With a new project, Rijeka is building a year-round gastronomic identity, and the Spring Wave of Flavours brings seasonal menus and accompanying programmes until 15 May
The Rijeka Tourist Board has launched a new gastronomic project, Waves of Flavours of Rijeka, conceived as a year-round framework that, through four seasonal cycles, should further connect the hospitality offer, local ingredients, and the city’s tourism identity. The first part of that concept, the Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka, runs from 15 April to 15 May 2026 and already in the first days of the campaign shows the direction in which Rijeka wants to develop its own gastro story: reliance on seasonality, the local origin of ingredients, and an authentic interpretation of Kvarner cuisine. For visitors planning to come to the city, this means more than a classic restaurant visit, because the emphasis is placed on experiencing the destination through the plate, the local story, and the rhythm of the season, while additional information about staying and
accommodation in Rijeka naturally emerges as an important part of planning such a visit.
The project builds on the already established quality label of the Rijeka Gastronomic Ports, which the Rijeka Tourist Board is developing with the aim of profiling hospitality venues and strengthening the recognisability of Rijeka’s gastronomic brand. It is precisely in this upgrade that the important novelty lies: instead of viewing the city only through its permanent restaurant offer, the Waves of Flavours of Rijeka introduce a dynamic, seasonal approach in which menus are adapted to the availability of fresh ingredients and the natural calendar. In this way, gastronomy is not presented as an isolated segment of the tourism offer, but as one of the key ways in which Rijeka addresses guests, as well as its own residents. In the year in which Kvarner holds the title of European Region of Gastronomy 2026, such a step forward carries additional weight because it fits into a broader regional framework that emphasises authenticity, sustainability, and the strengthening of local food culture.
Seasonal cuisine as the main message of the new project
The central idea of the Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka is not only to offer several promotional dishes, but to show how a gastronomic identity can be built on the daily change of menus, depending on what is truly available on the market and in nature. The focus is therefore on spring ingredients that have a strong foothold both in local tradition and in contemporary restaurant interpretation. Thus, participants’ offers include asparagus, young lamb, monkfish, shrimp, and octopus, as well as dishes with fresh cheese and seasonal fruit such as strawberries. Such a range of ingredients clearly shows the gastronomic breadth of the Rijeka and Kvarner area, which simultaneously draws inspiration from the sea, the hinterland, the market, and family kitchens.
It is important that the project does not insist on a single, strictly prescribed menu, but leaves room for restaurateurs to interpret spring in their own style. In this way, the creativity of restaurants is preserved, but also the authenticity of the experience for guests, because each venue can present itself through what it does best. Some restaurateurs rely on fish and seafood dishes, some on meat interpretations, and some on lighter spring combinations and desserts. It is precisely this diversity that can be one of the project’s greatest advantages: instead of one dominant gastronomic formula, Rijeka offers a network of different experiences united by a shared seasonal story.
Ten Rijeka addresses in the first wave
The Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka includes ten hospitality addresses in Rijeka that, in the period until 15 May, offer their own interpretations of spring dishes. Among the participants are Bistro Mezanin, Bistro Paris, restaurant ŠtoRija, restaurant & bar Nautica, La Scarpetta, tavern Tarsa, Botel Marina restaurant, bistro Mornar, Maslina na zelenom trgu, and the pastry shop Slon by Moreno Debartoli. It is a combination of venues of different profiles, from restaurants with a stronger reliance on fish and Kvarner cuisine to places that attract the public with a more urban bistro approach or pastry offer. This is precisely why the project can reach both domestic guests who already know the Rijeka scene and visitors who are only just discovering the city.
For the tourism sector, the spatial logic of such an offer is also important. Participants are not concentrated in just one city zone, so gastronomic exploration naturally expands to several parts of Rijeka. This encourages guests not to reduce their stay to one meal, but to get to know the city over several days, several neighbourhoods, and several types of experiences. In that sense, the project also functions as a tool for dispersing visitors, which is an increasingly important topic in modern tourism. For those coming from outside Rijeka, such a concept can be an additional motive for planning a weekend or a shorter spring stay, especially with timely information about the offer and
accommodation offers in Rijeka.
