adam Mickiewicz’s national epic Pan Tadeusz and brings literature, crafts, music and local traditions to life in the cultural landscape along the River Nemunas. By day, visitors can enjoy stories, cultural activities and family programmes; by evening, the castle becomes the stage for a festive fireworks display.
• Lithuania (3-6 July 2026) – open doors and a warm welcome: Across Lithuania, castles and manor houses open their doors to one of the most architecturally and historically diverse manor landscapes in the Baltic Sea Region. Guided tours, cultural programmes, music, performances and local traditions invite visitors to explore this heritage – accompanied by Lithuania’s legendary hospitality.
• Denmark (16 Aug 2026) – coffee and a festive spirit: For one day only, private estates across Denmark open doors that are usually closed to the public. In many places, long-established owner families personally guide visitors through the houses, sharing stories from the past and showing how these estates continue to reinvent themselves today.
• Warmia-Mazury / Poland (3-4 Sept 2026) – manor heritage on the big screen: In the lake-rich north-east of Poland, manor houses become atmospheric settings for cinema, history and memory. Screenings in historic estates and conversations with filmmakers and actors show how manor-house heritage continues to inspire stories on screen.
• Pomerania / Poland (12-13 Sept 2026) – festival buzz in manor houses: In the gently rolling cultural landscape west of Gdańsk, around a dozen locations come alive with music, workshops, regional specialities and plenty of activities for children. Visitors can meet the people bringing many of these manor houses back to life and experience Polish family-friendliness at its warmest.
• Skåne / Sweden (19 Sept 2026) – food for the soul: At Svaneholm Castle in Skåne, regional delicacies meet culture, music, history and family activities. Visitors can discover the traditions of southern Swedish agriculture, meet local producers and enjoy the special atmosphere of a castle dedicated to the common good.
• Latvia (31 Oct 2026) – mystical stories in the fog: During the Night of the Legends, Latvia’s manor houses become atmospheric settings for stories, legends and autumn magic. Candlelight, fog and evening events create a uniquely evocative encounter with Baltic manor heritage in places often rarely accessible in everyday life.

Together, these events create a rich picture of Baltic Manors: eight regions, eight different expressions and one shared fascination.

A shared heritage, a route in the making

Around the Baltic Sea Region, manor houses form part of a unique cultural landscape that has shaped rural life for centuries. With up to 20,000 manor houses in the hinterlands of the Baltic Sea coasts, the region has the highest density of such sites anywhere in the world. Around 1,000 of them already welcome guests and offer tourism experiences.

Building on the umbrella brand “Baltic Manors – Old places, new life”, the Baltic Manors Association and its partners are working to establish the Baltic Manors Route by 2027 and to achieve certification by 2028 as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. Rather than following one fixed path, the Route will grow through regional clusters of visitable, bookable experiences and gateway sites, supported by shared communication, quality development and thematic storytelling across borders.

The Baltic Manors Festival already brings this idea to life for visitors today. It makes the Route tangible through real events in real places – and invites people to discover new manor life around the Baltic Sea, one journey at a time.

 Visitor information

Festival: Baltic Manors Festival 2026

Period: Early summer to autumn 2026

Regions & dates:

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern / Germany (20-21 June), Nemunas Valley / Lithuania (27-28 June), Open Manor Houses / Lithuania (3-6 July), Denmark (16 Aug) , Warmia-Mazury / Poland (3-4 Sept), Pomerania / Poland (12-13 Sept), Skåne / Sweden (19 Sept), Latvia (31 Oct)

Programme: Open manor houses, guided tours with owners, concerts, exhibitions, children’s activities, workshops, regional food, film screenings, storytelling and other cultural events

In Lithuania Baltic Manors Festival will take place on July 3-6, 2026. The local programme includes guided tours, open manor houses, concerts, exhibitions, workshops and children’s activities. Lithuanian Manors invites you. Please find more information on the at https://www.lietuvos.dvarai.lt/objects/baltic-manors-festival/

About the Baltic Manors Association and the initiative

The Baltic Manors Association promotes manor heritage around the Baltic Sea Region under the umbrella brand “Baltic Manors – Old places, new life.” The cooperation is carried by national and regional manor associations, which are supported by tourism organisations and research institutes. The Baltic Manors Association aims to establish the Baltic Manors Route by 2027 and to achieve certification by 2028 as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. The Route is being developed within the project “Baltic Manors ROUTE”, supported and co-financed by the EU through the Interreg South Baltic Programme.