Fantasy & Horror film fest, mountain biking in Montjuïc, astronomy festival: 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.

Sitges Fantasy and Horror Film Festival | October 9-19 | Film Festival | Sitges

The fantasy and horror festival features an edition with major names from the world of cinema including Benedict Cumberbatch, Joe Dante, Sean S. Cunningham, Carmen Maura and Terry Gilliam. Highlights include screenings of Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos, Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro, Scarlet by Mamoru Hosoda, Dracula by Luc Besson, and No Other Choice by Park Chan-wook, the Korean director of Oldboy. This year's festival features many films exploring humor and comedy within the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres.

UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup | October 11 | Sports | Montjuïc Magic Fountain

Cross country. The world's best specialists will compete in Barcelona. On October 11, Barcelona hosts the Eliminator World Cup, the top international competition in this cycling discipline. Riders compete four at a time on a short, explosive course surrounded by thousands of cheering fans. The top two from each start advance to the next round, leading to the final four.

Montsec Astronomy Festival | October 10-19 | Stargazing | Montsec

The Montsec Astronomical Park is a pillar of astronomy research, training, and dissemination in Catalonia. The Astronomical Park organizes the 11th Montsec Astronomy Festival with the aim of bringing science closer to adults and children as a new form of tourism: Star Tourism. The experience combines science and tourism with activities aimed at all ages: workshops, experiments, guided tours, concerts, all under the spectacular Montsec sky.

BCN Game Fest | October 10-12 | Videogames | La Farga de l'Hospitalet

Barcelona hosts the largest video game festival in Spain, where industry, innovation, and community come together. From the legacy of IndieDevDay, BCN Game Fest emerges as the ultimate hub where industry leaders, creative minds, and innovative projects unite to shape the future of gaming.

Festival Salsa y Sabor | October 10-12 | Music, festivities | INEFC Montjuïc, Barcelona

With 12 different Latin cuisine offerings, live salsa shows, dance classes, DJs and music all weekend long, workshops for kids and families, domino tables, Caribbean cocktails, flavor and salsa come to Barcelona this weekend. 

Miró and the United States | October 10 - February 22 | Art | Miró Foundation 

The links between Joan Miró and America take center stage in the Joan Miró Foundation's newest exhibition, 'Miró and the United States.' From October 10 to February 22, the museum will showcase 150 artworks by Miró and other influential artists who shaped or were shaped by this artistic dialogue. Icons such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Louise Bourgeois, and even Salvador Dalí will appear in conversation with Miró’s works.

Ink against Hitler | October 8 - January 11 | Exhibition | MNAC, Barcelona

The exhibition Ink against Hitler is the presentation in Barcelona of the discovery of the only Catalan and Spanish artist who worked for British and Allied propaganda during the Second World War. From 1941 to 1945, the Catalan Mario Armengol Torrella drew around 2,000 cartoons and caricatures in the service of the British Ministry of Information against the Third Reich and the Axis to publish them in newspapers and magazines in London's allied and neutral countries, from New Zealand to Haiti.

Escena | October 10 - December 20 | Performing arts | Various locations across Barcelona

Live Arts. A program of 31 theater, circus, music, and dance performances on 34 stages in the city's civic and cultural centers. From October 10 to December 20, Escena will schedule 173 theater and circus performances, concerts, and dance shows, always free of charge and with advance reservation. 

Barcelona Design Week | October 7-17 | Exhibitions, talks | Disseny Hub Barcelona

An unmissable event for enthusiasts of design, creativity, and innovation returns with the theme "Design for Human Future," putting the spotlight on water. Barcelona Design Week takes place from October 7 to 17 with an extensive program that includes installations, exhibitions, showrooms, talks, workshops, and open houses. It will be an opportunity to inspire, educate, and mobilize the local and global community by showing how design and creativity, applied mindfully, can be a powerful tool to address the critical challenge of water management and conservation.

