The festivals of March in Barcelona in 2022

In this month of March 2022, you will not be bored! You’re going to get an earful!

Indeed, many festivals are planned and organized this month and there is something for everyone. Jazz, classical music, cinema, humor and so on.

Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival & Obertura City + 

The Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival is a classical music festival that highlights great international performers. The festival is in collaboration with the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Auditorium. The Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival also takes place in major emblematic places of Barcelona such as the Casa Batlló, the Museum of Music, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, the Joan Miró Foundation and others. 

For this year 2022, the festival wants to highlight women composers who have been forgotten only because they were women.

41th International Jazz Festival of Terrassa 

In this year 2022, the 41st edition of the International Jazz Festival takes place in the city of Terrassa and the Vallès Occidental region. 

In fact, several concerts and artists will perform in the squares, courtyards, terraces, or parks of the city and on the stage of the famous Nova Jazz Cava. The festival will organize various activities, competitions, film screenings, workshops, or swing sessions! 

It’s a great way to discover Jazz and you won’t get bored!

In Risus Festival 

This year in Barcelona you can enjoy one of the most entertaining festivals, the In Risus Festival. Indeed, you can enjoy great comedians and masters of monologue who will perform on the stages of several theaters and halls in Barcelona. 

Artists such as Berto Romero, Ana Mogarde, Charo López, or David Fernández will be present on stage. 

Laughter is at the center of the festival for our greatest pleasure! And yes, the month of March rhymes with farce and it is not for nothing!

XXIV Mecalpro Festival 

The Mecalpro Festival is an international festival that aims to present more than 5000 short films by international directors in Barcelona. Its objective is to promote new talents and thus to bring together creators and distributors.  

It consists of audiovisual screenings divided into 4 sections, other diverse activities are also organized including themes, genres, authors and different eras.

This month of March promises to be full of discoveries !

Feria y Mercado de Navidad/ Christmas Fair and Market

December is just around the corner, which means that the Christmas celebrations are starting!

Can you think of a better way to gradually get into the magic of Christmas than by taking a walk through these famous markets and fairs? From the smell of Christmas trees, to the colours and lights of the decorations, to the products of the local craftsmen, it’s a real immersion in the heart of this festival that awaits you.  Barcelona has many Christmas markets and fairs, both old and new, with their own history and identity. Among all these events, there are three that are part of the city’s history.

Feria de Santa Llúcia:

This is the oldest fair that revolves around the world of nativity scenes and Christmas traditions. It is therefore the most authentic fair in Barcelona. It was founded in 1736, so this year we are celebrating its 235th anniversary. For this reason, the organisers have gone to great lengths to put up more than 20 illuminated Christmas trees.

Located in the Avinguda de la Catedral, it has a total of 170 stands. It is the only fair in the world where you will find more than 140 spaces for the sale of strictly Christmas products, such as cots, figurines, foam, Christmas trees, accessories for your home and many others. In addition, you can also enjoy more than 25 spaces dedicated to gift items, such as textile accessories, ceramics, jewellery, leather, etc.

It runs from 26 November to 24 December!

catedral gotico market
festival stars present christmas family holidays

Feria de Reyes de la Gran Vía:

As it has every year since 1877, the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes will host the Epiphany Fair (Feria de Reyes), which will open its doors from 17 December to 6 January 2022. It is the second oldest Christmas fair in Barcelona.

Initially, the 18 stands of this fair were dedicated to the sale of toys and sweets. Today, the number of stands has increased and diversified. You will of course find the famous traditional toys and stuffed animals, but also many traditional and handicraft products or various stands of Catalan crafts. This market is therefore perfect for finding last minute gifts!

Don’t forget to stop at the famous Churrerías, spread throughout the fair, to try the famous “churros con chocolate caliente”, which will warm you up while stimulating your taste buds!

Tio de Nadal, christmas, celebration, tradition, market, craft, family gift

Feria de la Sagrada Familia:

Celebrated for the first time in 1972, the Feria de la Sagrada Familia is the most recent of all the Christmas fairs in Barcelona. It takes place on the same dates as the Santa Llúcia fair, and this is not by chance. In fact, it was created when there was no more room for stalls in Santa Llúcia. Several craftsmen decided to set up shop next to Gaudí’s masterpiece.

