The shows, festivals, workshops and open-air events running this Saturday and Sunday, refreshed every week so the list is always the coming weekend.
An exhibition exploring time through its origins, measurement systems, and how humans perceive it. The Centre Martorell d'Exposicions presents interactive displays and reflective installations designed for visitors of all ages to engage with concepts of temporal experience and scientific timekeeping.
Dinner with Stars combines a multi-course meal with astronomical observation at the Fabra Observatory. Diners enjoy an astronomy-themed dinner on the terrace at dusk, followed by a guided visit through the modernist hall and museum, then telescope observation of constellations, stars, and planets using the 1904 telescope, one of Europe's largest still in operation.
Cirque du Soleil's KURIOS presents acrobatics, live music, and visual theater under the Big Top. The production follows an inventor who discovers an invisible world of impossible machines, mechanical objects, and eccentric characters. The show blends contemporary circus with steampunk aesthetics, featuring precision acrobatics, elaborate costumes, and scenes designed to challenge perception.
Peter Parker is an adult now, alone, having wiped himself from the memories of everyone he loved to keep them safe. He fights crime in a New York that no longer knows his name, and the strain triggers a physical change that puts him in danger. Destin Daniel Cretton directs, with Tom Holland and Zendaya back alongside Mark Ruffalo. At two and a half hours and a darker turn, this is the one for older kids.
Wile E. Coyote has been flattened by ACME gadgets for decades, so he hires an equally unlucky lawyer and takes the company to court. It turns personal when the lawyer finds his intimidating old boss running ACME. Dave Green directs, putting the cartoon Coyote alongside Will Forte, John Cena and Lana Condor. The slapstick timing lands best in the original English, and parents who grew up on the Road Runner laugh as much as the kids.
PortAventura Park, about 1h15 south of Barcelona by car or train, runs its Halloween season from September 19 to November 15. The side for younger kids is gentle: Sesame Street shows, Truco o Trato (a walk-through with friendly ghosts that ends in candy), a soap-bubble show and an evening lake show with fire and fountains.
Park tickets for two adults and two kids aged 4 to 10 start around €190, before any haunted passages, so it works best as a full day.
On their last night together, best friends Jo and Raissa find a portal to Nakali, an island full of creatures from Philippine mythology. Getting home means facing the fearsome Manananggal, and the way back will cost them their shared memories. Joel Crawford, who made Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, directs with Januel Mercado, with Dave Franco, Jenny Slate and Manny Jacinto among the voices. A DreamWorks friendship adventure in the original English, best for kids 7 and up.
Pinocchio, now grown up, invites audiences into his workshop to recount his adventures as a puppet. This family show combines hand puppets, marionettes, and Chinese shadow theater on a single stage, adapting Carlo Collodi's classic tale in the writer's bicentennial year, narrated directly by the protagonist, with original music by Octavi Rumbau.
Thirteenth edition, and it has moved indoors: Pavilion 4 at Fira Gran Via, enclosed and climate controlled, so rain is not a factor. Long shared tables, a stage, Paulaner on tap, and a food line running from bratwurst to pork knuckle, pretzels and strudel.
On kids, the organizers say everyone is invited and minors can enter accompanied by a parent or guardian. Strollers are fine. That is admission, not a children's program. Treat it as a big loud hall you are bringing kids into, not an event built for them.
So the slot matters. Saturday and Sunday open at 12:00pm, entry is free, and the early hours are food, oompah and room to move. From 5:00pm on Friday and Saturday there is a €5 door charge that under 18s do not pay, and the hall becomes what you would expect of a beer tent at night.
Tables seat 4 to 8 and book free on the official site, which is the move if a group of you is going.
The Barceloneta neighborhood festival runs with traditional sardanes dancing, havaneres singing on the beach, a parade led by local giants Pep Barceló and Maria la Néta, and the signature cannon parade that fires sweets to the crowd. A correfoc with fire-flaring diables and decorated streets round out a program honoring Sant Miquel on 29 September, with a distinctly local, seaside atmosphere rooted in the neighborhood's fishing and seafaring heritage.
Petits Camaleons is a family music festival in Sant Cugat del Vallès designed around children as the audience. Concerts are shorter, volume levels are adapted for younger ears, and most of the program happens in daytime hours across nearby stages. The 2026 edition runs October 1-4, with an inaugural Els Amics de les Arts concert on Thursday and a weekend program of Catalan and Spanish artists, baby concerts, signings, and family-friendly festival spaces.
Festa Major de Sarrià honors the Virgin of the Rosary with decorated façades, giants parades, human towers, and sardanes across October 2–12. The program includes the Correfoc, a pyrotechnic spectacle where devils parade through streets with fire effects, alongside traditional Catalan performances and street activities rooted in neighborhood traditions.
Sarrià's festa comes with its own funfair: bumper cars, trampolines, a roller coaster small kids can ride, game booths and food stalls. No Ferris wheel.
Find it on Via Augusta at Porta de Sarrià, by the tall steel gate sculpture, two minutes from Plaça de Sarrià. Walking in is free and you pay per ride.
It opens after school on weekdays, twice a day on weekends, and until midnight on Saturdays and the two festa Fridays. The rides stay until October 18, six days after the festa ends.
A learning activation space at CaixaForum featuring reference books, games, and experimental materials for discovering architecture. An educator supports visitors as they explore, play, and learn through hands-on resources. The activity is part of Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture programming.
Viu Montjuïc opens the whole hill for a free weekend of about 90 activities: open doors at museums, guided visits, workshops, concerts, dance and sport. Twelve are made for families, including the hands-on Arqueolab at the archaeology museum (ages 2 and up), a clue hunt in the botanical garden, building games at CaixaForum and family games at Montjuïc Castle. Most are drop-in with no sign-up. Saturday runs 09:30 to 23:00 and Sunday 09:30 to 22:00.
