Christmas lights, Santa Llúcia market and film festivals: what's on this weekend in Barcelona and Catalonia

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.

Christmas lights | November 29 - January 6 | Barcelona

The Christmas season officially kicked off in Barcelona on Thursday with the highly anticipated lighting of the festive displays. This year the Christmas lights will stretch an additional six kilometers, reaching a total of 110 km. The lights will also stay on longer, shining until 1 am from Sunday to Thursday and until 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Santa Llúcia market | November 29 - December 23 | Barcelona

Catalonia's oldest Christmas market, dating back to 1786, opened its doors once again on Friday. This year, it features 200 stalls offering decorations, ornaments, nativity scenes, Christmas trees, and more, making it the largest market of its kind in the world. The festive event is held in front of Barcelona's iconic cathedral.

Ohlalà! Film Festival | November 27 - December 3 | Barcelona

For film enthusiasts, Barcelona has launched its first festival dedicated to Francophone cinema. Held at the Institut Français de Barcelona, the event will feature 16 contemporary French films, including Cannes award-winners. Highlights include the opening film En fanfare by Emmanuel Courcol, a retrospective of Nicole Garcia's celebrated works, and a special collaboration with the FILMETS Badalona Film Fest. The program also includes the Ohlalà! Teens section, designed for families and young audiences.

DART Festival | November 27 - December 31 | Barcelona

The 8th edition of the DARt Festival, the first documentary film festival dedicated to contemporary art, kicked off in Barcelona this week.. Over the course of a month, audiences will enjoy a rich selection of documentaries covering photography, art curation, painting, performance, architecture, artistic movements, and contemporary art as a whole. The festival places a special focus on artists, their creative processes, and the compelling stories behind their work.

Picasso Museum's new exhibition | November 22 - March 30, 2025 | Barcelona

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is hosting groundbreaking exhibition dedicated to Catalan artists who lived and worked in Paris during its artistic heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition showcases 200 works by more than 80 artists, from the iconic Pablo Picasso to lesser-known talents.

Christmas lights at Hospital de Sant Pau | November 21 - January 12 | Barcelona

The Lights of Sant Pau Christmas Garden, known in Catalan as Els Llums de Sant Pau, will return to Barcelona's Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau from November 21, 2024 to January 12, 2025. The UNESCO World Heritage Site will be illuminated with a spectacle of light and color, including a video mapping, a 16-meter Christmas tree, a "Christmas passport" and Lumi, a star that will accompany and guide you on your journey.

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

The new 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. 

World Press Photo | November 8 to December 15 | Photo exhibition | CCCB, Barcelona

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the World Press Photo in Barcelona, and after welcoming over 1.65 million visitors in 19 years, the event returns with 129 pictures of the environmental crisis, such as the wildfires in Australia or Canada, the earthquake in Turkey, or even the drought in the Amazonia.

Some other categories include the humanitarian crisis, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, or social topics such as migration or social inequality. This year's World Press Photo of the Year by Palestinian Mohammed Salem shows the horror of the war in civilians with a moving picture. Tickets are on sale online with a cost of €6, with some discounts available.

My First Film Festival | November 9 - 24 | Film festival | Barcelona

The festival is a unique cinematic experience for the whole family, with more than a hundred films from all over the world, awards, votes, guest artists, creative workshops, film forums and much more. The event focuses on boys and girls from 2 to 12 years old.

The event will see around twenty sessions distributed between the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the CCCB exhibition hall, the French Institute, Bosque Multicines, Cines Verdi, Cines Girona, and the Sant Martí Auditorium.

FotoFest Poblenou 2024 | November 8 - 30 | Photo exhibition | Several sites in Barcelona

The second edition of the FotoFest Poblenou returns to the Barcelona neighborhood with, for the first time, a collection of previously unseen photos by Oriol Maspons, one of the biggest Spanish photographers between 1950 and 1960. Maspons' collection is inspired by his wife and muse, Coral Majó.

There will be fifteen simultaneous exhibitions of renowned artists with long careers, such as Oriol Maspons, Ana Jiménez Remacha, Carles Domènech, Joan Linux, Joan Masats, Jordi Mestrich, Josep Blanch or Sergio Flores, as well as group exhibitions featuring works by Fotoclub members.

The festival will also host numerous complementary activities such as talks, workshops, competitions, discussions, and a photo rally.

Beyond Images. Miró-Matisse | October 25 to February 9 | Art exhibition | Fundació Miró

A new exhibition in Barcelona's Miró Museum explores the relationship between Joan Miró and legendary French Fauvist artist, Henri Matisse.

On display are dozens of works from Matisse placed alongside Miró paintings, showing comparisons and contrasts in their art. 

House of ERIKALUST | From October 25 | Immersive experience | Barcelona

A new erotic, suggestive, stimulative, and breaking immersive experience opens for the first time worldwide in Barcelona.

The immersive experience happens in the Poblenou neighborhood in a 1,000-square-meter secret location, only announced 24 hours in advance to ticketholders. The exhibition looks to make attendees freely experiment with sensual sensations thanks to a well-curated erotic content proposal. 

