Cruïlla, balloon festival, craft beer: what's on this weekend

Events ranging from music to cultural festivals, art, and shopping, there are countless things to do in Barcelona and around Catalonia this weekend. 

Here's a selection of some of the best plans and what's on this weekend. 

Festival Cruïlla | July 8-11 | Concerts | Fòrum Park, Barcelona 

Parc del Fòrum hosts another festival bringing big names to Barcelona. The lineup includes artists like Pixies, Mishima, Bomba Estéreo, Zahara, The Hives and Two Door Cinema Club. 

 

European Balloon Festival | July 8-12 | Cultural festival | Igualada Central Park, Igualada 

A competition and festival each July with more than 50 hot-air balloons from around the world filling the sky. Enjoy the largest international balloon meeting in Spain and one of the leaders in Europe here in Catalonia. 

 

Festa Major de Raval | July 9-12 | Cultural festival | Ciutat Vella, Barcelona 

A weekend full of activities for children and adults alike. The streets of El Raval will be filled with food, human towers, parades, bastoners, music and dancing from Thursday to Sunday. This mix of traditional and popular culture shouldn't be missed. 

Women and the sea | July 9-12 | Cultural event | Les Cases d'Alcanar 

On the edge of Southern Catalonia an exciting weekend of photographic exhibitions, net mending demonstrations, reenactments of fishing trades and round table testimonies to celebrate women's role in the fishing culture of Alcanar. The weekend also includes children's games, food tastings and a showing of local products. The event is an opportunity for those who love the sea, equality and local culture to hear stories, learn trades and take part in the collective memory of the coast. 

Poblenou Craft Beer Festival | July 10-12 | Festival | La Fira de Poblenou, Barcelona 

Craft beer and wild beats. Experience 30 hours, 25 breweries, and 7 food trucks at the Poblenou Craft Beer Festival. The three days will offer a range of activities, including live musical performances, art exhibitions, street performances, workshops and various artisan stands. 

Mercadillos | July 12 | Flea and vintage market | Espacio 88, Barcelona    

The second Sunday of each month, more than 35 stands are filled with vintage and second hand items at Mercadillos. Spend a morning discovering new gadgets, clothes, books, and music at one of Barcelona's oldest flea markets. 

Shakespeare in the Park | July 9 to August 3 | Theater performance | Parc de l'Estació del Nord, Barcelona

This weekend kicks off the annual month-long Parking Shakespeare production of Shakespeare in the Park. Open to everyone, Parking Shakespeare transforms the Parc de l'Estació del Nord into an open-air theater 5 days a week. This summer's performance is of 'Hamlet and the Rotten Things.'

Sala Montjuïc | July 10 to August 5 | Concerts and cinema | Castell de Montjuïc, Barcelona  

Sala Monjuïc hosts their first screening of the summer this weekend with a showing of Flowers for Antonio. Over the course of the summer there will be 16 screenings in their original language with subtitles, combining classic films, contemporary cinema and internationally acclaimed titles. There will be a live concert to kick off each evening, making it an experience beyond cinema.

Pride Barcelona | June 27-July 19 | Celebration | Various locations, Barcelona

Pride Barcelona is one of the most important LGBTQIA+ events in southern Europe and this year is focusing on intersectionality. From June 27 until July 19, running for almost a month, Pride brings together events that combine advocacy, visibility and celebration throughout Barcelona. Among the programme highlights are the return of the Pride Village and a screening of Cashing Out at the Urgell Civic Centre, organised by BCN Checkpoint, which explores the reality of the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Also on the schedule is Hablemos de Chuches at Arena Xperience, an artistic and community-focused event that addresses chemsex through personal testimonies, humour and drag performances.

Art Nou | June 25-September 9 | Emerging art festival | Bracelona and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat

Art Nou is the Emerging Art Festival in Barcelona and L'Hospitalet that offers young national and international artists the opportunity to establish their first professional relationship with the art market, galleries, self-managed spaces and institutions dedicated to emerging art. The 15th edition of Art Nou features an exhibition programme with more than 50 shows and over 110 artists; an extensive programme of activities including guided tours, openings, artist talks, performances, screenings and events in galleries, institutions and independent spaces.

 

Wine Festivals | July 10-11 | Wine and music | Port Olímpic

Wine Festivals is a platform to celebrate wine, food, music and good living. A project for all those people in love with life. Their aim is to spread the culture of wine in a festive and accessible way, in unique outdoor locations, with good music to dance to.

