By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Where
- Plaça de Sant Jaume and the Gothic Quarter
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- February
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
The feast day, Friday 12 February 2027, is fixed. The days around it are set by the Ajuntament each year: 7 to 12 February in 2025, Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 February in 2026, both including the feast. The 2027 programme is published on barcelona.cat a week or two before; this card is updated with it. In 2027 Carnaval ends on Wednesday 10 February, so the two festivals no longer overlap as they did in 2026.
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Santa Eulàlia is the city’s winter festa major, smaller than La Mercè and pitched at children: giant figures through the Gothic Quarter, a fire run of devils from Plaça Reial to Plaça de Sant Jaume, human towers on the Sunday and a day of open doors at the museums. Everything is free. The programme comes out only a week or two ahead, so book around the feast day and its nearest weekend and fill in the details later.
What the Santa Eulàlia Festival actually is
Eulàlia is Barcelona’s older patron saint, a girl of thirteen martyred under the Romans, by tradition, and buried in the crypt of the cathedral that carries her name. Barcelonans call her Laia. The festival in her honour is a few days of the city’s traditional street culture, gegants, bestiari, correfocs, castells and sardanes, gathered around her feast and performed by the neighbourhood groups that keep them alive.
Barcelona holds this one for itself. The Ajuntament says it puts children and young people at the centre, and you see it: the gegantes are the Laies, girl giants named after the saint; there is a children’s fire run before the adult one; and school giants parade on the Saturday morning. Visitors are welcome at all of it, but nothing is staged for them, which is most of the appeal.
It is also compact. Almost everything happens in the Gothic Quarter, within ten minutes’ walk of Plaça de Sant Jaume, where the City Hall and the Palau de la Generalitat face each other. The feast day is a working day in Barcelona, so offices and shops keep their normal hours.
What to see, and where
- The Laies’ walk, on the opening evening. The girl giants leave the Palau de la Virreina on the Rambla, stop on the Baixada de Santa Eulàlia to lay flowers before the saint’s chapel and dance the Ball de Santa Eulàlia, and finish in Plaça de Sant Jaume, where fireworks close the night.
- The correfoc, on the Saturday evening. Devils with fireworks on pitchforks run from Plaça Reial along Carrer de Colom, the Rambla and Carrer de Ferran to Plaça de Sant Jaume, about three quarters of an hour from start to finish, with a fire show at the end. The children’s correfoc covers the same streets in reverse earlier in the evening, with smaller devils and smaller sparks.
- The giants and the towers, on the Sunday. The Trobada de Gegants gathers on Avinguda de la Catedral in the morning, and the Seguici, the saint’s procession of giants, beasts and dancers, winds through the old town to Plaça de Sant Jaume around lunchtime. The city’s castellers build their towers in the same square that morning, in the diada that opens Barcelona’s human-tower season.
- Behind the doors, on the feast day. Museums across the city hold open days, the Picasso, the Fundació Joan Miró and Montjuïc Castle among them, and on one day of the festival the City Hall opens its council chambers, including the Saló de Cent, along with a viewpoint over the city that is normally closed.
Tickets and what it costs
The street events need no ticket, and the museum open days and the City Hall visit are free with limited capacity. A few venues, the CCCB and Montjuïc Castle among them, have asked visitors to reserve a free slot online, so check each one on the programme before you queue.
The real cost is the hotel, and February is Barcelona’s low season, so book early and cheaply. Early is the right call anyway, because the programme that tells you which day you want arrives only shortly before.
Official information and booking: www.barcelona.cat/santaeulalia/en
Getting there
Jaume I, on Metro line 4, comes up on Via Laietana two minutes from Plaça de Sant Jaume, and Liceu on line 3 sits on the Rambla beside the Virreina and Plaça Reial. During the correfoc the streets on its route are closed to traffic and packed, so walk in from a side street rather than trying to cross the Rambla.
For the fire run, dress for sparks: cotton or denim covering your arms and legs, a hat or hood, glasses, and nothing synthetic, which melts. Stand back from the route if you want to watch rather than run, and keep children at the earlier correfoc.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Waiting for the programme to book
The city publishes the full programme only a week or two before. Book your room around the feast day and its nearest weekend, which is where the festival has fallen in recent years, and plan the evenings once it appears.
Wearing a synthetic jacket to the correfoc
Sparks land on everyone near the route, and nylon and fleece melt where cotton only marks. Wear old cotton with a hood or a cap, or watch from well back.
Assuming it shares Carnaval’s dates
Carnaval follows Easter and Santa Eulàlia does not, so some years they share a weekend and some years they are a week apart. Check both before choosing your dates if you want one or both.
Queuing for a museum that wanted a booking
Many open days are walk-in, but a few venues ask for a reserved free slot and fill them. Look at each listing in the programme and book the ones that ask.
Other Barcelona events
Frequently asked questions
When is the Santa Eulàlia festival in Barcelona?
Around the saint’s feast day, which is fixed, with the festival days set by the city each year and including the feast. The programme is published on barcelona.cat a week or two before; the dates card above shows the next feast day.
Is the Santa Eulàlia festival free?
Yes. The parades, the correfoc and the human towers are free street events, and the museum open days and the City Hall visit are free with limited capacity. A few museums ask you to reserve a slot.
Is the correfoc safe for children?
The festival runs a children’s correfoc earlier in the evening for exactly that reason, with smaller devils and smaller fireworks. For either one, cover arms, legs and head in cotton and keep well back from the route if you only want to watch.
How is Santa Eulàlia different from La Mercè?
Both are Barcelona’s own festes majors, with the same giants, devils and towers. La Mercè in September is the big one, a public holiday with concerts across the city. Santa Eulàlia in February is smaller, centred on the Gothic Quarter and aimed at children, and the city goes to work around it.
Sources
- Ajuntament de Barcelona, Festes de Santa Eulàlia
- Ajuntament de Barcelona, festival programme
- Ajuntament de Barcelona, the correfoc route
- Ajuntament de Barcelona, the giants and the Seguici
- Ajuntament de Barcelona, museum open days
- Ajuntament de Barcelona, the City Hall open day
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.