Alice in Wonderland exhibition | October 18-February 16 | Exhibition | CaixaForum Barcelona

Venture down the Rabbit Hole, enjoy tea with the Mad Hatter, and explore century-old originals of Alice in Wonderland in a new exhibition depicting the iconic history of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The exhibition, curated by London's Victoria & Albert Museum, focuses on the origins, adaptations, and artistic reinventions of the story, and features 312 objects and artworks, ranging from originals to 21st-century-inspired elements.

DHUB Vinçon exhibition | October 17 to February 23 | Exhibition | Design Hub, Barcelona

Barcelona's design museum DHUB will host a new exhibition bringing together furniture from IKEA and Barcelona's iconic store Vinçon. Vinçon was a well-known household goods store in the heart of the city, which closed its doors in 2015 after almost 75 years.  

Comic. Dreams and history | October 8 - February 23 | Exhibition | Tarragona

The exhibition in Tarragona's CaixaForum shows the original version of historical comics such as Tintin, Mafalda and Marvel with more than 140 creations by authors like Quino, Richard Felton, Outcault, and Hergé displayed in an "unprecedented" exposition.

'La Barcelona de Dalí' | October 3 - December 1 | Art exhibition | Barcelona

The Catalan artist Salvador Dalí had a strong connection with the city of Barcelona, where he held his first solo exhibition.

Now, and exhibition at Barcelona's Museu Diocesà sheds light on Dalí's relationship with the Catalan capital with more than 120 photographs that help map out the most relevant spaces of the city for the surrealist genious.

Barcelona Jazz Festival | October 10 - March 23, 2025 | Music festival

The 56th edition of the festival brings in new talents on the jazz scene, as well as consolidated artists in a variation of concerts, lectures, meet ups and many other activities. 

Concerts with artists such as Judit Neddermann, the Liceu Big Band, Fred Hersch, and other artists will be in Barcelona up until March 2025. 

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert | October 2 – November 24 | Musical | Barcelona 

The Tony Award-winning musical ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ returns to Barcelona to “talk about diversity and love" and to "make everyone dance” again, eight years after it first premiered in the Catalan capital.   

The musical tells the story of three friends – two drag queens and a trans woman – who take a road trip in a rundown bus through the Australian outback, all while performing some of the world’s biggest disco hits. 

Pixar World | From September 26 | Virtual exhibition | Westfield La Maquinista, Barcelona 

Visit Pixar's largest immersive exhibit where you can step into the sets of some of your favorite movies such as Toy Story, Coco, Up, Finding Nemo or Inside Out. Mundo Pixar comes to Barcelona after its success in Madrid, with more than 600,000 visitors in only 5 months. General admission is €16.90, with VIP and discount options available. 

Manifesta 15 | September 8 - November 24 | Cultural biennale | Barcelona metropolitan area

Manifesta 15, the European Nomadic Biennial, will take place in Barcelona and eleven surrounding municipalities in the metropolitan area. This year's edition is decentralized and will be a self-proclaimed 'incubator for social change', with installations to visit until November.

Tibidabo's new free fall ride | All year round | Amusement Park | Barcelona

Barcelona's amusement park Tibidabo will open its new freefall ride on Saturday. The new drop tower will feature a 50-meter fall and will have capacity for up to 24 people per ride.

'Confessions of a Crowded Mind', by Robbie Williams | June 21 - November 20 | Exhibition | Moco Museum, Barcelona

'Confessions of a Crowded Mind', Williams' first exhibition in Barcelona, features 17 artworks that explore themes of mental health. Using a mix of text and imagery, the British icon aims to engage viewers directly and encourage them to confront their fears. Williams wants to inspire others to channel their fears and anxieties into creativity, which he himself uses on a daily basis to navigate life in the public eye.

Agnès Varda | July 18 - December 8 | Exhibition | CCCB Barcelona

Agnès Varda is one of the most important figures in the history of cinema, yet she remains unknown to a wide audience, especially compared to her male counterparts. Born in Brussels in 1928, Varda was a pioneer and the only woman in the Nouvelle Vague, a French art film movement that began in the late 1950s. Varda used her films to highlight women's experiences, struggles and resilience, exploring and challenging the social norms and gender roles of her time.

Interior Berlanga | July 17 - April 20, 2025 | Exhibition | CaixaForum, Barcelona

'Interior Berlanga' exhibition proposes to discover the work of this filmmaker and his international scene. Berlanga created his own universe that combines unexpected elements with satire, and caricatures. Tickets cost €6, but CaixaBank clients can access for free.

Tàpies Year | Until December 2024 | Exhibition | Antoni Tàpies Foundation, Barcelona 

The Antoni Tàpies Foundation kicked off its Tàpies Year on December 13, marking the centenary of the celebrated Catalan artist's birth. Two new exhibitions opened at the museum in Barcelona. 'Tàpies: The Zen Imprint,' curated by Núria Homs, looks at how the artist incorporated Zen Buddhism into his work, while 'A=A, B=B,' curated by Pep Vidal, is based on a book of lectures on science and philosophy, 'A New Vision of the World,' that provided inspiration for many of Tàpies' works.