Every autumn the old amusement park on top of Tibidabo, the tallest hill over Barcelona, dresses up for Halloween. The moment kids remember is nightfall, when a new zombie show called The Last Dance (L'Últim Ball) takes over the Plaça dels Somnis, with a dance number that nods to the King of Pop.
Between rides, younger kids can look for the park mascots Ti, Bi, Da and Bo in their Halloween outfits, and costumed characters wander the paths around the park.
Catalunya en Miniatura is an outdoor park in Torrelles de Llobregat, about 25 minutes by car from Barcelona, filled with scale models of the Sagrada Família, Montserrat and other Catalan landmarks. Every weekend from October 3 to November 1 it dresses up for Halloween, and costumed characters hide around the models to give families a small scare. The frights are mild, which makes it a good pick for younger kids who find bigger Halloween events too much.
Without a car, Rodalies sells a combined ticket that covers the train, a short bus ride and park entry.
A dance show for families inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's classic tale. Choreographer Núria Serra uses movement, music, and objects to explore themes of friendship, curiosity, and discovery across imagined planets. The performance runs 55 minutes and is performed in Catalan.
The shameless, absurd, supposedly true story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became stars, lost the lot, let a pack of monsters loose, and had to reunite to clean up their own mess. Pierre Coffin directs and voices them, with Christoph Waltz and Jeff Bridges alongside. The jokes run on English delivery, so the original audio earns its keep. At 89 minutes, an easy first feature for younger kids.
The Pride Barcelona Parade features around 30 floats with music and performances traveling from Plaça Universitat to Plaça Espanya. The daytime event is designed as an all-ages spectacle with colorful floats and live entertainment. Watch from the parade route; arrive early to secure a good viewing spot and avoid the late-night parties that follow.
Since 1786, the square in front of Barcelona Cathedral has filled with Christmas stalls around the feast of Santa Llúcia on December 13. Families come to shop for their nativity scene: tiny clay figures, moss, cork mountains and little barns, plus the caganer, a crouching figure with his trousers down who hides in every Catalan nativity.
It is also where locals buy their Caga Tió, the smiling log in a red hat that kids feed all December, then beat with sticks on Christmas Eve, singing, until it "poops" out sweets. A giant Tió in front of the cathedral lets kids try it for themselves.
Experience the King of Pop like never before with top Michael Jackson impersonator SacMjj and live vocals by Dabeat, recreating iconic choreographies and greatest hits for the whole family.
Girona's old town, with its colored houses over the Onyar river and the cathedral steps above, makes a storybook setting for Christmas. The market fills the arcaded Plaça de la Independència with wooden stalls selling nativity figures, Tiós, wooden toys and torrons, the almond nougat Catalans eat at Christmas.
The ice rink is the kids' favorite: one of the biggest in Catalonia, covered, with a separate ice slide where children race down three lanes on sleds. Pair it with a walk along the old city walls and a hot chocolate in the old town for a full winter day out.
Every Christmas the Port Olímpic marina turns its waterfront into a winter play zone for families, with a handmade theme of paper, light and the sea. A 12-meter tree with handmade paper ornaments lights up the dock, and the play area fills with giant games, wooden blocks, origami and a royal page, one of the Kings' messengers who collect children's letters.
After dark, a short 3D projection tells the story of a sailor cat hunting for Christmas decorations across the city. The season ends with the Three Kings arriving by boat on January 5, before they head off to start the Sant Martí district parade.
A pessebre vivent is a living nativity scene: a whole village, or a patch of forest, turned into Bethlehem for a few winter evenings. Neighbors of every age play shepherds, angels and Roman soldiers, and around the manger there are bakers, blacksmiths and washerwomen working at old trades, lit by torches and lanterns.
Families walk the route from scene to scene in the dark, which is half the magic for kids. The dialogue is in Catalan, but the story needs no translation, and spotting the donkeys, the sheep and the baby in the manger keeps small children busy all the way around.
At Christmas, the Zoo de Barcelona in Parc de la Ciutadella adds a festive layer to a day with the animals. A 12-meter fir tree stands in the square by the Dama del Paraigua (the Lady with the Umbrella fountain), and winter photo spots are scattered along the paths.
The program leans on Catalan traditions. La Casa dels Tions shows how the Tió, the smiling log that kids feed for weeks and then tap with sticks until it "poops" out sweets, looks after the forest. Families can join a group Caga Tió, and a Christmas scavenger hunt sends kids around the zoo with clues about protecting wildlife.
For about ten days around Christmas, Plaça de Catalunya becomes an open-air theater under a huge glowing stage set. The city's Christmas festival fills the square with free street theater, circus, dance and music from morning to night.
Mornings are made for families: short visual-theater and object shows with little talking, repeated several times so there is always one about to start, and a concert to dance to at the end. Afternoons bring acrobats and jugglers, and evenings close with a big choir show.
In Catalonia the Reis, the Three Kings, bring the main presents on the night of January 5, and that evening the whole city turns out to welcome them. Melcior, Gaspar and Baltasar sail into the old port, then ride across the center on giant lit-up floats with dancers, stilt walkers, live music and a crowd of patges, their royal helpers.
Kids love the sweets thrown from the floats, waving at their favorite king and spotting Page Estel with her star. Royal mail carriers collect last-minute letters along the way, and bedtime comes early that night, since the presents arrive while children sleep.
Since 1877, Barcelona families have come here to shop for Reis. In Catalonia the big present day is January 6, when the Three Kings (Reis) leave gifts overnight, and this fair is named after them. Two long rows of stalls line Gran Via, selling toys, sweets, decorations and small gifts.
