Summer in Patras belongs to the Patras International Festival, which since 1986 has spread concerts, theatre and jazz from late June to late September across the Old Municipal Slaughterhouses, the open-air municipal theatre and the municipal beach, with cheap or free tickets, while the Roman Odeon in the Upper Town is back on stage after its restoration.
Festivals · Patras
The Patras International Festival started in 1986 with Thanos Mikroutsikos as its first artistic director and is run by the municipality. It is a festival with music at its centre: it opens in the last days of June, peaks in July and lasts to the end of September, with theatre, dance, cinema and visual arts around the concerts. The general ticket is around 12 euros, reduced around 7, many events are free, and presale runs through ticketservices.gr. The main stage is the Old Municipal Slaughterhouses on Akti Dymaion, which also host the Jazz & More strand, while the Greek song nights are shared between the open-air municipal theatre, the Achaia Clauss estate and the municipal beach at Agyia, where the Educational Activities Park hosts free laiko nights by the sea.
The Roman Odeon of Patras, a second-century theatre for two and a half thousand spectators between Germanou and Sotiriadou streets below the Castle, reopened after a restoration by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Achaia. In its first season it was used by Ministry of Culture bodies, with free performances and concerts in the second half of September and seat booking, so check who is staging what before you plan. The very biggest concerts, with names like Pyx Lax or Kaiti Garbi, go to the Pampeloponnisiako Stadium.
Around Patras, the municipality of Nafpaktos across the Rio-Antirrio bridge runs a free summer programme with music nights at Antirrio Castle on the August full moon, and Aigio, forty minutes east, holds its own Cultural Summer from June to August with free concerts on the waterfront. On the August full moon the Archaeological Museum of Patras and archaeological sites across Western Greece also open free with concerts. And to avoid confusion: the Patras Carnival is in January and February, not a summer festival.
From late June to late September, with July as the busiest month. The exact date of every concert is on Mood.
The general ticket is around 12 euros and the reduced one around 7, with many events free and free entry for people with disabilities and a companion. Presale through ticketservices.gr.
At the Old Municipal Slaughterhouses on Akti Dymaion, at the open-air municipal theatre, at the municipal beach in Agyia, at the Achaia Clauss estate, at the Roman Odeon in the Upper Town for the September shows and at the Pampeloponnisiako Stadium for the very biggest concerts.
Yes, after its restoration it reopened with a programme of performances and concerts in the second half of September, staged by Ministry of Culture bodies, with free entry and seat booking.