Rijeka wants gastronomy to be a reason to come, not just a passing attraction
According to the official description of the project, the Waves of Flavours of Rijeka are designed as a long-term gastronomic framework that builds a recognisable destination identity through local ingredients and the creativity of restaurateurs. In practice, this means an attempt for gastronomy in Rijeka to no longer be merely an addition to cultural, business, or transit arrivals, but one of the independent reasons to visit the city. This is especially important in the pre-season and post-season, when well-designed thematic programmes can help a destination attract guests outside the strongest summer months.
Such an approach also follows broader European tourism trends. More and more cities and regions are trying to differentiate themselves not only through sights and events, but also through a recognisable gastronomic product that reflects local character. In that sense, Rijeka has several advantages: a strong connection with the sea, market availability of fresh fish and seafood, the proximity of the Kvarner hinterland, the historical layering of cuisine, and an urban identity that makes it possible to combine tradition and a contemporary approach. When one adds to this the fact that the project is integrated into the year in which Kvarner is the European Region of Gastronomy 2026, it is clear that the local tourist board is trying to use the broader regional momentum and turn it into concrete experiences at the city level.
The broader regional context gives the project additional weight
The title of European Region of Gastronomy 2026 gives Kvarner a strong promotional framework, but also a certain obligation for gastronomic values not to remain only at a declarative level. In that sense, the Rijeka initiative comes at a time when destinations are expected to show how they connect tourism, food production, community identity, and sustainability. The Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka is therefore not just a local restaurant campaign, but also a signal that Rijeka wants to take an active and visible position within that regional brand.
For the city itself, this is important for several reasons. In recent years, Rijeka has increasingly profiled itself as a destination that combines culture, industrial heritage, urban character, active holidays, and contemporary gastronomy. In such an image, it is not enough for food to be of high quality; it must tell a story about the place. A seasonal project such as Waves of Flavours is trying to achieve exactly that, because spring, summer, autumn, and winter become thematic frameworks within which the city can present itself differently, yet recognisably. In this way, gastronomy enters the same logic of destination storytelling that is otherwise carried by cultural programmes, walks, festivals, and heritage content.
From spring to winter: four seasonal cycles are planned
After the current Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka, the plan is followed by summer, autumn, and winter waves. Each of them should be adapted to the seasonal availability of ingredients and the character of the period in which it is held. Such a model has several advantages. First, it gives the project continuity and avoids the impression of a one-off campaign. Second, it allows restaurateurs to refresh their offer and communication towards guests several times a year. Third, it creates a habit among the public to follow what is offered in the city at a certain time of year.
Flexibility is especially important for restaurateurs. Instead of rigid promotional menus that often live off a pre-prescribed form, here the emphasis is on adapting to the actual daily availability of ingredients. This can contribute to the quality and credibility of the offer, but also reduce the gap between the marketing story and what the guest actually gets on the plate. If the project maintains that level of consistency through all four seasonal cycles, Rijeka could gain a recognisable annual calendar of gastronomic events that does not depend only on large manifestations, but also on the restaurants themselves as the carriers of the story.
Educational tours and a culinary workshop have also been organised alongside the restaurant offer
A special feature of the current spring edition is that it is not limited only to food and drink. Alongside the gastronomic offer, the organisers have included accompanying content that broadens the theme to heritage, movement through the city, and practical culinary experience. This confirms that gastronomy in tourism is increasingly viewed as a multi-layered experience that includes space, story, education, and an encounter with the local way of life.
As part of the Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka, the educational tour Circular Railway for One Day, organised by Urbani separe, has been announced. The tour is scheduled for Friday, 24 April 2026, from 17:30 to 19:30, and leads participants through the architectural, port, infrastructural, railway, and gastronomic heritage of Austria-Hungary in Sušak. According to published information, participation is free with prior registration by e-mail. Such a programme clearly shows how food can be connected with urban history and the layered identity of the city, instead of remaining isolated as an independent tourist attraction.
In May, a gastronomic workshop Kuharmonija – spring cuisine is also planned, where participants will learn how to prepare quiche and babka. According to official information, the number of places is limited and registration is required, and the current announcement also states that a participation fee is foreseen for the workshop. Such content also contributes to the broader meaning of the project because it does not reduce the audience to passive consumers, but includes them in the process and knowledge. This is especially important at a time when travellers and excursionists are increasingly seeking experiences through which they can learn something, taste something, and take it with them as a memory or a skill.
