When is the La Mercè 2026?

La Mercè 2026 runs from Wednesday 23 September to Sunday 27 September 2026, according to the official La Mercè site (barcelona.cat/lamerce) + betevé + council open data. Confirmed fixtures so far: Cursa de la Mercè, Sunday 20 September; Pregó, Wednesday 23 September; Shanghai, guest city, Throughout the festa; Piromusical, Sunday 27 September, 22:00.

Almost entirely. The concerts, street arts, parades, castellers, correfoc and the closing fireworks are all free and need no ticket. The exceptions are a small number of ticketed or sign-up items, the Cursa de la Merce among them, and indoor venues that have to cap numbers.

Which city is the guest city at La Merce 2026?

Shanghai. It is the first Asian city invited to La Merce, and the invitation marks twenty-five years of twinning between Shanghai and Barcelona. More than a hundred artists are involved, from Shanghai and from Barcelona's Chinese community.

What is the piromusical?

The festival's closing fireworks show, set to music, will relocate in 2026 to Bogatell beach on Sunday 27 September at 22:00, owing to construction at the Fira de Montjuic. It is usually held above the Font Magica, with spectators gathered along the Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina. No other event in Barcelona attracts a larger audience, and leaving the area afterwards takes far longer than arriving.

What is the difference between La Merce and a festa major?

None in kind, only in scale. La Merce is Barcelona's festa major, the whole city's, while the roughly ninety other festes majors each belong to one neighbourhood. The ingredients are the same: gegants, castellers, correfoc, sardanes, free concerts and fireworks.

La Mercè 2026: dates, programme and what to expect

Last updated 12 September 2026

Devils and drummers send sparks flying above the crowd during the La Mercè correfoc on Passeig de Gràcia.

Aniol / CC0

La Mercè 2026 runs from Wednesday 23 September to Sunday 27 September. The pregó that opens it is on Wednesday 23 September. Barcelona's own festa major and the biggest thing in the city's year: several hundred events over five days, most of them free and outdoors, from castellers and correfoc to the BAM and Música Mercè concert programmes. Shanghai is the 2026 guest city.

What it is

Castellers build a human tower in Plaça de Sant Jaume during La Mercè.

La Mercè is Barcelona's festa major: not a neighbourhood's festival but the whole city's. It runs for five days around 24 September, the feast of the Mare de Déu de la Mercè, patron saint of the city. The council describes it as a festival of festivals, and that is the most useful way to think about it: several separate programmes running at once under one name, with something in the region of five hundred activities between them, nearly all of them free and outdoors.

The patronage dates from 1687, when Barcelona suffered a plague of locusts, put itself in the Virgin's hands and, once the plague lifted, had the city council name her its patron. Rome took two centuries to ratify it, in 1868. The first civic festa followed in 1871, and the version that set the pattern for festa majors across Catalonia was the one held in 1902. What you get now is the traditional Catalan repertoire done at full scale, plus a music festival, plus a street-arts festival, plus an open-doors day across the city's museums.

The full schedule is available via the council's English-language La Mercè page, the list of performers can be found on the Música Mercè section, and betevé's events guide tracks all updates as they happen.

The programmes inside it

Cultura popular. The traditional core, and the reason to come if you only come once. Castellers building human towers in Plaça de Sant Jaume, gegants and capgrossos parading, sardanes, the bèsties de foc, and the correfoc, which at La Mercè's scale is a serious piece of street theatre rather than a neighbourhood run.

Mercè Arts de Carrer, known as MAC. Street arts across the Parc de la Ciutadella and other open spaces: circus, acrobatics, large-scale outdoor theatre. Free, and the easiest part of the festival to take children to.

BAM and Música Mercè. The music. BAM is the city's independent and alternative showcase; Música Mercè is the broader free concert programme. Between them they put on well over a hundred concerts across several sites, with artists from around thirty countries in the 2026 edition.

