Flowers, football, films, fashion and food: what's on this weekend

From concerts to cultural festivals, events and nightlife, 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.

Tast a la Rambla | May 8-11 | Food festival | Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona 

The 11th Barcelona Gastronomy Week. Tast a la Rambla is four days of culinary events in the heart of Barcelona. Visitors can enjoy showcookings from top chefs, as well as workshops and tastings, with free access until each event is full. Tapas cost €6 and drinks start at €1. More than 30 restaurants and bakeries will take part, and there's music from DJs, bands and flamenco artists. Open Friday and Saturday from midday to midnight, and on Sunday from 12 noon until 10pm.

Rec.0 | May 7-10 | Fashion, culture, gastronomy | Igualada

Rec.0 is an eclectic festival of fashion, culture and gastronomy that is held twice a year for four days in the Rec district of Igualada. The old factories and tanneries of the old industrial district of the city are temporarily transformed into fashion pop-up stores where major local and international brands and independent and emerging fashion designers sell their wares at special prices. The Cuina de carrer street gastronomy festival brings together more than 40 food trucks and pop-up bars. From 10am to 9pm until Saturday.

Cursa El Corte Inglés | May 11 | Run | Barcelona

The 45th Cursa El Corte Inglés takes place on Sunday morning at 9am. 40,000 runners have already signed up for free for the 10-kilometer race through Barcelona. The Xana Foundation, which helps families of sick children, is this year's charitable partner. If you want to cheer on the athletes, the race sets off from Avinguda Diagonal, passes through Pg. Gràcia, Carrer Aragó, Carrer Viladomat, Gran Via de les Corts Catalans, and Carrer Marina, before arriving at Pl. Catalunya along Carrer Casp. Keep an eye out for celebrity runners too!

Girona Temps de Flors | May 10-18 | Flower festival | Girona

Spring has sprung and Catalonia is in bloom. Nowhere more so than the historic city of Girona, which this time of year is transformed into a riot of color and life for the Temps de Flors flower festival. A total of 146 floral projects will be spread across 114 exhibition spaces, and with drought restrictions having been lifted due to recent rain.

FC Barcelona v Real Madrid | May 11 | Football | Olympic Stadium, Barcelona

It's always meaningful, but with just four points separating the top two teams in La Liga with four games to go, Sunday's 'clásico' will have extra bite. Barcelona look to bounce back from the heartbreak of their midweek Champions League exit and maintain or extend their lead over their historic rivals. Real Madrid know that realistically the league trophy will be out of reach if they don't get a win in Barcelona. If you haven't got a ticket to the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, the atmosphere in bars all over the city and beyond will be electric. Kick off is at 4.15pm. 

OFFF | May 8-10 | Design festival | DHub, Barcelona

Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub) hosts the 25th edition of OFFF, a festival dedicated to creativity, art, and digital design. Among the highlights is 'The Screen,' a large-scale projection of animated works by artists from the OFFF community, displayed on the DHub façade each evening from 9pm to 11pm. The main festival program will include talks and presentations by 70 speakers from across the fields of graphic design, motion graphics, visual music, branding, artificial intelligence, and digital art. 'La Plaça Design Market' features products from local and international designers, ranging from handmade items to contemporary design pieces, from 11am to 9pm on Friday and Saturday.

DocsBarcleona | May 8-18 | Film festival | Barcelona

DocsBarcelona, the Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival, offers documentary screenings, talks and debates, masterclasses, and concerts. This year's edition will broaden its program with twelve public events, designed to show the creative processes behind some of the documentaries and themes portrayed on screen. Events will take place at CCCB while documentaries will be screened at Cines Renoir Floridablanca, Phenomena, Filmoteca de Catalunya, and Espai Texas. 

Picasso Museum free entry | Thursdays to Saturdays, 7-9 pm | Art | Picasso Museum, Barcelona

With the arrival of the good weather again, the Picasso Museum is changing back to its summer opening hours, opening earlier and closing later. The summer hours and free admission will be accompanied by guided tours in Catalan, also free but with reservation, with the aim of bringing the museum closer to the locals.

Titanic: The Voyage Continues | April 17 - September 28 | Immersive experience | Espai Inmersa, Barcelona

The exhibition will anchor at Poblenou’s Espai Inmersa and promises visitors a "cutting-edge" immersive experience with “breathtaking” virtual reality that allows visitors to travel more than 3,000 km to the bottom of the ocean. Additionally, the exhibition will showcase 200 real artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck, as well as recreations of the most emblematic spaces of the ship as it takes visitors back to April of 1912, to the moment when the Titanic embarked on its ill-fated maiden voyage.