This fair has a lot in common with its two “big sisters”. You will find all kinds of figures and elements for nativity scenes, Christmas trees and plants, gift items, food and sweets. On the food side, the “churrerías” will naturally be present, and you will also find a chestnut and sweet potato stall.

In addition, there are free family activities such as competitions, workshops, music and theatre.  They also have a photocall with a giant “Tió” and a “Caganer”.

Don’t hesitate to take a walk through one of these Christmas markets!

Palao Market Fest

Palao Market Fest is an atypical market/festival, which takes place every first weekend of the month. It’s an atypical and modern concept that the organisers offer us: it’s not just a simple craft market with different food trucks, but a real dynamic festival mixing different arts, so you can live a real experience. During the month of November, the organisers have decided to add a date on the weekend of 20 and 21 December for the “Cool Christmas Fest” to get us into the Christmas spirit.

logo festival market crafts tourism activity leisure discovery

Far from the traditional markets that can be found in Barcelona such as the Boqueria or Saint Antoni, this market offers you the possibility of making artistic discoveries. Between jewellery, cosmetics, textiles or decoration, you are bound to find something you like. All the exhibitors are real craftsmen, and will make you discover their product with passion.

In addition to the exhibitors, you will also be able to find many Food Trucks of all kinds to eat, or simply to test! All types of cuisine will be present: Vietnamese, vegetarian, burger, pastry … The hardest thing will be to choose!

In order to live a real cultural experience and to make this event more dynamic, street concerts will be proposed. You will find the DJ set MIGUELITO SUPERSTAR and DJ set ZONZO on Saturday, and DJ set IVAN IVANOVICH and DJ set BUSA on Sunday. In addition, there will be 5 STREET MUSIC EXPERIENCES to make sure you have an unforgettable time.

market crafts light crowd tourist activity food stand

The market is therefore present this weekend of 20 and 21 November, but also the first weekend of December, Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 December 2021. Two time slots are available: from 12:00 to 17:00 or from 17:30 to 22:00. These times offer more opportunities to visit, but also two different atmospheres: one during the day and one at night. There is bound to be one that suits you!

The entrance fee is 5€, and it is recommended to book your place in advance on their website (https://palomarketfest.com/es/home), in order to be sure to have a place.

Regarding accessibility, you can get there by metro (SELVA DE MAR (L4)) or by bus (H14, H16/ N.BUS: 12, 29, 30). There is a bike park right at the entrance of the market, so don’t hesitate to rent a bike to get there!

Llum BCN 2021

Created in 2012, the Llum BCN will be back on the streets of Barcelona on 5, 6 and 7 November 2021. Originally scheduled for February this year, the festival of lights has had to be moved to November, to the delight of end-of-year visitors. Poblenou, as it has been since the 2018 edition, has been chosen to host one of the most anticipated events in the city’s cultural calendar.

Llum BCN is a large-scale light show featuring international artists. For three nights, the festival will bring together these creative explorers from different disciplines: art, lighting design and interactive environments, architecture, extended audiovisual and performing arts. Attending this festival will of course give you the opportunity to fill your eyes with stars, but also to ask yourself questions, since its aim is also to challenge our preconceived visions of what urban space can be and to create new models of participation and coexistence in public space. During three nights, the public can also discover a new neighbourhood, as in many cases the doors of restricted spaces are opened for the first time. It is a unique event for its artistic singularity, like the great European festivals of light.

In previous editions, Llum BCN has welcomed leading creators such as Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, United Visual Artists, Luke Jerram, Julio Le Parc, Daniel Canogar and others. Like this year’s participants, they are part of the official programme with Barcelona’s design, architecture, art and lighting schools, in a coexistence between leading artists and works from the academy, a distinctive element of the Llum BCN model.

This year there are 31 proposals from 14 different artists, three of them international. Among the places or spaces where you can enjoy a show of light, music and colour are the Plaça de les Glòries, Les Encants, the façade of Disseny Hub Barcelona, the Pompeu Fabra University, Jardí del Sol, the Plaça de les Glòries…

moon torre agbar lights event festival architecture llum

This year the festival pays tribute to the figure of the artist Eugenia Balcells. She will present two installations as part of “Light as the voice of matter”: the projection of the work Frequencies on the façade of the Museu del Disseny will show the chemical symbols of each element, and the work “From infrared to ultraviolet”, which will illuminate the neighbouring Glòries building and show the horizons of colour on an urban scale.

