Gołdap hosts the second edition of the "Jazz on All the Lakes" festival, filling the town with music on 7 and 8 August 2026. The concerts take place among the brine graduation towers at Promenada Zdrojowa 20 – this is Masuria's only spa town, and the salt aerosol drifting off the towers is a setting no other festival in the region can match. Two evenings, six concerts, all free to attend. It is around 55 km from Poza Zgiełkiem.
Programme – Friday 7 August
The festival opens at 18:00 with Agata & The Guys – Agata Ławicka, Mikołaj Stańko, Jan Jarecki and Ziemowit Klimek. At 19:00 the stage passes to the Arek Skolik Trio – Robert Chyła, Wojciech Pruszyński and Arek Skolik. Friday closes at 20:00 with Wodecki Jazz, in which Piotr Baron, Robert Majewski, Michał Tokaj, Michał Adamczak and Michał Miśkiewicz reinterpret the well-known compositions of Zbigniew Wodecki. It is the strongest item of the first day and worth taking a place early for.
Programme – Saturday 8 August
The second day opens at 18:00 with the duo Warp Travellers, Bernard Maseli and DJ Eprom – vibraphone against electronics, which works well outdoors. At 19:00 the Paweł Pańta Trio plays: Paweł Pańta, Stanisław Pańta and Patryk Dobosz. The festival closes at 20:00 with the international Ibrahim Trio: Wassim Ibrahim, Joachim Mencel and Szymon Madej. The town describes the event as being for committed jazz listeners and for anyone still discovering it alike – the programme is approachable and needs no preparation.
Gołdap and the eastern edge of Masuria
Gołdap is 55 km east of us, on the border with the Kaliningrad region – a different part of the area from the Great Lakes: more rolling, with Piłakno hill and forest behind it. On the way it is worth stopping at the Rapa pyramid or the Stańczyki bridges, which lie in the same direction. It makes a good day out when you want a Masuria other than the picture-postcard one. Watch the calendar: 7–9 August also brings Operation Boyen in Giżycko and the medieval festival in Ryn – we have gathered it all in August 2026 in Masuria.
A tip
Come early and use the graduation towers as intended – a walk in the salt aerosol before the concert is what brings people to Gołdap the rest of the year. Evenings at the eastern edge of Masuria run colder than they do on Lake Mamry.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Frrg / CC BY-SA 4.0