Live music

Vanesa Martín | July 10 | Jardins del Palau de Pedralbes

Anastacia | July 11 | Cap Roig Festival 

Carlos Rivera | July 12 | Sant Jordi Club

Laurent Garnier | July 12 | Parc de la Trinitat

Baiuca + Júlia Colom | July 16 | Parallel 62

Amaia | July 17 | Cap Roig Festival 

The Real McKenzies | July 21 | Sala Upload

Siamés | July 28 | Sala Upload

Las Robertas | July 31 | Sala Upload

Mika | August 8 | Cap Roig Festival

The Weeknd | September 1 | Olympic Stadium

Ty Segall | September 21 | Parallel 62

Portalblau Festival | June 6-August 9 | Cultural festival | L'Escala 

Portalblau is a festival that celebrates the Mediterranean as a space for encounter, light and critical thinking. Between sea and history, music, the performing arts and the spoken word engage in dialogue with the landscape, making each edition an experience that connects creativity, heritage and community. The programme features a diverse range of events in venues of great heritage value. This year marks the nineteenth edition of the Portalblau Festival, consolidating a cultural project that, over time, has forged its own identity within the country’s festival scene.

Out of Focus: Another Vision of Art | May 21 - September 27 | Exhibition | CaixaForum Barcelona

Monet's Water Lilies series introduced the concept of blur in art, using the blurred and indistinct as expressive elements. This exhibition explores how this phenomenon provided a new way of understanding the world for subsequent artists, a key to reinterpreting some aspects of modern and contemporary art.

The Cult of Beauty | May 21 - November 8 | Exhibition | CCCB

Based on the ideals of human beauty that exist in all eras and cultures, the latest exhibition at the CCCB traces the evolution of these ideals throughout history. ‘The Cult of Beauty’ analyzes how aesthetic canons have been constructed, and stands up for bodies and beauties excluded from the norm. Through 400 pieces, the exhibition puts works, objects, and installations into dialogue to address how the idea of ​​beauty is conditioned by morality, status, and gender.

Chez Matisse | March 27-August 16 | Exhibition | CaixaForum, Barcelona

An exploration of Henri Matisse's trajectory, evolution, scope, and influence on international artists and avant-garde movements. The exhibition highlights part of the immense dialogue surrounding his name in 20th- and 21st-century art, from his first self-portrait to the artistic freedom of his later paintings and gouaches.

Experience 'The Last Days of Pompeii' | From March 20 | Exhibition | IDEAL Montjuïc

Towering flames of lava taking over the skies, ash and soot flooding homes and buildings; utter devastation and total destruction inevitable. ‘The Last Days of Pompeii’ is the newest exhibition from IDEAL Digital Arts Centre, taking visitors back to 79 AD and one of the most compelling episodes of ancient history. The experience seeks to bring visitors closer to the lives and culture of the people who lived in the shadow of Vesuvius. 

New Phenomena Experience cinema | Open from April 2 | Phenomena Cinemas

Barcelona's famed Phenomena Cinema is entering a new phase, offering audiences a more "sensory" cinematic experience, aiming to let viewers perceive films with the technical precision intended by their creators. Phenomena Experience first opened in December 2014. Last September, the theater closed for renovations and was simultaneously announced as the recipient of the Carlo Lizzani 2025 European Best Theater Award at the Venice Film Festival.

Joan Miró: Cirlces | March 13, 2026 - March 12, 2028 | Art | Joan Miró Foundation

A new exhibition reorganizes the Miró collection and invites visitors to reinterpret the artist's work through Joan Miró's creative process rather than a traditional chronological or thematic narrative. The show presents 102 works from across the artist's career and will run for two years, with some pieces rotating every six months.

'The Perpetual Movement of the Wall' | February 13-September 6 | Art | Tàpies Museum

The Tàpies Museum has opened a new exhibition, 'The Perpetual Movement of the Wall', exploring what Antoni Tàpies' exhibitions were like in the 1950s. Not only are the artworks recreated, but also how they were displayed and how critics and the public responded.

New works by Banksy | Until December 2026 | Exhibition | Moco Museum

The Moco Museum Barcelona recently unveiled a new exhibition featuring the British pseudonymous artist Banksy. 'New works by Banksy,' showcases 25 artworks, most of them new additions to the museum’s existing collection of the artist’s pieces. It is the largest exhibition of Banksy’s work ever held in Spain and includes two previously unseen pieces in a museum setting. All the pieces share a common theme: power and its disruption, a recurring motif in the artist's oeuvre.

Visit 50,000-year-old Siberian mammoth | Every day | Museum | CosmoCaixa, Barcelona 

Barcelona's CosmoCaixa Science Museum unveiled the latest addition to its exhibition: a large six-meter-long and 3.5-meter-tall Siberian mammoth. The mammoth is between 40,000 and 50,000 years old and will now be part of the permanent exposition. 

‘Extraterrestrials. Is there life beyond Earth?’ | Until August 30 | Science exhibition | CosmoCaixa science museum

'Extraterrestrials - Is There Life Outside Earth?' delves into topics such as our place in the cosmos, the meaning of the concept of life, and how literature and cinema have shaped the collective imagination about what form alien life could take. Visitors begin by discovering Earth's place in the cosmos. The exhibition then explores, from a historical perspective, the great philosophical debate between those who argue that life is unique to our planet, and those who believe in the existence of other inhabited worlds.