Carnaval 2026
Carnaval fills the city with color with a program featuring omelette competitions, concerts, parades, mask workshops and more. Carnaval is one of the most popular festivals of the year. In Barcelona, it's the festival that gets the most people involved, so for one week every year, the city is transformed with afternoon snacks of botifarra d'ou (egg sausage), masked dances, parades and sardine funerals.
And there is no Carnaval without its king, and King Carnestoltes will reach the city center punctually on Fat Thursday, to proclaim his reign of revelry.
The city's festival has changed dramatically since the first documented reference to the Carnaval, a 1333 regulation from the Consell de Cent government prohibiting any throwing of oranges and regulating the use of masks. Nowadays, the desire to have a good time and make merry is just as strong as it was then. Twenty-first century Barcelona Carnaval is all about taking part, and also implies a degree of transgression, a spontaneous exercising of individual and collective freedom.
Barcelona's Carnaval traditions range from its unique gastronomy, with egg and pork sausages, pork crackling cakes and omelettes, to a collection of sayings rich in popular expressions where Carnaval is the protagonist. It is also a festivity shared around the world, which each culture adapts in its own way through a multitude of artistic expressions and typically popular traits.
For more about how and Carnaval is celebrated in Catalunya and our top picks on where to go for a truly immersive cultural experience, check out our article Carnaval Time.
2026 Festival Highlights
February 12th, Fat Thursday, L‘Arribo
For the second year in a row, the Carnaval king makes his triumphant entrance in the Sants neighborhood! The party starts at 17:00 at les Cotxeres de Sants, then at 18:00 a parade will lead festival goers to Casa del Mig where Queen Belluga will reveal her new costume in all its glory. Then the Queen will declare the official start of the festivities and Barcelona's Carnaval gegants will dance in celebration. The afternoon concludes with the traditional taronjada, in which orange confetti explodes in the sky, evoking the 1333 prohibition by the Consell de Cent of throwing oranges during the festival.
This year, the first day of Carnaval coincides with the Festes de Santa Eulàlia, so after the Parade of the "Laias" , the winter festival merges with the festive spirit of Carnaval. After the Carnaval giants perform their traditional Arribo dance in Sants during the first Taronjada, they will make their way to Plaça Sant Jaume to visit the giantess Laia, where a second Taronjada will take place and the day will draw to a close with a spectacular fireworks display in a blend of tradition and the joyful spirit of Carnaval.
Fat Thursday is also a day marked by gastronomy, with egg sausage as the main specialty. In the municipal markets the day is celebrated with contests, tastings and costumed vendors.
February 13-14th, Carnaval Parades
Imagination and creativity are on display in Barcelona’s Carnival parades—around forty parades are organized throughout the city's neighborhoods. Most parades will be held on Saturday, but there are parades the day before and even a week later. Numerous special Carnaval activities are also held in the city’s civic centers.
February 18th, Ash Wednesday, Burial of the Sardine
Ash Wednesday brings an end to a week of debauchery and revelry, their Majesties the King and Queen of Carnaval have died! Funeral processions will wind through the streets of many of the city's neighborhoods in mock mourning of the death of their beloved leaders. Each neighborhood celebrates in its own way, many featuring children's activities and workshops alongside bonfires, the sardine burial ceremony and communal meals in which it is traditional to eat lots of sardines!
For details on what's happening in each neighborhood, check out the guia.barcelona.cat website.
For more events check our online events calendar.