Barcelona Online | Trade fairs in Barcelona

Barcelona's Trade Fair Centre
Fira de Barcelona
The Fira de Barcelona, located just off the Plaza España, at the foot of Montjuich (Avda. Reina Ma. Cristina) is where many of Barcelona's main trade fairs take place. With eight different "palaces", it occupies a total of 250,000 m2 and attracts over 2.5 million visitors a year to its more than 70 different exhibitions.

It is well worth checking out what's on if you are coming to Barcelona: there are some fascinating events of interest to the genaral public.

•We liked: The Hobbies and Collectors Fair (November)
•Not so hot: Now that webcam is just sooooooo boring!
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

2010

Mobile World Congress (15-18 February)

International Tourism Show in Catalonia (15-18 April 2010)
Saló Internacional del Turisme a Catalunya
•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc

Gran Semana de la Moto (next event, 2010)
Barcelona Motorcycle Week
One of the big trade fairs of May is the Barcelona Motorcycle Great Week (sic), which offers you and the other 225,000 visitors it attracts the chance to "Discover the motorcycle inside you".

Whether your thing is "motorcycles, scooters and mopeds" or "quads, water and snow bikes and similar" – or "petrol, lubricants, chemical products and additives", for that matter – this one is for you.

•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan
•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc

Saló de l'Ensenyament (17-21 March 2010)
Teaching and Continuous Training
The "Teaching and Continuous Training" trade fair, formerly aka the "Saló de l'Ensenyament" and now known as "Estudia", is one of Barcelona's big local trade fairs.

•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc

International Comic Fair (6-9 May 2010)
Saló Internacional del Còmic de Barcelona
•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc
Barcelona's annual Comic Fair is hugely successful -- indeed it's probably the only event of the year it is always a guaranteed sell-out.

Salón del Hobby (Autumn, 2010 dates to be announced)
Hobby Fair
Not one to miss if you've got kids... If they (or you) are into any of "model making, dioramas, miniatures, collecting, radio-control, educational games, dollhouses, electric railways, painting techniques, handicrafts" etc, the Hobby Fair is a thrilling day out.

You'll have to queue to get in, queue to play with the Scalextric, will probably lose the kids a couple of times and end up with a wretched headache but, come on Dad, the kids had fun!

•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc

Pets Fair (October, 2010 date to be announced)
Festival de la Mascota
Taking place at the Fira de Barcelona exhibition centre, the 8th edition of the Festival de la Mascota (pets) fair will have over 8,000 dogs (of over 250 different breeds) on display.

Cats, horses, parrots and reptiles are also to be found.

•Languages: English, Catalan, Spanish
•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc

Salón Naútico (6-14 November 2010)
International Boat Show, Barcelona
Barcelona's International Boat Show takes place not at the Fira de Barcelona but at the new exhibition site, Gran Vía (M2), and in the port of Barcelona.


•We liked The use made of Flash, particularly in providing the images; some of Barcelona's museum sites could well take a look at this example of what can be done
•Not so hot Where the [censored] is "Gran Vía (M2)", and how do I get there? (Take a bus or taxi from the Plaza España – it's 2.5 km out of town)
•Languages English, Spanish, Catalan

Auto Retro (4-8 December 2010)
AutoRetro

•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc

Festival de la Infància (27 December 2010- 4 January 2011)
Kids Festival
Barcelona's annual "Festival de la Infancia" trade fair (this year the 47th edition) is a great day out for kids - with basically anything you could wish the Three Kings (aka Santa) would bring you.

•Venue: Fira de Montjuïc

2011

Barcelona International Motor Show (Next event 2011)
Salón Internacional del Automóvil 2009
The biennial Automobile Fair is one of the biggest trade fairs held at Barcelona's Fira exhibition site and it's also one of the most popular, with more than a million visitors. The site has full information on how to get to the Fira, on exhibitors, and the various activities (including an exhibition of all the Bond cars) that are on.

•We liked: The photos of the slot cars – which you can play with... no, not online, silly (catch me at the Fair, I'm the man in the green anorak who won't let go of the throttle)
•Not so hot: Didn't spot the navigation hidden top left
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

SonimagFoto (23-27 March 2011)
Photography Trade Fair
The SonimagFoto "Exhibition of Image and Photography" is on for five days at the Fira de Montjuich. You're interested in "image, photography, video, multimedia"? You still haven't got a multimedia mobile phone? Or the one you have got isn't quite the latest model?

•We liked: The photography exhibitions on include "50 years of Playboy images" (Ahem…! Ed.)
•Not so hot: €7 to get in? Why, I could buy a disposable camera for that money!
•Languages: English, Catalan, Spanish

Building and Construction Fair (16-21 May, 2011)
Construmat
Construmat, the International Building Exhibition doesn't have the draw – at least to the general public – of, say, the Barcelona motor show, with 4,200 exhibitors spread over the two Fira exhibition sites and attracting nearly 250,000 visitors, Construmat is definitely on your Barcelona agenda if you are in the building sector and are going to be here next year.

We're not overly impressed by the site itself, although it offers the basic information on the exhibition.

•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan
•We liked: The national bricklayers contest
•Not so hot: Sewage installation sector