In this section you will find an updated list of artistic, cultural, sports, and social activities that take place in Barcelona, from basic walking tours to mad pub crawls.

Here you have a summary of the classics you will find throughout the year and an updated list of the coming events in Barcelona.

Fiestas

• Barcelona celebrates 14 official holidays a year, including all the major Catholic festivals as well as New Year's Day (1 January), Labour Day (1 May) and Spanish National Day (12 October).
• There's plenty of dancing and a few fancy-dress parades during the 10-day Carnaval in February/March.
• On 23 April, the Dia de Sant Jordi, also the Day of the Book, is a local festival celebrating Catalunya's patron saint.
• The Berbena de Sant Joan (also known as La Nit del Foc, or Fire Night) kicks off midsummer celebrations on 23 June with drinking, dancing and fireworks.
• Barcelona brims with music, dance and theatre during Festival del Grec, held from late June to August, and around 15 August the Festa Major de Gràcia sees the streets of Gràcia decorated and full of dancing and music.
• The Festes de la Mercè, celebrated around 24 September, includes concerts, dancing, a swimming race across the harbour, and a correfoc (fire race). During the International Jazz Festival from late October through the end of November, the city finally cools with some jazz and blues.

Highlights

Barri Gòtic, the enchanting centre of old Barcelona, is a maze of dark streets crammed with cafes and bars in medieval buildings of awesome architecture. Most of the buildings date from the 14th and 15th centuries, when Barcelona was at the height of its commercial prosperity. A masterpiece of its medieval heritage, the Barri Gòtic's catedral, is one of Spain's greatest Gothic buildings. The quarter is centred on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, a spacious square, the site of a busy market and one of the venues for the weekly dancing of the sardana. Two of the city's most significant buildings are here, the Ajuntament and the Palau de la Generalitat.

Gràcia is home to a combination of artists and students. There are lovely parks to enjoy during the day and at night the square becomes a popular and vivacious meeting place. Plaça del Sol is a pleasant place to sit during the day, surrounded by cafes and serene 19th-century architecture.

La Pedrera was designed by Gaudí and built between 1905 and 1910 as an apartment/office block. Formerly called the Casa Milà, it's better known as La Pedrera (the quarry) because of its uneven grey stone facade that creates a wave effect, an effect further emphasized by elaborate wrought-iron balconies.

La Sagrada Família is the most ambitious work of Barcelona's most famous character, Antoni Gaudí. The magnificent spires of the unfinished cathedral are really awesome, with its lively sculptures and reminiscences of the holy Montserrat. Gaudí died in 1926 before his masterwork was completed and, since then, controversy has continually delayed the building programme. The Passion façade is almost finished by now, and the nave is scheduled to be finished some time around 2020.

La Rambla is a tree-lined pedestrian boulevard packed with buskers, mimes and itinerant salespeople selling everything from lottery tickets to jewellery. It's actually five separate streets where you will find an awesome variety of street shows, shops and cafes. There is a bird market on the second block of La Rambla, close to Palau de la Virreina, a grand 18th-century rococo mansion, with arts and entertainment information and a ticket office. Next door is La Rambla's most colourful market, the Mercat de la Boqueria. Just south of the Boqueria the Mosaïc de Miró punctuates the pavement, with one tile signed by the artist. The next section of La Rambla boasts the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the famous 19th-century opera house. The Plaça Reial is home to a variety of bars, restaurants and clubs. La Rambla terminates at the Monument a Colom and the harbour.

Montjuïc,the hill overlooking the city centre from the southwest, is home to some fine art galleries, leisure attractions, parks and the main group of 1992 Olympic sites. From Plaça Espanya and on the north side it is Plaça de Braus Les Arenes, a former bullring where the Beatles played in 1966. Behind it lies Parc Joan Miró, where stands Miró's sculpture Dona i Ocell (Woman and Bird). Nearby, the Palau Nacional houses the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which has an impressive collection of Romanesque art. Stretching up a series of terraces below the Palau Nacional are fountains, including the biggest, La Font Màgica, which comes alive with a free lights and music show on summer evenings. In the northwest of Montjuïc is the 'Spanish Village', Poble Espanyol. The Anella Olímpica (Olympic Ring) is the group of sports installations where the main events of the 1992 games were held. Down the hill, visit masterpieces of another kind in the Fundaciá Joan Mirá, Barcelona's gallery for the greatest Catalan artist of the 20th century. This is the largest single collection of his work.

Museu Picasso,Barcelona's most visited museum shows numerous works tracing the artist's early years and is especially strong on his Blue Period, with canvases like The Defenceless, as well as ceramics and early works from the 1890s. The rest of the museum traces Picasso's life and travels. The stunning stone mansions that house the museum are situated on the Carrer de Montcada, which was, in medieval times, an approach to the port.

Monestir de Montserrat,50km (31mi) northwest of Barcelona, has ruined hermitage caves and a monastery. The Monestir de Montserrat was founded in 1025 to commemorate visions of the Virgin Mary. Today it houses a community of about 80 monks, and pilgrims come to venerate La Moreneta (the Black Virgin), a 12th-century Romanesque wooden sculpture of Mary with the baby Jesus. La Moreneta has been Catalunya's official patron since 1881. The most dramatic approach to Montserrat is by cable car, which arrives just below the monastery.

Parc Güell is where Gaudí turned his hand to landscaping, with spectacular results. The park is laid out on a hill with fantastic views of the city. Huge ceramic benches, giant decorative lizards, ceramic mosaics and pavilions of contorted stone all combine into a brilliant swirl of the imagination. In the park grounds, the Sala Hipóstila is a forest of 84 stone columns, originally intended as a market. Above it is a broad open space whose centrepiece is the Banc de Trenadis, a tiled bench curving sinuously around its perimeter. The spired house to its right is the Casa Museu Gaudí, where Gaudí lived for most of his last 20 years.

Tibidabo is the highest hill in around Barcelona from where you can get awesome views of the city on clear days. Here you will find the Parc d'Atraccions and the Temple del Sagrat Cor. Above Tibidabo's funicular station there are two churches, one on top of the other. The top one is surmounted by a giant Christ and has a lift to the roof.