We are ending a cruise in Barcelona on Sept 19 and thinking of staying through the Fiesta de Merce. The schedule doesn't seem to be out yet, at least not in English. I know the 24th is a national holiday. Will the festival continue through Monday, the 24th this year?

Also, I'd appreciate suggestions about the Fiesta, Barcelona in general, as well as places to stay that would be close to the fiesta activities without being crazy-wild.

Thanks!

The 24th is the actual holiday with the major activities like the fire dragons etc.
But the days before are already filled with all kind of celebrations, music concerts etc.
One major attraction is the animated light projection with music on a building. You have to see to believe.
The program should be out by August so you will then see where things will happen.

It helps if you stay in walking distance but apart from Via Laietana and the neighboring streets (where it will be really crowded) you don't get much chaos 500meters left and right in the Old Town. The Born district will be quite busy then. But if you stayed around Pl Catalunya or closer to the Rambles than Via Laietana in the Old Town it would also be relatively quiet.

A pleasant event is also the Wine Fair at the harbor promenade (Moll de Fuste). You buy your glass there and an amount of coupons to sample from dozens of wineries from Catalunya. Very, very good wines for very reasonable money. Try to get there a bit early, late afternoon, to avoid the long queues in front of the central booths for buying the glass and vouchers later in the evenings.

Thank you! This sounds like a lot of fun!

We've been in Barcelona twice for La Merce - it's a great time. The closing ceremony at the Magic Fountain is really special, as are so many other events like the castellers and the fire run. The web site doesn't usually get updated until pretty close to the event. I'd guess those will take place Saturday or Sunday. There are stages for music and dance performances all around town.

It will be busy everywhere that time of year, not just because of the festival. Most events end by 11 p.m. and the Metro will have late hours, so you can stay most anywhere.

We've stayed here, which is an active area but very convenient: http://tinyurl.com/7ojtdln

Cowboy - you mentioned a wine festival - is this just one day of the Fiesta de Merce?
We are in Spain around this time but had planned to bypass this festival in favour of the wine festival in Logrono (happening from 15th - 23rd. Not sure if this is a wise move however we are travelling with young children and not sure the Barcelona festival will be suited to them (2 and 4 yr olds).

Hi dea,

>we are travelling with young children and not sure the Barcelona festival will be suited to them ...<

Here is last year's program.
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...in-english.pdf

The kids should love the parade with the gigantes.

Deassube... The wine festival lasted more than one day, but I can't really remember if it was for a weekend or even longer.
I'm not sure if I wanted to make a detour to visit it, though. It's more a very nice add-on if you were in Barcelona anyway. But not that spectacular that you should plan anything around it.
IMO, your kids may be still young to enjoy the nightly festivities, and the dragons (even the smaller ones that run for kids) may be still too frightening. The city will be quite busy at many places, so I don't know if it's a good time to visit with very small kids.

Thanks everyone. Cowboy - I had the same view as you that my kids are too small to stay up that late to enjoy the nightly events. We will stick with the Logrono festival. Can't be in two places!