For kids it is a chance to pick out a little something of their own, or to spot what might end up in the Kings' sacks. Look for carbó, black sugar candy made to look like coal, which the Kings jokingly leave for naughty children, and for stalls frying fresh xurros to dunk in thick hot chocolate.
This is a concert, not a ballet. An orchestra plays the best-known parts of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, like the march, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Waltz of the Flowers, while a narrator tells the story of Clara and her toy soldier. At the same time a sand artist draws the story live on a lit table, projected on a big screen, and each picture melts into the next.
The room is half the show. The Palau de la Música is a modernista concert hall covered in colored glass and mosaics, and kids tend to spend as much time looking up at the ceiling as at the stage.
Every winter since 1996 the Ateneu Popular 9 Barris has made a brand new circus show and run it through the Christmas holidays. The Ateneu is a neighborhood arts center in an old asphalt plant in Nou Barris, taken over by local residents in 1977, and each year a different Catalan circus director is invited to create the show, so it is never the same twice.
This is contemporary circus: no big top or ringmaster, just five or six artists on a theater stage doing rope, acrobatics, balancing and clowning, woven together with live music and a loose story. It has a loyal local following, and the shows often go on tour afterward.
The Tió, or Caga Tió, is the Catalan Christmas log: a little log with a painted smiling face, a red barretina hat and a blanket to keep it warm. From early December kids feed it bits of bread and orange peel every night, and on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day they beat it with sticks while singing a song that orders it to poop out presents, then lift the blanket to find sweets underneath.
Tió fairs celebrate the tradition with stalls full of logs of every size, workshops to decorate your own, and in some villages a hunt through the woods to find one to take home.
In Catalonia many kids write their wish list to the Reis, the Three Kings. They pick a favorite, Melcior, Gaspar or Baltasar, and in the days before January 5 hand the letter in person to a patge reial, one of the royal pages, or to a royal mail carrier, often with a quick chat about how good they have been all year.
The pages set up in markets, squares and little royal tents all over the city. Tradition says naughty kids find a lump of carbó, coal, with their presents, these days usually a sugary version from the bakery.
In Barcelona the big gift night is not Christmas Eve but January 5, when the Three Kings, els Reis, arrive by boat and parade through the city, and kids wake up to presents on the 6th. Santa, called Pare Noel here, has become a second gift-bringer for many families, so December brings chances to meet both.
The custom is to hand over a letter in person: to Santa before Christmas, then to one of the Kings or their royal pages, the patges. Some malls also bring out a giant Caga Tió, the smiling Christmas log that kids hit with sticks until it "poops" sweets.
Catalan kids grow up with a New Year's riddle: on December 31 you can meet the Home dels Nassos, the man with as many noses as there are days left in the year. The joke is that on the last day he has only one, like everybody else.
In Barcelona he is a real character: a big-headed capgròs figure who comes out on the morning of December 31 with musicians and other festival figures, parades through the streets and hands over a magic key to open the new year. The city center, Gràcia and Poblenou each have their own.
Els Llums de Sant Pau (The Lights of Sant Pau) is a night walk through the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, a former hospital built over a century ago as a garden city of tiled domes and red-brick pavilions. At Christmas, its gardens and courtyards light up with a trail of glowing installations.
Kids follow Llumi, a star who has fallen from the sky, through a string of interactive stops to touch, play with and explore. A favorite is the royal camp of King Balthazar, one of the Three Kings (Reis) who bring gifts on January 6, and Somni Borealis recreates the glow of the northern lights.
The Festival de la Infància (Children's Festival) has been a Barcelona holiday tradition since 1963. In the days between Christmas and New Year, the giant halls of the Montjuïc fairgrounds turn into an indoor playground of more than 60 play areas, with games, sports, craft workshops and stage shows.
Kids roam freely from zone to zone, and most activities need little language to join in. The Espai Mini is a gentler space for kids up to 4, while the Espai Aventura saves the bigger challenges for ages 4 to 12. On December 31, the whole festival counts down to New Year at noon, early enough for the little ones.
Every Christmas a big top goes up on the Moll de la Fusta, the waterfront promenade at the bottom of the Rambla, and the Raluys, a Catalan circus family, put on a new show. Think trapeze, aerial silks, acrobats flying off a seesaw, contortionists, a clown and live music, close enough to see the performers' faces.
There are no animal acts and very little talking, so it works for kids in any language. It is old-style circus with sequins and a ringmaster, the kind of show that holds a four-year-old and a grandparent equally.
Every year in late November, Barcelona switches on its Christmas lights with a free show on Passeig de Gràcia, and the streets stay lit every evening until Reis, the Three Kings' day. The big designs change every year, picked through a design competition, so the walk looks different each winter.
Kids tend to love the moving pieces most: the video projection that turns City Hall and the Generalitat into a giant Christmas card on Plaça de Sant Jaume, the short light and music show on Gaudí's Casa Batlló, and, in 2025, a giant inflatable tortell, the Kings' ring cake, inside the Design Museum.
Barcelona has no frozen ponds, so skating here means the rinks that pop up for Christmas, usually from late November to early January. The biggest is on the outdoor parking lot at Westfield La Maquinista, the largest real-ice rink in the city, with a Christmas market and a giant slide next to it. Smaller ones appear in the gardens behind L'Illa Diagonal, among the Christmas stalls at Port Vell and up at the Tibidabo amusement park.
Some rinks are real ice and some are synthetic panels, which feel slower underfoot. For skating any time of year, FC Barcelona's new rink in Les Corts has public sessions.