The guest city. Each year the festival invites a city and gives it a strand of the programme. For 2026 it is Shanghai, marking twenty-five years of twinning between the two cities and the first time an Asian city has been invited. More than a hundred artists are involved, from Shanghai itself and from Barcelona's own Chinese community.

The piromusical

The festival ends with the piromusical, a display of fireworks set to music. In 2026 the event relocates to Bogatell beach, taking place on Sunday 27 September at 22:00, after construction work at the Fira de Montjuïc forced it away from its customary spot above the Font Màgica, where spectators gathered on the Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina below Plaça d’Espanya. It continues to draw the largest crowd of any occasion in the Barcelona calendar.

The entire coastline offers a vantage point, a notable shift from the congestion that once marked Plaça d’Espanya. Still, arrive well ahead of time, be prepared for the metro to be swamped once it ends, and resign yourself to walking for the opening twenty minutes of your journey home, no matter how you had planned to leave.

Where it is

La Merce is a festival of the entire city rather than a single neighbourhood celebration, so events take place across multiple venues simultaneously: the historic centre near Placa de Sant Jaume hosts the traditional programme, the Parc de la Ciutadella and the Forum area feature the music, Montjuic accommodates the larger stages, and the beach at Bogatell, chosen for the 2026 closing fireworks due to construction work at the Fira, serves as the finale location.

Metro: Jaume I (L4) and Liceu (L3) for the old town, Espanya (L1, L3, L8) for Montjuïc, Ciutadella | Vila Olímpica (L4) for the park.

Where the festival takes place, neighbourhood by neighbourhood

La Mercè is a city-wide celebration rather than being confined to a single square. Here is how the programme is spread across the districts: the number of events in each neighbourhood and the areas where they are concentrated. The figures are drawn from the council data that feeds this page and are updated twice daily.

Barri	Events	Main venues
Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera	32	Passeig dels Til·lers
el Fort Pienc	31	Parc de l'Estació del Nord; Parc de les Glòries
el Poble-sec	30	Jardins de Joan Maragall; Avinguda Maria Cristina; Teatre Grec
Sant Andreu	25	Parc de la Trinitat; Can Fabra; Ateneu L'Harmonia
la Dreta de l'Eixample	18	La Plaça de Catalunya
el Barri Gòtic	17	Moll de la Fusta; Avinguda de la Catedral
el Besòs i el Maresme	14	Parc dels Auditoris
la Sagrada Família	12	Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm
el Guinardó	10	Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol
el Raval	9	La Rambla del Raval

For dates, refer to the day-by-day schedule below. For the complete list of times and tickets, see the official programme.

What to plan around

Festa Major

Cursa de la MercèSunday 20 SeptemberStarts on Carrer d'AragóThe 48th running of the city's 10K, three days before the festa proper opens, with a 2K inclusive race and a family race alongside it. Entry is paid and needs signing up for.

Esbart Rosa d'Abril / CC BY-SA

PregóWednesday 23 SeptemberPlaça de Sant JaumeThe opening address at this year's festa will be delivered by Antoni and Meritxell Falgueras, the father and daughter behind the Celler de Gelida, a wine shop that has been operating in Sants since 1895.

Festa Major

Shanghai, guest cityThroughout the festaAcross the programmeShanghai is the 2026 guest city, marking 25 years of twinning, and the first Asian city invited. More than a hundred artists from Shanghai and from Barcelona's Chinese community.

Perrimoon / CC BY 2.0

PiromusicalSunday 27 September, 22:00Platja del BogatellThe festa concludes with a fireworks show choreographed to music. Because of construction at the Fira de Montjuic, the 2026 display is being relocated from the Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina to Bogatell beach, where the entire waterfront offers a view instead of a single avenue.

In 11 days. La Mercè opens on Wednesday 23 September and runs to Sunday 27 September.

The programme, day by day

Every listing below comes from the council's own event feed for the festa, 221 records in total, with titles rendered into English. Times are as published by the organisers and can move on the night.