Kiel Week - sporting and festival week

Kiel - right at the Baltic sea

No week is like this one: The Kiel Week combines the biggest yachting event in the world with the biggest summer festival in the north of Europe. It is just this mixture that gives the sporting and festival week in Kiel at the coast of the Baltic Sea its inimitable flair. Every year at the end of June - always in the last complete June week - the whole town celebrates the festival of nine days with guests from all over the world.

The Kiel Week has its origins in the first big yachting regatta sailed on Kiel Fiord on July 23, 1882. This race between naval officers and merchants soon turned into a regatta series with international guests participating. Emperors, kings and industrialists were among the sailors. Kiel Week then made its mark in the history books. Since 1949, the current affairs, cultural and funfair elements have taken their place as peers alongside the yachting event. This is the basis for the continuing success of the sporting and festival week held in the service of international understanding. In 2004, the Kiel Week celebrates its 122nd anniversary whith more than 6,000 sailors from about 50 nations.

More about the Kiel Week