Tibidabo, the old amusement park on the tallest hill over Barcelona, gets a full Christmas makeover each winter. A giant tree greets families at the entrance, the Merlí free-fall tower lights up as a Christmas star, and a skating rink with views over the city takes over the Plaça dels Somnis.
Younger kids can catch a Christmas puppet show at the TibiMarionetarium and bump into roaming elves and the park mascots. In the days before Christmas, Santa comes to visit, and after New Year the royal pages (patges) arrive, the Three Kings' helpers who collect children's letters.
Catalunya en Miniatura is an outdoor park in Torrelles de Llobregat filled with small-scale models of the Sagrada Família, Montserrat and dozens of other Catalan landmarks, and at Christmas its little towns are dressed in lights and decorations. Santa rides the park's small train with the kids and collects their letters, and a giant Tió waits to be hit with sticks.
On site, El Palau del Nadal is a short indoor theater walk through a heated hall, where six fantasy characters guide small groups through a Christmas story. It is gentle and up close, which suits toddlers and preschoolers well.
This fair began in 1962, when the Santa Llúcia fair by the cathedral ran out of room and a group of artisans set up beside Gaudí's basilica instead. About a hundred wooden stalls now ring the square in front of the Passion facade.
For kids, the fun is spotting the things Catalan homes fill up with in December: rows of Caga Tió logs with painted faces, tiny caganer figures for the nativity scene, and Christmas trees piled high, all under the basilica's towers. Stalls frying churros keep everyone going.
Alella Green Tech runs this on its Can Picard farm, half an hour up the coast from Barcelona. The patch sits on an open hillside, so kids walk out among the vines and the pumpkins, pick one and cut it themselves, then carve it at the long wooden tables. There is wood-fired pizza at the lounge and a lawn to sit on for the afternoon.
Two things run side by side. The party days are the big version, from lunchtime until late, with the whole hillside busy. On quiet days in late October the patch is open for picking and carving, with a cheaper pass. Everything is booked online ahead of time and there are no tickets at the gate. The 2026 dates are not posted yet. Last year the parties were the two Saturdays either side of Halloween.
Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is the Mexican holiday on November 1 and 2 when families remember relatives who have died, with flower-covered altars, candles and sugar skulls. It is a celebration of memory, not a scary night. Its best-known figure is the catrina, an elegant skeleton lady in a big flowered hat, first drawn by the Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada.
In Barcelona, the Mexican cultural association MEXCAT marks the day with a parade of catrinas down La Rambla toward the sea. Dozens of people in full skeleton face paint, long gowns and flower crowns walk together, and the painted faces are worth seeing up close.
Travel back to ancient Egypt and discover the surprising scents of daily life and mummification—then smell them yourself in this sensory museum adventure.
Every Christmas, Poble Espanyol, the open-air village on Montjuïc built from copies of streets and squares from all over Spain, turns into Natalis. Thousands of lights go up, and the lanes split into six themed worlds: an elves' workshop, a candy land run by a pastry chef, a wizard's corner full of riddles, and a street of Christmas traditions from around the world.
Kids meet characters, watch roaming shows and make crafts along the way. Before Christmas Eve they can hand a letter to Santa, and after that the letters go to the Three Kings (Reis), who bring gifts in Spain on the night of January 5.
Around Christmas, Barcelona fills with pessebres, the Catalan nativity scenes: whole miniature villages of moss, rivers, mills and shepherds built around the manger. City Hall, the Cathedral, markets and neighborhood clubs each build one, and the most kid-friendly in 2025 was a giant Playmobil version in Gràcia.
The game every local kid knows is spotting the caganer, a little peasant figure squatting with his pants down, hidden somewhere in almost every Catalan nativity. In the Cathedral cloister, kids also count the 13 white geese that live there. Living nativities, with neighbors in costume acting out the scenes, add a few more in December.
Besides the big parade downtown, about twenty Barcelona neighborhoods welcome the Reis, the Three Kings, with a Cavalcada of their own. The floats are smaller and often homemade, many of the patges (royal helpers) are neighbors, and some areas add their own twist: the Kings arrive by train in Sant Andreu, and Gràcia has a parade of Carteres Reials, royal mail carriers.
For little kids these are often the better pick. Routes are short, crowds are thinner, and there is a good chance of a wave from a king and a handful of sweets without a long wait.
Every Christmas the garden around Torre Lluc, an old country house in Gavà, fills with a free walk-through world of lights. For years it was the Bosc Encantat, an enchanted forest of glowing figures. In 2025 it became the Jardí dels Somnis, the Garden of Dreams, with fairy-tale sets, interactive installations and Gavà's storybook heralds, l'Herald and l'Heraldina, pulling kids into games.
For 2026 the town has announced a new set inspired by the old enchanted forest. The 2025 garden also had quiet sessions with softer sound and light for children who find noise and crowds hard.
Terra Ibèrica Festival transforms the Iberian Citadel into a four-day historical reenactment event featuring workshops in Iberian writing and pottery, theatrical night visits, sling-throwing activities, and participatory reconstruction challenges. The 2026 edition centers on the 2024 DANA meteorological disaster, with performers and archaeologists recreating how ancient inhabitants would have responded to the catastrophe. Morning, afternoon, and evening activities include historical reenactments about trade and daily life, costume photo opportunities, and adult-focused vermut gatherings.
In Catalonia, children write their Christmas wish lists to the Three Kings, the Reis, who bring presents on the night of January 5. In the days before, the Kings send their royal pages, the patges reials, to collect the letters, and handing one over in person is a big moment for small kids.
At the Railway Museum of Catalonia, a royal page sets up among real steam locomotives in an old engine shed, so the letter drop comes with a morning of exploring historic trains. At Christmas there is also a virtual reality ride inside a vintage Talgo train, from Santa's workshop to the Kings' journey.
