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•See also our "Ages ago" page (link above) for other annual events...

15-18 April
International Tourism Show of Catalonia
The big trade fair in Barcelona in April is the annual "Saló Internacional del Turisme a Catalunya".

15-25 April
Barcelona Open Tennis
April brings the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, aka the 58th "Trofeo Conde de Godó", and the foregone conclusion that Rafa Nadal is going to win it again (as he has done for the last five years).

•Languages: English, Spanish and Catalan
•We liked: The prize money (286,000€ for the singles -- and that was last year!)
•Not so hot: The day tennis has a proper anti-doping commission in place

April 23
Sant Jordi (St George's Day)
St George is the patron saint of Catalonia, and on the 23rd you will find people selling roses on literally every street corner, and bookstalls set up with roughly the same frequency.

As a gentleman you are supposed to give your lady a rose, the rose being said to have sprung from where the dragon's blood fell; as a lady you are supposed to give your knight-in-shining-armour a book. The book comes either (a) from the fact that April 23rd also happens to be the date of the deaths of both Shakespeare and Cervantes and (b) is thus World Book Day or (c) from the fact that it's a golden opportunity to flog some books.

It has become a little commercialised, but it's still a cute tradition and, to judge from the throngs on the Ramblas, a very popular one.

6-9 May
Comic Fair
The 28th edition of Barcelona's International Comic fair - comic, as in Spiderman, that is - takes place in the Fira de Barcelona this year. The site itself is a little disappointing, with little more of interest than the basic information.

•Languages: English, Spanish
•We liked: The actual fair
•Not so hot: A site design that makes next to no use of comic characters...?!

9 May 2010
F1 Grand Prix Catalunya
Motor-racing comes to car-crazy Barcelona -- or just outside Barcelona, at any rate -- for the fourth race of the new season.

The motorcyle GP takes place at the same venue June 4.

May 15-16
Bike Show'10
In 2006, Barcelona held its first ever "participative event" for the bike world (that's the kind that you have to pedal and get hot and sweaty, not the brrrom-brroMMMM variety) at the Palau Sant Jordi.

Following the success of the first three editions, we'll be back in 2010, with a professional bike industry fair; competitions of all kinds and various other events.

27-29 May
Primavera Sound
The Primavera Sound is one of Barcelona's top annual music festivals.

The 2009 line-up included My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin, Yo La Tengo, Bloc Party, Jarvis Cocker, Neil Young and Sonic Youth... and for 2010 we have Pet Shop Boys, The Charlatans, Sunny Day Real Estate, Broken Social Scene, Gary Numan, Marc Almond etc.

Whatever happened to people like Julie Felix?

17-19 June 2010
Sonar Festival
The sixteenth edition of Barcelona's Advanced Music and Multimedia Art SONAR festival takes place in June, with this year's big attraction being... Er, we're struggling with that one, I'm afraid. We guess that if you are really into this sort of stuff then, um, er… great! Nice talking to you… (Cripes, what was that guy on about…?!)

•We liked: ...er, the MNAC?
•Not so hot: Terrible site design... Just what the dickens is on?
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

June 23
Sant Joan - Midsummer's Eve
Barcelona goes wild on St Joan, drinking cava, the local sparkling wine, consuming a rather boring coca de St Joan, a dry cake with candied fruit of various kinds on top, blasting off the annual budget of a small developing nation in fireworks and partying on the beach till dawn and the Guardia Urbana come along. Reliable sources -- aka a local freebie rag -- tell us that 28 tonnes of rubbish were collected this year the next morning.

The fireworks are something else. You remember Apocalypse Now? Walking the streets on the night of the 23rd is about like that. Wild!

More about Sant Joan on the official BCN site - what's on, how to make coca... Why, you can even build your own rocket!

July—August
Grec Festival
The Grec is one of Barcelona's major annual festivals, with events including music, theatre, dance and circus...

Tickets can be booked online (via Telentrada), but obtaining tickets and information is probably going to be much easier from the ticket and information office at the top of the Portal de l'Àngel, in the south-east corner of the Plaza Catalunya.

July 26-August 1
European Athletics Championships
July brings one of the world's major athletics championships to Barcelona's Olympic Stadium.

•Not so hot: Er... can I just ask: are any of these people not on drugs?
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

15-21 August
Festa Major de Gràcia
Gràcia, once separated from Barcelona by green fields, is now one of its more bohemian districts, much loved by those into ethnic restaurants and spending the day lounging on café terraces as well as being home to Barcelona's punks and squatters. It is also home to one of the more vibrant street festivals, with 600 events (dance, theatre, music...) over 9 nights.

The neatly designed site has the basic information about what's on...

•We like: The annual competition to decorate the streets
•Too hot: Barcelona in August
•Languages: Catalan only

September 23
La Mercé
Barcelona's "festa major", La Mercé, is named after its patron saint and includes music and dance as well as some spectacular traditions such as the castellers (human castles, pictured, right) and the correfoc (literally the firerun), at which dragons belch fire over the packed crowds and demons spray everyone with sparks.

The Mercé also includes a very popular 10km fun run across the city.

•We liked: Being sprayed with sparks... No, really: it was kind of, you know, kinky!
•Not so hot: Don't expect the official site to be up and running long in advance
•Languages: English (very limited), Spanish and Catalan

September-October (2010 dates to be confirmed)
Festa al Cel
If you can tell the difference between an F18 and the Eurofighter, collected Airfix kits and don't get vertigo watching Sopwith Camels loop the loop, don't miss Barcelona's hugely popular Festa al Cel airshow, at the Parc del Fòrum. 300,000 people went last year...

Main events are Sunday morning, usual the weekend after the Mercè (se above) ends.

•Languages: Spanish and Catalan

December 17-18
Encuentro Práctico ELE
The "Encuentro práctico para profesores de ELE", now in its nineteenth year, is an annual congress for teachers of Spanish as a foreign language.

2010 dates to be confirmed
Festival Asia
The Casa Asia promotes this annual event, which includes cuisine, dance, music, theatre and a variety of different exhibitions.

Starts 31 December
Barcelona World Race
The Barcelona World Race is a two-handed, non-stop round the world yacht race. Nine teams competed in the first event (2008) -- 25,000 miles in three months in (er, let me check...) an "IMOCA Open 60 monohull".

•See also our "Ages ago" page for other annual events...

What's on in Barcelona

>> Ages ago | Just missed it | On this month | Coming up