Previously this year, I asked in the forum about busking around different parts of Europe, in the end I decided to go to Central/East Europe, despite that I could find limited busking information in the region, after performing mainly in the Balkan countries, I realized that some of the information regarding permissions was incorrect, so I would like to share here my own personal experience, comment on location were you CAN do street magic and what to expect (from people and the police), hoping it will have other performance in the future.

Let’s begin
I have performing 3 weeks in different European countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Romania and Bosnia), had a lot of fun and made some money on the way, although if money is your main concern, you might better to seek for other destinations...

I do a small sidewalk show, usually begin with close up magic to build the crowd and continue with some sort of parlour magic and sometimes add mentalism in the end , you can check out my act here from 2010, it haven’t changed much since…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGmEYuJQfT0

I started perform in Ljubljana, Slovenia, I located myself on a street named Petkovškovo nabrežje, it is a narrow street with a lot of bars and many tourist, the police does not say anything, my audience was half tourists half Slovenian, the locals speak really good English and I have not problems to perform there at all.
If you have a big show, than you can do your act on the main square, beautiful place to perform.
In Ljubljana it is legal busking, but the city has time restriction (it is possible to perform 4pm-10pm on weekdays and 10am-10pm weekends).

Next I went to Zagreb, in the city center there is an office were you “have” to get a permission, however they told me that I should be Croatian citizen (I’m not), nevertheless they suggest me to avoid the main square (forbidden to perform) and try my luck in one pedestrian street, I locate myself in Bogovićeva street, near a place called “the golden sun”, had no problem with the police, but I admit that haven’t find good atmosphere to perform, Zagreb is not so touristic, it was a weekday and the locals seem to be in the rush and don’t speak really good English, I spend there only one night and moved to Croatian coast side, which was really amazing (for traveling and busking), It was July (high season), I found myself performing magic for international, national and many locals as well, my first stop was Zadar than I moved to Dubrovnik, my experience in in both cities was similar (wonderful!), I performed in the main square, you can do there easily a side walk performance and also a big show, no problem with the police and other performance, I find some other buskers (mainly musicians with a proper permission), they were nice to me, and didn’t mind that I was relative close to their location.

I have not been to the sea cost of Montenegro or Pula (west Croatia), but from a reliable source, I know that they are great locations to perform magic.
From Croatia I continue to Sarajevo, Bosnia, I find a really warm audience on the pedestrian street Ferhadija, it was the only place the police ask me to stop my act (I haven’t mind because I was about to leave anyway on the both nights I was there), the police told me I can do my act in the city central but I haven’t tried it.

My next destination was Belgrade, Capital of Serbia, I had a lot of fun there, no problem to build an audience, people there rarely or never seen live magic so close to them, I always got big audience without an actual effort. I find a good spot in the pedestrian street Knez Mihailova, have not got problems with the police. Despite being the most touristic pedestrian street in the city, I had more than 50% local audience, keep in mind that their English is generally mediocre. As a matter of fact, if you consider going to the Balkans and your show depends on verbal communication you might be wise to study some “keywords” of your act, you will have to learn only one dialect, because the countries I have described so far were part of the great Yugoslavia, the dialog among the countries is quiet similar, if you learn how to say “come closer” in Slovenian language, it will sound similar in Serbian and Croatian, etc.

I left the Balkan and went to Brasov, Romania, (I came to the city to hike the Transylvania area), but the atmosphere of the city was so magical that I went at the evening to the street, and didn’t regret it, Brasov was my favorite place to perform, I locate myself in pedestrian street called the “Republic” and was the only perform there, the police and the shops did not mind me being there, I succeeded building big crowds without an effort like in Belgrade, most of them were locals but also many travelers…I was surprised that Romanian speak much better English than my previous destinations.

My last location was Bucharest, I have not enjoy too much perform there (lack the wonderful atmosphere of Brasov), however you can do there a big show in front of the national theater or a side walk in the old town.

I hope this information will be helpful for some of you guys and sorry for my English : )))

All the best
Dimitri

Dimitri, thank you for sharing your European experiences. I enjoy very much hearing about places in addition to the USA and Canada. I wish we could know or hear more of European and Russian, Asia, and south America. I'd like to hear more of your experiences.

Hi I enjoyed that keep up the good work Big Hats

Hello Magicol, you are welcome


My other street magic experience were in Madrid, Buenos Aires, Thailand and Israel (i think it would be too long and off the topic to describe it here, but if you think you might go to one of these places, you can send me a PM).

All the best
Dimitri

Friend Dimitri!

I had no problem understanding you! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

I have visited Europe, but only England, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France. With my limited French, Italian, and very limited German. I had no serious problems.

Congrats on your journeys