The shows, festivals, workshops and open-air events running this Saturday and Sunday, refreshed every week so the list is always the coming weekend.
An exhibition exploring time through its origins, measurement systems, and how humans perceive it. The Centre Martorell d'Exposicions presents interactive displays and reflective installations designed for visitors of all ages to engage with concepts of temporal experience and scientific timekeeping.
Dinner with Stars combines a multi-course meal with astronomical observation at the Fabra Observatory. Diners enjoy an astronomy-themed dinner on the terrace at dusk, followed by a guided visit through the modernist hall and museum, then telescope observation of constellations, stars, and planets using the 1904 telescope, one of Europe's largest still in operation.
Cirque du Soleil's KURIOS presents acrobatics, live music, and visual theater under the Big Top. The production follows an inventor who discovers an invisible world of impossible machines, mechanical objects, and eccentric characters. The show blends contemporary circus with steampunk aesthetics, featuring precision acrobatics, elaborate costumes, and scenes designed to challenge perception.
Peter Parker is an adult now, alone, having wiped himself from the memories of everyone he loved to keep them safe. He fights crime in a New York that no longer knows his name, and the strain triggers a physical change that puts him in danger. Destin Daniel Cretton directs, with Tom Holland and Zendaya back alongside Mark Ruffalo. At two and a half hours and a darker turn, this is the one for older kids.
Wile E. Coyote has been flattened by ACME gadgets for decades, so he hires an equally unlucky lawyer and takes the company to court. It turns personal when the lawyer finds his intimidating old boss running ACME. Dave Green directs, putting the cartoon Coyote alongside Will Forte, John Cena and Lana Condor. The slapstick timing lands best in the original English, and parents who grew up on the Road Runner laugh as much as the kids.
PortAventura Park, about 1h15 south of Barcelona by car or train, runs its Halloween season from September 19 to November 15. The side for younger kids is gentle: Sesame Street shows, Truco o Trato (a walk-through with friendly ghosts that ends in candy), a soap-bubble show and an evening lake show with fire and fountains.
Park tickets for two adults and two kids aged 4 to 10 start around €190, before any haunted passages, so it works best as a full day.
On their last night together, best friends Jo and Raissa find a portal to Nakali, an island full of creatures from Philippine mythology. Getting home means facing the fearsome Manananggal, and the way back will cost them their shared memories. Joel Crawford, who made Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, directs with Januel Mercado, with Dave Franco, Jenny Slate and Manny Jacinto among the voices. A DreamWorks friendship adventure in the original English, best for kids 7 and up.
Pinocchio, now grown up, invites audiences into his workshop to recount his adventures as a puppet. This family show combines hand puppets, marionettes, and Chinese shadow theater on a single stage, adapting Carlo Collodi's classic tale in the writer's bicentennial year, narrated directly by the protagonist, with original music by Octavi Rumbau.
Thirteenth edition, and it has moved indoors: Pavilion 4 at Fira Gran Via, enclosed and climate controlled, so rain is not a factor. Long shared tables, a stage, Paulaner on tap, and a food line running from bratwurst to pork knuckle, pretzels and strudel.
On kids, the organizers say everyone is invited and minors can enter accompanied by a parent or guardian. Strollers are fine. That is admission, not a children's program. Treat it as a big loud hall you are bringing kids into, not an event built for them.
So the slot matters. Saturday and Sunday open at 12:00pm, entry is free, and the early hours are food, oompah and room to move. From 5:00pm on Friday and Saturday there is a €5 door charge that under 18s do not pay, and the hall becomes what you would expect of a beer tent at night.
Tables seat 4 to 8 and book free on the official site, which is the move if a group of you is going.
The Barceloneta neighborhood festival runs with traditional sardanes dancing, havaneres singing on the beach, a parade led by local giants Pep Barceló and Maria la Néta, and the signature cannon parade that fires sweets to the crowd. A correfoc with fire-flaring diables and decorated streets round out a program honoring Sant Miquel on 29 September, with a distinctly local, seaside atmosphere rooted in the neighborhood's fishing and seafaring heritage.
Petits Camaleons is a family music festival in Sant Cugat del Vallès designed around children as the audience. Concerts are shorter, volume levels are adapted for younger ears, and most of the program happens in daytime hours across nearby stages. The 2026 edition runs October 1-4, with an inaugural Els Amics de les Arts concert on Thursday and a weekend program of Catalan and Spanish artists, baby concerts, signings, and family-friendly festival spaces.
Festa Major de Sarrià honors the Virgin of the Rosary with decorated façades, giants parades, human towers, and sardanes across October 2–12. The program includes the Correfoc, a pyrotechnic spectacle where devils parade through streets with fire effects, alongside traditional Catalan performances and street activities rooted in neighborhood traditions.
Sarrià's festa comes with its own funfair: bumper cars, trampolines, a roller coaster small kids can ride, game booths and food stalls. No Ferris wheel.
Find it on Via Augusta at Porta de Sarrià, by the tall steel gate sculpture, two minutes from Plaça de Sarrià. Walking in is free and you pay per ride.
It opens after school on weekdays, twice a day on weekends, and until midnight on Saturdays and the two festa Fridays. The rides stay until October 18, six days after the festa ends.
A learning activation space at CaixaForum featuring reference books, games, and experimental materials for discovering architecture. An educator supports visitors as they explore, play, and learn through hands-on resources. The activity is part of Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture programming.
Viu Montjuïc opens the whole hill for a free weekend of about 90 activities: open doors at museums, guided visits, workshops, concerts, dance and sport. Twelve are made for families, including the hands-on Arqueolab at the archaeology museum (ages 2 and up), a clue hunt in the botanical garden, building games at CaixaForum and family games at Montjuïc Castle. Most are drop-in with no sign-up. Saturday runs 09:30 to 23:00 and Sunday 09:30 to 22:00.