Festival Jazz Barcelona | October 10 - March 1, 2026 | Music | Various venues

A lineup packed with international artists, including Snarky Puppy, Laurie Anderson, Tigran Hamasyan, Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet, Chris Thile, and Janis Siegel. From October 10, 2025, to March 1, 2026, the Barcelona Jazz Festival celebrates its 57th edition, offering a lineup that combines major international names, emerging voices, and special projects that celebrate the history and diversity of jazz. The program consists of 48 concerts spread across 10 venues, including Palau de la Música Catalana, Jamboree, Conservatori Liceu, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Paral·l 62, L'Auditori, Teatre Auditori Emma Vilarasau de Sant Cugat, and La Paloma. 

Oktoberfest | October 2-19 | Beer festival | Fira Montjuïc

The Bavarian autumnal beer tradition returns to Barcelona with a Big Top of more than 6,500 m2, spectacular decorations and ambiance, live music with Bavarian bands and DJs, traditional gastronomy, and plenty of German beer, Paulaner, the official beer of the Oktoberfest.

Leonardo versus Michelangelo | From September 17 | IDEAL Digital Arts Centre, Barcelona

The Mona Lisa, or The Sistine Chapel? The Last Supper, or Pietà? Vitruvian Man, or David? Impossible choices? Well, at IDEAL Digital Arts Centre in Barcelona, visitors are going to have to decide which Renaissance Man takes the crown. Leonardo versus Michelangelo takes a look at the lives, legacies, and rivalry between these two historic greats of art. These pair lived at the same time in Florence in the 15th and 16th centuries, and although they initially respected each other, they quickly developed a bitter rivalry.

Phantom of the Opera | September 23 - February 1 | Opera | Tivoli Theatre

The Phantom of the Opera is coming to Barcelona for the very first time. Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic musical runs at Teatre Tívoli from September 23 to February 1 as part of a Spain-wide tour. Based on the novel by Gaston Leroux, and with lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, this production in Spanish is directed by Federico Bellone, with musical direction by Julio Awad.

Soundit | October 18, November 8, 22, December 13 | Live music | Monumental, Barcelona

One of Barcelona's best day festivals returns for its autumn lineup. This year's program features five Saturdays of live electronic music, featuring huge names in dance music, from 2manydjs, Ben UFO, Jayda G, Ben Klock, and plenty more. 

‘How to Design a Revolution: The Chilean Road to Design’ | July 2 - November 16 | Exhibition | Disseny Hub building, Barcelona

How to Design a Revolution: The Chilean Road to Design is a comprehensive exhibition on graphic and industrial design during Salvador Allende’s government in Chile (1970-1973). An exceptional case in the history of design, where the unprecedented act of choosing a revolution through the ballot box led to the first instance of a country to collectively designing through socialism and democracy.

The exhibition, which was on display in Santiago de Chile as part of the programme commemorating the 50th anniversary of the civilian-military coup, featured original pieces and design reproductions aimed at the democratisation of reading and music, the reduction of technological dependence and addressing child malnutrition, among other goals.

Miguel Milá. (Pre)industrial Designer | Until September 28 | Exhibition | Barcelona Disseny Hub

The exhibition Miguel Milá. (Pre) industrial designer celebrates the career of one of the pioneers of design in Spain, Miguel Milá Sagnier. Through more than 200 pieces, prototypes, maps and recent works, the exhibition offers a unique look at the life and work of this icon of Barcelona’s design and its modernisation. With a career spanning more than 70 years, Miguel Milá received some of the biggest awards in design, such as the Premi Nacional de Disseny and the Compasso d’Or Internazionale, consolidating him as a key figure in the history of industrial design. His perspective combines functionality, elegance and simplicity, guided by the conviction that good design must be useful and timeless.

Flemish Baroque works, including Rubens | Until September 21 | Art exposition | CaixaFòrum Barcelona

CaixaForum Barcelona premieres their new exhibition 'Rubens and the Artists of the Flemish Baroque,' exploring Peter Paul Rubens and other 17th century painters. The collaboration between La Caixa Foundation and Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid showcases 62 works. The exhibition also includes works from other Baroque artists like Anthony Van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, and Pieter Brueghel the Elder. 

'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.

‘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.