If you don’t write about a WordCamp, it feels a bit like a training session without tracking. As if it never really happened. So here I am, writing 🤪
WordCamp Europe 2026 took place from 4 to 6 June in Kraków, at the ICE Congress Centre right on the banks of the Vistula. The numbers speak for themselves. More than 2,400 tickets sold, attendees from 81 countries, nearly 800 contributors on Contributor Day alone, along with 49 talks, 8 workshops, and more than 60 speakers. An impressive scale that confirms in numbers what WCEU already is in spirit → the largest WordPress event in Europe.
A Different Year from the Last
Last year I was in Basel with devowl, the team behind Real Cookie Banner, who were sponsors again this year. That was a different mode altogether: more structured, with a clear professional frame, lots of conversations in the context of the company and defined goals.
This year I was there for myself, and that was a deliberate choice. I genuinely treated Kraków as time off. Not a networking marathon, not an obligation, but time I carved out to recharge, to listen, and simply to be present.
I watched a lot of talks and really enjoyed taking in all the different perspectives. What fascinates me every time is the sheer density of it all. Technical depth sitting alongside community topics, business perspectives alongside personal stories. The WordCamp format makes it possible to move through five completely different worlds of thought in a single day.
FOMO, but Worth It
I’ll admit it: I had a bit of FOMO from not attending any of the evening side events. That’s what happens when you treat WCEU more as a retreat than a social programme.
What I gained instead was something I’d rarely had in previous years: time for Kraków itself. I was there from Monday to Sunday, while the camp ran from Thursday to Saturday. That gave me the chance to properly get to know the city, to see more, to slow down. Kraków is a strikingly beautiful place: historic, vibrant, with a quality to everyday life that kept surprising me.
The train journey was well worth it too. Eight hours from Leipzig to Kraków sounds like a lot, but good conversations with Hendrik on the way there and Simon on the way back made the time pass much faster than expected.
I’ll probably travel Tuesday to Tuesday next year. That leaves a proper buffer after the after-party, without having to start the journey home the very next morning completely exhausted.
Organised to a High Standard
WordCamp Europe 2026 set a new benchmark. The food and drinks were genuinely good, the logistics ran smoothly, and the programme was packed without feeling overwhelming. The organising team had thought of everything down to the last detail; the badge even doubled as a public transport ticket for trams and buses across the city, which was wonderfully convenient and something I’d happily see at every camp from now on.
And Next Year?
WordCamp Europe 2027 will be held in Málaga. It will be the first time the event has returned to a country it has already visited. But Spain is a big place: last time it was further north, next year it goes all the way south. For me that’s a prospect I’m genuinely looking forward to, not least because it’s by the sea 😊
I’m already very much looking forward to next year.