Every autumn the old amusement park on top of Tibidabo, the tallest hill over Barcelona, dresses up for Halloween. The moment kids remember is nightfall, when a new zombie show called The Last Dance (L'Últim Ball) takes over the Plaça dels Somnis, with a dance number that nods to the King of Pop.
Between rides, younger kids can look for the park mascots Ti, Bi, Da and Bo in their Halloween outfits, and costumed characters wander the paths around the park.
Catalunya en Miniatura is an outdoor park in Torrelles de Llobregat, about 25 minutes by car from Barcelona, filled with scale models of the Sagrada Família, Montserrat and other Catalan landmarks. Every weekend from October 3 to November 1 it dresses up for Halloween, and costumed characters hide around the models to give families a small scare. The frights are mild, which makes it a good pick for younger kids who find bigger Halloween events too much.
Without a car, Rodalies sells a combined ticket that covers the train, a short bus ride and park entry.
A dance show for families inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's classic tale. Choreographer Núria Serra uses movement, music, and objects to explore themes of friendship, curiosity, and discovery across imagined planets. The performance runs 55 minutes and is performed in Catalan.
The shameless, absurd, supposedly true story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became stars, lost the lot, let a pack of monsters loose, and had to reunite to clean up their own mess. Pierre Coffin directs and voices them, with Christoph Waltz and Jeff Bridges alongside. The jokes run on English delivery, so the original audio earns its keep. At 89 minutes, an easy first feature for younger kids.
The Pride Barcelona Parade features around 30 floats with music and performances traveling from Plaça Universitat to Plaça Espanya. The daytime event is designed as an all-ages spectacle with colorful floats and live entertainment. Watch from the parade route; arrive early to secure a good viewing spot and avoid the late-night parties that follow.
Since 1786, the square in front of Barcelona Cathedral has filled with Christmas stalls around the feast of Santa Llúcia on December 13. Families come to shop for their nativity scene: tiny clay figures, moss, cork mountains and little barns, plus the caganer, a crouching figure with his trousers down who hides in every Catalan nativity.
It is also where locals buy their Caga Tió, the smiling log in a red hat that kids feed all December, then beat with sticks on Christmas Eve, singing, until it "poops" out sweets. A giant Tió in front of the cathedral lets kids try it for themselves.
Experience the King of Pop like never before with top Michael Jackson impersonator SacMjj and live vocals by Dabeat, recreating iconic choreographies and greatest hits for the whole family.
Girona's old town, with its colored houses over the Onyar river and the cathedral steps above, makes a storybook setting for Christmas. The market fills the arcaded Plaça de la Independència with wooden stalls selling nativity figures, Tiós, wooden toys and torrons, the almond nougat Catalans eat at Christmas.
The ice rink is the kids' favorite: one of the biggest in Catalonia, covered, with a separate ice slide where children race down three lanes on sleds. Pair it with a walk along the old city walls and a hot chocolate in the old town for a full winter day out.
Every Christmas the Port Olímpic marina turns its waterfront into a winter play zone for families, with a handmade theme of paper, light and the sea. A 12-meter tree with handmade paper ornaments lights up the dock, and the play area fills with giant games, wooden blocks, origami and a royal page, one of the Kings' messengers who collect children's letters.
After dark, a short 3D projection tells the story of a sailor cat hunting for Christmas decorations across the city. The season ends with the Three Kings arriving by boat on January 5, before they head off to start the Sant Martí district parade.
A pessebre vivent is a living nativity scene: a whole village, or a patch of forest, turned into Bethlehem for a few winter evenings. Neighbors of every age play shepherds, angels and Roman soldiers, and around the manger there are bakers, blacksmiths and washerwomen working at old trades, lit by torches and lanterns.
Families walk the route from scene to scene in the dark, which is half the magic for kids. The dialogue is in Catalan, but the story needs no translation, and spotting the donkeys, the sheep and the baby in the manger keeps small children busy all the way around.
At Christmas, the Zoo de Barcelona in Parc de la Ciutadella adds a festive layer to a day with the animals. A 12-meter fir tree stands in the square by the Dama del Paraigua (the Lady with the Umbrella fountain), and winter photo spots are scattered along the paths.
The program leans on Catalan traditions. La Casa dels Tions shows how the Tió, the smiling log that kids feed for weeks and then tap with sticks until it "poops" out sweets, looks after the forest. Families can join a group Caga Tió, and a Christmas scavenger hunt sends kids around the zoo with clues about protecting wildlife.
For about ten days around Christmas, Plaça de Catalunya becomes an open-air theater under a huge glowing stage set. The city's Christmas festival fills the square with free street theater, circus, dance and music from morning to night.
Mornings are made for families: short visual-theater and object shows with little talking, repeated several times so there is always one about to start, and a concert to dance to at the end. Afternoons bring acrobats and jugglers, and evenings close with a big choir show.
In Catalonia the Reis, the Three Kings, bring the main presents on the night of January 5, and that evening the whole city turns out to welcome them. Melcior, Gaspar and Baltasar sail into the old port, then ride across the center on giant lit-up floats with dancers, stilt walkers, live music and a crowd of patges, their royal helpers.
Kids love the sweets thrown from the floats, waving at their favorite king and spotting Page Estel with her star. Royal mail carriers collect last-minute letters along the way, and bedtime comes early that night, since the presents arrive while children sleep.
Since 1877, Barcelona families have come here to shop for Reis. In Catalonia the big present day is January 6, when the Three Kings (Reis) leave gifts overnight, and this fair is named after them. Two long rows of stalls line Gran Via, selling toys, sweets, decorations and small gifts.
