A list full with Barcelona activities, festivals and Internationals days; ones of them are FREE of charge, for another you need to pay a fee.
What I can say about May in Barcelona – It´s about poetry, experimental events, racing, Spanish culture (flamenco) and one of the best Festivals in town.
From 10-16 MAY – Barcelona Poetry and International Poetry Festival
In May, Barcelona is poetry.
Readings, performances, debates, concerts and, even battles of verses in a ring; I think are interesting and alternatives thinks to do in Barcelona this month.
Here you can find the full activities schedule (unfortunately is not English version but Google will be happy to translate for you, just make sure you allowed him to translate that pages).
Featured activities:
Poetry workshops from 8 to 14 May, the School of Writing of the Ateneu Barcelonès proposes seven samples of the resources and the most relevant poetic techniques of the moment to enjoy a good reading or to learn to create own poetic texts. FREE activity
Mushaira Intercultural: Asia en Barcelona on 8th May. At 20:00 on Verger Del Museum Frederic Mares. The Mushaira (مشاعرہ) are meetings in which the poets share their verses in Urdu and their ghazals. Conceived as a forum for free expression, they have the interaction of the public, which encourages poets. FREE activity
Sound Nights on 10th May. A day for the experimental text, from 11:00 to 19:00 you can visit the exhibition on Arts Santa Monica (on Las Ramblas 7) and from 19:00 to 21:00 you have 4 performance to enjoy: a. Opus26_Sprechgesang – songs and readings of the poems of Pia Sommer (Osorno, Chile, 1981) accompanied by the experimental duo Meandering Tear; b. AR Poetry Readings and another scenic poetries with Belen Gache – Scenic poems in which he makes use of technologies such as augmented reality, the hypertextual remix or the Second Life 3D environments; c. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx by Jörg Piringer – techno text poetry and images generated automatically through software that takes the microphone waves and take them a new dynamic form; 4. the night will end with sound artist Enrique Doza and an experimental session made only from acoustic material from sound poetry. FREE activity
Great Pathetic Mass by Leo Bassi comedian on 11th May at Jardi Interior de la Casa de la Misericordia at 18:00. The clown Leo Bassi offer us a buffoonish mass where he play with the intellectual vacuum of the consumer society. FREE activity
On 11 May – Gastronomic Fair Sant Ponç
It is on Hospital Street, downtown Barcelona, Raval quarter, next to Las Ramblas and Boqueria Market. This is a great opportunity for you to buy really good honey and fresh green herbals. A street market held in honor of the patron saint of beekeepers and herbalists, and ablaze with candied fruit, fresh herbs, natural infusions, honey and honeycomb, most of it straight off the farmer’s cart. You´ll see small family business, the producers himself that sails their goods. Nice atmosphere and nice smells, recommend it! FREE activity
From 10 to 12 May – F1 Spanish Grand Prix.
This 16 turn car and motorcycle track has been hosting the MotoGP Catalunya and the Spanish Grand Prix since 1992. It has a capacity of 140,700. The Catalunya circuit itself is divided into 3 tracks: the Grand Prix track (F1), a 4655 m track completed in 64 laps. The Circuit National is a 3067 meter track used for the MotoGP race. Finally, the Circuit ‘practice track‘ (Circuit de la Escuela) measures 1703 m.
Check here the full price list.
From 11 to 12 May Primera Persona Festival/ First Person Festival.
This year the festival is even bigger, with more performances, shows, concerts and monologues than in the two previous editions. For a full description and the prices list please check here
On 18 May – The Night of the Museums.
In this especial night all the museums in the city celebrate the International Museums Day opening their doors to everyone from 7PM to 1AM. Prepare your legs for a nice walk and your patience for the long lines that you´ll find all over the town. You´ll have the opportunity to visit the main Barcelona attraction for free but, more than that, are plenty of activities to keep you entertained as music, theater, circus shows.
Here is the full activity list, for the moment just in Catalan but you can click on each museum to see the details, and here is the downloadable program.
From 16 to 31 May – Festival Ciutat Flamenco/ Flamenco City celebrates
It is the twenty-sixth edition in 2019, maintaining its commitment to the creation, innovation and the history of a musical culture rooted in the city since its inception. For all this, Flamenco City has been not only the exhibitor of the great names and the most interesting proposals that have marked the evolution of flamenco in the 21st century, but as an impeller of new projects and challenges in accordance with the cultural fabric and social of a city in permanent transformation.
You can enjoy a large list of shows but also you can be part of flamenco classes and discussions in the Flamenco Congress, a parallel activity of Festival.
From 15 to 26 May – DocsBarcelona International Documentary Film Festival.
If you have a passion for documentary films maybe is a good idea to spend some time on cinema. This 22nd edition offers an extraordinary sample of the best documentary productions worldwide. This year in Barcelona you can see awarded documentary films like Honeyland (winner of 3 awards in Sundance), Cochada (Audience Award at SXSW), Los Reyes (Special Jury Award – Best Documentary at IDFA) or What Walaa Wants (Special Jury Award DSG – Best Canadian Documentary).
Here the list of what you can see.
To 27 May until June 1st – Primavera Sound Festival on Parc del Forum.
This six-stage music festival is one of the best in Spain. There are rafts of electronica acts, DJs and local bands, plus a record fair and the Soundtrack Film Festival. Have a look on their 2019 Line-up
Also if you want to improve your holiday pictures, our local photographer Andrei can help you. Have a look in our Take Photos Like a PRO experience! You´ll discover hidden places in Gothic quarter and you´ll learn skills to build a story with your photos.