Green-Blue Rijeka as an extension of the spring story
As part of the Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka, the organisers additionally invite visitors to discover Green-Blue Rijeka, a network of walking trails that connect the city’s forests and the sea. This invitation is not a secondary detail, but a logical extension of the concept in which gastronomy does not exist separately from space. After lunch, dinner, or a workshop, the visitor can continue exploring the city through walking, recreation, and a natural landscape that in Rijeka relatively quickly merges with the urban fabric. It is precisely such a combination that can be an important advantage of the city compared with destinations that offer good gastronomy but fail to incorporate it into a broader all-day experience.
The Green-Blue Rijeka project otherwise includes walking routes that connect the largest city forests with the sea, thereby additionally highlighting the specificity of the Rijeka area. For tourists, this means that a gastronomic stay can be connected with an active holiday and shorter excursion content, and for the city’s offer it means that different destination segments are not promoted separately, but support each other. For those who want to stay longer, this can be an additional reason to check in advance
accommodation for a visit to Rijeka during spring events and combine several experiences in one arrival.
What this project could mean for Rijeka tourism and hospitality
In the short term, the Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka is above all an invitation to the public to try seasonal menus and additional programmes in the period until 15 May. But in the medium term, the more important question is whether such a model can really contribute to strengthening the city’s gastro identity. The potential for that exists, especially because the project does not rely exclusively on one large event or a one-day festival, but on a network of restaurateurs and several dates spread throughout the season. Such a schedule can create more stable public interest and allow the story to develop gradually, rather than disappear as soon as an individual event ends.
For restaurateurs, the value of the project also lies in shared visibility. An individual restaurant can hardly carry a destination message on its own, but when several venues operate within a recognisable framework, it is easier to create the impression of an organised and substantial city gastronomic scene. This is important for domestic guests as well, who can discover new places, and for tourists, for whom a joint project is a clear signal that there is a certain qualitative and organisational logic behind the offer. If, in addition, the Rijeka Gastronomic Ports label continues to develop, Rijeka could gradually build a recognisable system in which restaurants are not just individual addresses, but parts of a larger city gastro map.
At the level of the city’s image, the project also carries a broader meaning. Rijeka has long been strongly associated in public perception with the port, industry, transport, and urban culture, while gastronomy has more rarely stood out as a first association. The Waves of Flavours of Rijeka are trying to change precisely that relationship, but without abandoning Rijeka’s character. On the contrary, the whole story relies on port identity, Kvarner ingredients, and seasonal immediacy. This is an important difference compared with generic tourism campaigns: here there is no attempt to imitate someone else’s model, but to draw a recognisable gastronomic narrative from existing local characteristics.
The spring wave is under way, and the real measure will be continuity throughout the year
As things currently stand, the Spring Wave of Flavours of Rijeka opens the project in a promising way: with ten hospitality addresses, a clear focus on seasonal ingredients, included educational and recreational content, and a strong reliance on the broader Kvarner gastronomic moment. What will decide its real reach will not only be attendance of the current spring cycle, but the ability of organisers and restaurateurs to maintain the same level of meaningfulness, quality, and authenticity through the summer, autumn, and winter waves as well. If they succeed in that, Rijeka could gain more than just another promotional project: it could gain a year-round gastronomic format that brings the city recognisability, restaurateurs additional visibility, and visitors a clear reason to come.
Sources:- Rijeka Tourist Board / Visit Rijeka – official page of the Rijeka Gastronomic Ports project and the current Waves of Flavours of Rijeka programme with the list of restaurateurs, dates, and descriptions of accompanying content (https://visitrijeka.hr/gastronomija/)- Kvarner Tourist Board – official confirmation that Kvarner holds the title of European Region of Gastronomy 2026 (https://www.kvarner.hr/)- Kvarner Tourist Board – overview of news and the institutional context related to the title of European Region of Gastronomy 2026 (https://www.kvarner.hr/turizam/otkrijte_kvarner/Novosti_s_Kvarnera)- Rijeka Tourist Board / Visit Rijeka – official description of the Green-Blue Rijeka project and the network of walking trails connecting city forests with the sea (https://visitrijeka.hr/zeleno-plava-rijeka/)- Rijeka Tourist Board / Visit Rijeka – announcement about open applications for Rijeka Gastronomic Ports 2026, as additional context for the development of the project and the quality label (https://visitrijeka.hr/rijecke-gastronomske-luke-otvorene-kandidature-za-2026-godinu/)
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