Craft and design fair, Christmas markets and free museum: 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.

Festivalet | Design and handcrafts | December 14 - 15 | Fair | Fabra i Coats factory

The independent craft and design fair Festivalet reaches its 17th edition with a selection of the best national and international designers and craftspeople, offering hundreds of local products. Taking place at Fabra i Coats, it will bring together some 140 local and international participants. We’ll have the opportunity to buy products from small enterprises and to pick up some original and creative Christmas gifts: jewelry, clothing, lingerie and accessories, craft food products, natural cosmetics, decorative items and more between 10 am and 8 pm. Tickets cost €3 and children under 12 years old enter for free.

Disseny Hub's 10th anniversary | Museum | December 14 - 15 | Museum | Disseny Hub

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Disseny Hub Barcelona, the facility is holding open days on 14 and 15 December for members of the public to visit its permanent and temporary exhibitions free of charge. There will also be a light installation in the foyer of the building. Admission is free for the exhibitions ‘The Production of Otherness’ and ‘The Ocean Speaks. New ecologies and new economies of the seas’, plus others.

Mercantic's Christmas fair | Fair | December 14 - 15 | Fair | Carrer Ermita, Sant Cugat

Sant Cugat del Vallès's Mercantic Christmas fair returns for the weekend with small pop-ups with antiquities, El Siglo bookstore, and many restaurants. There are also some Christmas shopping opportunities with many music and handicraft workshops. Entry is free on Saturday between 10 am and 8 pm, and it will be open between 10 am and 3 pm on Sunday, with tickets costing €2 between 11 am and 2 pm. 

Amazonia | Photo exhibition | December 4 - April 20 | Barcelona

Showcased in Barcelona in Drassanes Reials from December 4 to April 20, the exhibition 'Amazonia' derives from 9 years of work of the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. From large works of Amazon biodiversity to portraits of indigenous peoples, this exhibition has more than 200 photographs and seven films that will take visitors to the heart of Amazonia.

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.

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.

SOUNDIT | December 14 | Music festival | Plaça Monumental

Electronic music festival SOUNDIT returns to Barcelona on Saturday 14 at the Plaça Monumental venue between 2 pm and 10 pm. This weekend is the closing party of the 10th anniversary of the SOUNDIT music festival, and we will see Palms Trax b2b Job Jobse play for four hours, as well as Sama Yax b2b Senda Fatal for four more hours. Tickets are already on sale, and the final release costs €35.

Santa Llúcia market | November 29 - December 23 | Christmas market | 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.

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 on November 27. 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.

Paul VI's contemporary art | December 13 - March 2 | Art exhibition | Museu Diocesà, Barcelona

Dealing with transcendence and spirituality, Pope Paul VI's art collection arrives in Spain at the Barcelona Diocesan Museum. The exhibition consists of 20 art pieces from diverse artists such as Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse or David Hockney. The collection originally exhibited in the Italian municipality of Concesio was put together after the death of Pope Paul VI in the late 1970s. For the first time, it is presented outside of its original museum.  

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.