For kids it is a chance to pick out a little something of their own, or to spot what might end up in the Kings' sacks. Look for carbó, black sugar candy made to look like coal, which the Kings jokingly leave for naughty children, and for stalls frying fresh xurros to dunk in thick hot chocolate.
This is a concert, not a ballet. An orchestra plays the best-known parts of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, like the march, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Waltz of the Flowers, while a narrator tells the story of Clara and her toy soldier. At the same time a sand artist draws the story live on a lit table, projected on a big screen, and each picture melts into the next.
The room is half the show. The Palau de la Música is a modernista concert hall covered in colored glass and mosaics, and kids tend to spend as much time looking up at the ceiling as at the stage.
Every winter since 1996 the Ateneu Popular 9 Barris has made a brand new circus show and run it through the Christmas holidays. The Ateneu is a neighborhood arts center in an old asphalt plant in Nou Barris, taken over by local residents in 1977, and each year a different Catalan circus director is invited to create the show, so it is never the same twice.
This is contemporary circus: no big top or ringmaster, just five or six artists on a theater stage doing rope, acrobatics, balancing and clowning, woven together with live music and a loose story. It has a loyal local following, and the shows often go on tour afterward.
The Tió, or Caga Tió, is the Catalan Christmas log: a little log with a painted smiling face, a red barretina hat and a blanket to keep it warm. From early December kids feed it bits of bread and orange peel every night, and on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day they beat it with sticks while singing a song that orders it to poop out presents, then lift the blanket to find sweets underneath.
Tió fairs celebrate the tradition with stalls full of logs of every size, workshops to decorate your own, and in some villages a hunt through the woods to find one to take home.
In Catalonia many kids write their wish list to the Reis, the Three Kings. They pick a favorite, Melcior, Gaspar or Baltasar, and in the days before January 5 hand the letter in person to a patge reial, one of the royal pages, or to a royal mail carrier, often with a quick chat about how good they have been all year.
The pages set up in markets, squares and little royal tents all over the city. Tradition says naughty kids find a lump of carbó, coal, with their presents, these days usually a sugary version from the bakery.
In Barcelona the big gift night is not Christmas Eve but January 5, when the Three Kings, els Reis, arrive by boat and parade through the city, and kids wake up to presents on the 6th. Santa, called Pare Noel here, has become a second gift-bringer for many families, so December brings chances to meet both.
The custom is to hand over a letter in person: to Santa before Christmas, then to one of the Kings or their royal pages, the patges. Some malls also bring out a giant Caga Tió, the smiling Christmas log that kids hit with sticks until it "poops" sweets.
Catalan kids grow up with a New Year's riddle: on December 31 you can meet the Home dels Nassos, the man with as many noses as there are days left in the year. The joke is that on the last day he has only one, like everybody else.
In Barcelona he is a real character: a big-headed capgròs figure who comes out on the morning of December 31 with musicians and other festival figures, parades through the streets and hands over a magic key to open the new year. The city center, Gràcia and Poblenou each have their own.
Els Llums de Sant Pau (The Lights of Sant Pau) is a night walk through the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, a former hospital built over a century ago as a garden city of tiled domes and red-brick pavilions. At Christmas, its gardens and courtyards light up with a trail of glowing installations.
Kids follow Llumi, a star who has fallen from the sky, through a string of interactive stops to touch, play with and explore. A favorite is the royal camp of King Balthazar, one of the Three Kings (Reis) who bring gifts on January 6, and Somni Borealis recreates the glow of the northern lights.
The Festival de la Infància (Children's Festival) has been a Barcelona holiday tradition since 1963. In the days between Christmas and New Year, the giant halls of the Montjuïc fairgrounds turn into an indoor playground of more than 60 play areas, with games, sports, craft workshops and stage shows.
Kids roam freely from zone to zone, and most activities need little language to join in. The Espai Mini is a gentler space for kids up to 4, while the Espai Aventura saves the bigger challenges for ages 4 to 12. On December 31, the whole festival counts down to New Year at noon, early enough for the little ones.
Every Christmas a big top goes up on the Moll de la Fusta, the waterfront promenade at the bottom of the Rambla, and the Raluys, a Catalan circus family, put on a new show. Think trapeze, aerial silks, acrobats flying off a seesaw, contortionists, a clown and live music, close enough to see the performers' faces.
There are no animal acts and very little talking, so it works for kids in any language. It is old-style circus with sequins and a ringmaster, the kind of show that holds a four-year-old and a grandparent equally.
Every year in late November, Barcelona switches on its Christmas lights with a free show on Passeig de Gràcia, and the streets stay lit every evening until Reis, the Three Kings' day. The big designs change every year, picked through a design competition, so the walk looks different each winter.
Kids tend to love the moving pieces most: the video projection that turns City Hall and the Generalitat into a giant Christmas card on Plaça de Sant Jaume, the short light and music show on Gaudí's Casa Batlló, and, in 2025, a giant inflatable tortell, the Kings' ring cake, inside the Design Museum.
Barcelona has no frozen ponds, so skating here means the rinks that pop up for Christmas, usually from late November to early January. The biggest is on the outdoor parking lot at Westfield La Maquinista, the largest real-ice rink in the city, with a Christmas market and a giant slide next to it. Smaller ones appear in the gardens behind L'Illa Diagonal, among the Christmas stalls at Port Vell and up at the Tibidabo amusement park.
Some rinks are real ice and some are synthetic panels, which feel slower underfoot. For skating any time of year, FC Barcelona's new rink in Les Corts has public sessions.
