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Festa Major de Verdun 2026: dates and what to expect

Last updated 12 August 2026

Joandrés / CC BY-SA

The Festa Major de Verdun 2026 runs from Monday 14 September to Sunday 20 September. A residents' association festa in Nou Barris, with havaneres and rom cremat, and a correfoc on the final day that ends with a traca in the plaça de Francesc Layret.

What it is

Verdun, Barcelona
Barri de Verdum vist des de la Carretera Alta de Roquetes. joan ggk / CC BY

Verdun sits in Nou Barris, between la Guineueta, la Prosperitat and les Roquetes. It was built through the 1950s to absorb the enormous wave of migration arriving in Barcelona, and it was built fast. A lot of the flats were small and poorly made, and the neighbourhood has spent the decades since being rebuilt around its residents rather than replaced: the council has run a long programme of refurbishment and put in the services and public spaces that were never there to begin with.

That history matters to the festa, because the festa is organised by the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes de Verdum, and residents' associations in Nou Barris are not a decorative institution. They are the bodies that got the neighbourhood built properly, and running the festa is part of the same job.

What is on

The programme is deliberately wide: sports tournaments, a havaneres concert, concerts and festa major dances, popular meals, and workshops and games for children. The stated aim is to get the whole barri out, which is a different objective from putting on a spectacle.

The havaneres are worth singling out. Havaneres are Catalan sea songs, and here they come with a tasting of the drink that goes with them, rom cremat, rum burned off with sugar, coffee beans, lemon and cinnamon. It is one of the more sociable fixtures on the festa calendar.

The correfoc that ends it

The Grup de Foc de Nou Barris runs the correfoc on the final day, and it follows a set order. It opens with a tabalada, the massed drum parade. Then the diables take the main squares and streets of the barri. Then a large traca in the plaça de Francesc Layret closes the festa until the following year.

Why this one is worth the trip

Because Nou Barris is the part of Barcelona that visitors never see and residents defend hardest, and its festes are among the least self-conscious in the city. There is nothing here arranged for an outside audience. If you want to understand how Barcelona actually works north of the Ronda, a festa major in Verdun is a better education than most museums.

Where it is

Verdun was built through the 1950s to absorb the great wave of migration into Barcelona, and rebuilt since by the residents who organised for it. The same association runs the festa.

Open in OpenStreetMap

Metro: Llucmajor (L4), Virrei Amat (L5).

In 33 days. The Festa Major de Verdun opens on Monday 14 September and runs to Sunday 20 September.

The programme, day by day

The full programme is not published yet. The Festa Major de Verdun programme is set by the street commissions and released by the organisers a few weeks before the festa, and it reaches the city's open event feed only after that. As of 12 August 2026 it had not.

Rather than guess the times from last year, this page lists only what is confirmed for 2026. The day-by-day listing appears here automatically once the programme lands, the same feed that powers our What's On in Barcelona pages.

What the city's feed already carries for this festa: Taller 'Guarniments per la Festa Major" (7 September, 09:00).

Practical

Getting there. Metro Llucmajor on L4 and Virrei Amat on L5 both put you within walking distance, and the barri is compact once you are in it. It is a long ride out from the centre, so allow for that and check the last metro back if you are staying for the correfoc.

What it costs. Nothing for the street programme, the concerts or the correfoc. The popular meals charge and usually need signing up for in advance.

Correfoc rules, as everywhere. Cotton clothing with long sleeves, closed shoes, a hat if you have one, and keep your mouth closed. It runs on the final day and finishes with a large traca in the plaça de Francesc Layret, which is loud even by the standards of these things.

Try the rom cremat. It goes with the havaneres and it is the point of that particular fixture. It is also strong.

Expect Catalan and Spanish, and little else. Nou Barris has no tourist infrastructure and the festa is written entirely for the people who live there. That is the appeal, and it also means nothing will be translated for you.

Look at the barri while you are there. Verdun is a case study in what post-war housing looked like when it went up in a hurry and what fifty years of residents organising can do to it afterwards. The parks and public spaces were fought for, one at a time.

Where to check the programme

Programmes are published late and change. These are the sources we track, and we re-check them twice a day.

The rest of the calendar

Still to come in 2026

Already held this year

The complete festa majors guide has the full 2026 calendar, and What's On in Barcelona covers everything else in the city this week.

Event data: Barcelona City Council (Open Data BCN, CC BY 4.0) and Generalitat de Catalunya (Departament de Cultura), with festival dates confirmed against the organisers. Listings are checked for live, relevant links. Last updated 12 August 2026.

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