diff --git a/CHANGES/v2.6.md b/CHANGES/v2.6.md
index edcb9f7906..c4d18603e1 100644
--- a/CHANGES/v2.6.md
+++ b/CHANGES/v2.6.md
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ Changes from version 2.5 which are relevant for developers:
   - Components documentation is now enforced
   - `readdir_r` is deprecated and is thus not used by default (can be enabled with `./configure --enable-readdir-r`).
 
-## Version 2.6.1
+## Version 2.6.1 (Jul 8, 2020)
 
 For users:
 - Includes all fixes up to 2.5.5
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 332c10b847..21922a3148 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@
 # (this is same as gromacs)
 # Notice that "plumed info --version" will return only 2.X
 # and "plumed info --long-version" will return the full string
-2.6.0
+2.6.1