Tibidabo, the old amusement park on the tallest hill over Barcelona, gets a full Christmas makeover each winter. A giant tree greets families at the entrance, the Merlí free-fall tower lights up as a Christmas star, and a skating rink with views over the city takes over the Plaça dels Somnis.
Younger kids can catch a Christmas puppet show at the TibiMarionetarium and bump into roaming elves and the park mascots. In the days before Christmas, Santa comes to visit, and after New Year the royal pages (patges) arrive, the Three Kings' helpers who collect children's letters.
Catalunya en Miniatura is an outdoor park in Torrelles de Llobregat filled with small-scale models of the Sagrada Família, Montserrat and dozens of other Catalan landmarks, and at Christmas its little towns are dressed in lights and decorations. Santa rides the park's small train with the kids and collects their letters, and a giant Tió waits to be hit with sticks.
On site, El Palau del Nadal is a short indoor theater walk through a heated hall, where six fantasy characters guide small groups through a Christmas story. It is gentle and up close, which suits toddlers and preschoolers well.
This fair began in 1962, when the Santa Llúcia fair by the cathedral ran out of room and a group of artisans set up beside Gaudí's basilica instead. About a hundred wooden stalls now ring the square in front of the Passion facade.
For kids, the fun is spotting the things Catalan homes fill up with in December: rows of Caga Tió logs with painted faces, tiny caganer figures for the nativity scene, and Christmas trees piled high, all under the basilica's towers. Stalls frying churros keep everyone going.
Alella Green Tech runs this on its Can Picard farm, half an hour up the coast from Barcelona. The patch sits on an open hillside, so kids walk out among the vines and the pumpkins, pick one and cut it themselves, then carve it at the long wooden tables. There is wood-fired pizza at the lounge and a lawn to sit on for the afternoon.
Two things run side by side. The party days are the big version, from lunchtime until late, with the whole hillside busy. On quiet days in late October the patch is open for picking and carving, with a cheaper pass. Everything is booked online ahead of time and there are no tickets at the gate. The 2026 dates are not posted yet. Last year the parties were the two Saturdays either side of Halloween.
Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is the Mexican holiday on November 1 and 2 when families remember relatives who have died, with flower-covered altars, candles and sugar skulls. It is a celebration of memory, not a scary night. Its best-known figure is the catrina, an elegant skeleton lady in a big flowered hat, first drawn by the Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada.
In Barcelona, the Mexican cultural association MEXCAT marks the day with a parade of catrinas down La Rambla toward the sea. Dozens of people in full skeleton face paint, long gowns and flower crowns walk together, and the painted faces are worth seeing up close.
Travel back to ancient Egypt and discover the surprising scents of daily life and mummification—then smell them yourself in this sensory museum adventure.
Every Christmas, Poble Espanyol, the open-air village on Montjuïc built from copies of streets and squares from all over Spain, turns into Natalis. Thousands of lights go up, and the lanes split into six themed worlds: an elves' workshop, a candy land run by a pastry chef, a wizard's corner full of riddles, and a street of Christmas traditions from around the world.
Kids meet characters, watch roaming shows and make crafts along the way. Before Christmas Eve they can hand a letter to Santa, and after that the letters go to the Three Kings (Reis), who bring gifts in Spain on the night of January 5.
Around Christmas, Barcelona fills with pessebres, the Catalan nativity scenes: whole miniature villages of moss, rivers, mills and shepherds built around the manger. City Hall, the Cathedral, markets and neighborhood clubs each build one, and the most kid-friendly in 2025 was a giant Playmobil version in Gràcia.
The game every local kid knows is spotting the caganer, a little peasant figure squatting with his pants down, hidden somewhere in almost every Catalan nativity. In the Cathedral cloister, kids also count the 13 white geese that live there. Living nativities, with neighbors in costume acting out the scenes, add a few more in December.
Besides the big parade downtown, about twenty Barcelona neighborhoods welcome the Reis, the Three Kings, with a Cavalcada of their own. The floats are smaller and often homemade, many of the patges (royal helpers) are neighbors, and some areas add their own twist: the Kings arrive by train in Sant Andreu, and Gràcia has a parade of Carteres Reials, royal mail carriers.
For little kids these are often the better pick. Routes are short, crowds are thinner, and there is a good chance of a wave from a king and a handful of sweets without a long wait.
Every Christmas the garden around Torre Lluc, an old country house in Gavà, fills with a free walk-through world of lights. For years it was the Bosc Encantat, an enchanted forest of glowing figures. In 2025 it became the Jardí dels Somnis, the Garden of Dreams, with fairy-tale sets, interactive installations and Gavà's storybook heralds, l'Herald and l'Heraldina, pulling kids into games.
For 2026 the town has announced a new set inspired by the old enchanted forest. The 2025 garden also had quiet sessions with softer sound and light for children who find noise and crowds hard.
Terra Ibèrica Festival transforms the Iberian Citadel into a four-day historical reenactment event featuring workshops in Iberian writing and pottery, theatrical night visits, sling-throwing activities, and participatory reconstruction challenges. The 2026 edition centers on the 2024 DANA meteorological disaster, with performers and archaeologists recreating how ancient inhabitants would have responded to the catastrophe. Morning, afternoon, and evening activities include historical reenactments about trade and daily life, costume photo opportunities, and adult-focused vermut gatherings.
In Catalonia, children write their Christmas wish lists to the Three Kings, the Reis, who bring presents on the night of January 5. In the days before, the Kings send their royal pages, the patges reials, to collect the letters, and handing one over in person is a big moment for small kids.
At the Railway Museum of Catalonia, a royal page sets up among real steam locomotives in an old engine shed, so the letter drop comes with a morning of exploring historic trains. At Christmas there is also a virtual reality ride inside a vintage Talgo train, from Santa's workshop to the Kings' journey.