HOT WHEELS CITY EXPERIENCE | Until July 10 | Exhibition | La Maquinista Shopping Mall

Hot Wheels City Experience is the place to go for families and fans of the Hot Wheels toy. The experience includes creativity in the game, nostalgia, and avant-garde technology. Visitors will enjoy an immersive experience through Hot Wheels' world which starts with a video to learn about the history and the culture of the brand. The experience also includes fast-speed races and lab facilities with very interactive designs. Tickets start at €18 and it is open from Wednesday to Sunday. 

'Chris Ware. Drawing is Thinking' | April 3-November 9 | Exhibition | CCCB, Barcelona

Chris Ware will be present at the Comic Barcelona as he was in the city this week for the launch of the new exhibition on his work at the CCCB. The retrospective reviews the work and reflections of an author whose work has the power to move so many people as they touch on themes of human existence in great depth.

'Uncertain Times. Interwar Germany' | April 2 - July 20 | Exhibition | CaixaForum Barcelona

To understand how the Second World War happened, one has to consider the Weimar Republic, the German state that existed in the interwar years. A new exhibition in the CaixaForum in Barcelona transports visitors to that fervent period of history, explaining the cultural and intellectual boom of the time, and how it foreshadowed one of the darkest periods of human history. 

Sean Scully exhibition | March 14 - July 6 | Art exhibition | La Pedrera, Casa Milà 

Antoni Gaudí's 'La Pedrera' building on Passeig de Gràcia is hosting “Sean Scully”, the most complete retrospective exhibition of works by one of the most important contemporary exponents of abstract art. Featuring over 60 pieces, this exhibition gives visitors a unique view of the Dublin-born US-based artist’s career, from his more figurative beginnings to his more recent creations. It explores his paintings, sculptures, drawings and photos, in which colour blocks, lines and textures convey deep emotions and forge unique bonds with the viewer.

Fernando Botero. A Universal Master | February 14 – July 20 | Art exhibition | Palau Martorell

A little over a year after his death, the Palau Martorell is hosting the most comprehensive exhibition of paintings ever held in Spain, paying tribute to Fernando Botero (Medellín, Colombia, 1932 - Monaco, 2023), one of the most important artists of the 20th century who is already part of the History of Art. His original and innovative creative approach, through a language of monumental volumes and vibrant colour, gave rise to a style of his own, Boteroism, which has made his work immediately recognizable.

KBr exhibitions on the US-Mexico border | February 13 – May 18 | Photography | KBr Foundation, Barcelona

The first major exhibition of the work of José Guerrero covers plenty of years of the artist's career, throughout which he has explored the significance of the landscape, which he describes as an active, living and dynamic entity. The images of Felipe Romero Beltrán immerse the viewer in the complex landscape of northern Mexico that, since the 19th century, has seen many conflicts and tension, building up to an unsustainable situation in recent years.

Essència Palau | March 22 - June 22 | Guided Tour | Palau de la Música Catalana

The Palau de la Música Catalana music hall invites visitors to rediscover its architectural splendor through a unique guided tour: Essència Palau.  The tour engages sight, touch, but most importantly smell. Developed in collaboration with Eurofragance, the tour features a collection of fragrances that resemble the ambiance of the early 20th century, allowing visitors to connect with the building's history and symbolism on another level. 

‘Extraterrestrials. Is there life beyond Earth?’ | February 26 - August 30, 2026 | 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.

Antoni Tàpies: The Imagination of the World | February 13 – January 25, 2026 | Art exhibition | Tàpies Museum

The solo exhibition The Imagination of the World proposes a revision of the work of Antoni Tàpies based on ideas found in his earliest period of production. With Tàpies as the centre of the project, the exhibition seeks to map out a network of relationships between active agents, discourses and practices, as related to two key areas: on the one hand, the complex assimilation of artistic tendencies—such as dada and surrealism—and currents of thought—psychoanalysis, Marxism—in Barcelona in that period; on the other hand, the dialogue of these movements with various forms of the vernacular tradition of popular culture.

Ramón Masats. The silent photographer | Photography exhibition | January 16 – May 25 | Foto Colectania, Barcelona 

Ramón Masats stands as one of the most influential photographers of Spain’s 1960s generation. His reputation was built upon a unique combination of instinctive compositional talent, a sharp and ironic lens on post-war cultural clichés, and an unwavering commitment to photographing with absolute freedom. The exhibition focuses on the early creative period of Masats’ career, spanning from his beginnings in 1953 to 1965. The exhibition begins with his early experimental works, where he alternated between abstract photography and documentary reportage. 

Amazons. The Ancestral Future | November 2024 – May 25, 2025 | Barcelona 

This CCCB exhibition explores the challenges that the Amazon rainforest and its biodiversity are facing as the planet's temperature continues to rise. The exhibition seeks to break from the Western colonial understanding of the world and defends the profound knowledge that the indigenous people of the Amazon have of the nature that surrounds us all.