You will also be able to see the work of Jordi Mitjà, which is based on a ban: “Don’t look”, which is what his father used to say to him when he was welding, and he has taken this name to search for options and observations that allow us to get as close as possible to the light and, in the room, it is resolved by three video projections. You can wander around the visual and sound installation and get closer to the projected images in the Hangar space, Centro de Producción e Investigación de Artes Visuales (Carrer d’Emília Coranty, 8-16).

There is also a gastronomic area run by Van Van Llum where all festival visitors can enjoy a meeting and resting point where you can taste different hot dishes from the now famous food trucks parked in the area.

2020 lights wall coulour festival llum architecture

How to book?

This edition of Llum BCN has limited spaces. The festival is free, but it is advisable to book in advance to reduce queues and to be able to plan the visit, choose the times and improve the quality of the experience.

GRACIA DISTRICT FESTIVAL

Today in the blog we are going to talk about the famous Gràcia festival, more precisely called Fiesta Major de Gràcia, which is a free festival that takes place in the streets of the district every year in August. This year, the festival takes place from Sunday 15 August to Friday 21 August 2021. This festival is open to the public, so it is not necessary to buy a ticket. You can go at any time to enjoy this wonderful moment with your loved ones. This festival is very well known throughout Barcelona, especially among children, as there are countless activities in which they can get involved while enjoying themselves and having fun.

Street in the Gracia district during the annual festival

During this week, the streets of this very bohemian and relaxed neighbourhood come alive with numerous shows and concerts. The concept of this vibrant festival is that the streets of Gràcia must compete to win the prize for the best decorated street. This is why you can see streets full of festivities and flamboyant, sparkling decorations that will blow your mind!

street decorating gracia during the festival

The Gràcia district takes rivalry very seriously as the standards are very high. There is a different theme for each street and any subject can be represented, which gives us a colourful and very diversified show. Take a walk through the streets of Gràcia and you will be amazed by the canvases of colourful decoration that are above you and the creativity and originality that each street demonstrates.

Street decoration in gracia

The district also offers numerous events such as giant processions, devil dances and a large fireworks display.

processions of giants during the festival de gracia in barcelona

In order to inform you in advance about the different performances that the Gràcia Festival offers, here is the link to the official website of the festival with all the programmes that this wonderful week has in store for you: https://www.festamajordegracia.cat/

We hope you will be able to come and enjoy this unique and magical moment with your family and friends!

Rueda, the international film festival about cycling in Barcelona returns one more year

October 5th, 2017

Among all the events which are taking place these last days in the city, we shouldn’t forget the importance of the bicycle and all the mobilization that goes with it. For this reason, we shouldn’t miss this festival.

Have you thought about disconnecting these next days? The best cultural suggestion that we have found is this festival about cyclist cinema in Barcelona, which will be celebrated from the 5th to the 8th of October.

This is not only an exposition and a competition of films, this is also a variety of activities for adults and children, which will induce us much more in this cultural space dedicated to the bicycle.

Discover unique cinematographic works with one common element: the bicycle. Connects with this style of life on another level. It will be one of the best trips that you will take with this vehicle.

The International Cyclist Cinema Festival of Barcelona is nearing

October 4th, 2016

The 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th of this month of October, at the Texas Cinema in Barcelona (Bailén street, 205), Rueda, an international film festival that revolves around bikes, will take place.

If you are a lover of this two wheel vehicle, you shouldn’t miss this ode to the bicycle, with which you will enjoy films, short films and other activities which will be celebrated in the city during these dates.

For these four days, the Texas Cinema has prepared a selection of 10 films and 15 short films. In addition to the projection of the Rueda Kids, during Sunday morning, there will be a selection of short films for the smallest ones of our homes, in order for them to “start to dream with cyclist adventures”.

But not only the cinema will be the meeting point during this event. The Nautical Base at the Playa de la Marbella in Barcelona will be another place with a lot of different activities such as cycling races bike polo and street markets.

We are sure that you will not be able to find a better excuse for leaving home to go pedaling this weekend.