July, simply put, is usually a scorcher in Barcelona. The spring showers have passed, the summer storms of August have yet to come, so it’s blue skies and hot sands as far as the eye can see. July also is one of the busiest months of the year when it comes to festivals, both international and local, so read on the discover the exciting things that await you in Barcelona in July…
Cruilla Festival: A mix of local and big name bands
Let’s kick off with this brilliant and budget-friendly festival that takes place at Parc del Forum.
With the most expensive tickets priced at 160€ for the full four days, Cruilla Festival, which is incidentally celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2019, is also offering combo tickets which let you mix and match which days you want to attend. For example, you can purchase a two-day ticket which allows you to enter on just Wednesday and Saturday, or Wednesday and Friday and so on, as well as one-day and three-day tickets. This flexible approach ticketing means that you don’t need to buy a full ticket in order to catch the acts you’re interested in.
Known as having more commercial acts mixed with local bands, this eclectic festival has the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Lauryn Hill among its headline alumni. This year you can catch Black Eyed Peas (Wednesday 3rd July), Foals, Bastille (both on Thursday 4th July) and finally Years and Years and Kylie Minogue (Saturday 6th July). Held at Barcelona’s favourite festival spot, Parc del Forum, you will also find dance stages, comedy stages and speeches scattered around, meaning there’s always something to see.
Festival Jardins Pedralbes: Music in the Park
These beautiful gardens are not as famous as other parks in Barcelona, and they are far enough from the centre that you might not immediately want to add them to your list of must-dos if you’re only in town for a few days. However, each year for the past 7 years, the gardens have drawn big crowds for the big-name acts that perform at the Festival Jardins Pedralbes. The gardens themselves are large, lush and green, with flowers everywhere in July, which makes it the perfect summer setting for an evening of great music.
Although this festival began at the beginning of June, it carries on until mid-July with many great acts still ready and waiting to perform. June saw the likes of Carli Bruna and Mariah Carey take to the stage, but the line up definitely hasn’t trailed off towards the end! In July you can catch Joss Stone (Wednesday 3rd July), Kraftwerk (Saturday 6th July) and The Beach Boys (Friday 12th July).
This year, if you visit on Saturday 13th July, you will get two events for the price of one, as Soundeat! hosts their nighttime edition in the Pedralbes gardens. For those who can dance for hours, this is a great way to spend time in the stunning surroundings of Pedralbes while boogying the night away from 17.00h until 02.00h!
Hint! If you like the sound of Soundeat!, get your tickets sooner rather than later as the tickets increase in price the closer to the event you purchase them. This is not the case with the rest of the Festival Jardins Pedralbes.
For more tickets and information about the Pedralbes Festival, please visit their website.
Sonar Festival: Techno by day and by night
That’s right, another festival! Sonar takes place the third weekend in July with venues spread across the city. This is accompanied by OFFSonar, a bunch of awesome events which are thrown at the same time as the main event, so there’s no excuse to miss out on being a part of the action.
The cheapest tickets are for the daytime events, which are on sale for around 60€ for a full day of music fun. If you’re more of a night owl, the night tickets start from around 80€, and the full festival experience of three days and two nights will set you back 195€. If you really want to make this a special event, Sonar also has VIP Packages starting from 115€ for one night, all the way up to a pocket-burning 315€ for the full festival VIP experience. This includes access to exclusive VIP stages, bars and restaurants, as well as an exclusive VIP zone and even a free bus shuttle to the venue.
However you choose to enjoy the festival, you can see acts such as Disclosure, A$ap Rocky, Four Tet, Peggy Gou and Skepta.
Hint! Remember, in Barcelona night means night! Sonar by Night kicks off at 22.00h and goes until the early hours of the next morning, so be sure to have a siesta if you choose to attend the night festivities – unless you’re also at the day festival of course!
“Festa Majors” of Raval and Poble Sec: Sun and “cerveza” in the streets
Seasoned visitors of Barcelona will know that throughout the year, come rain or shine, each “barrio” or neighbourhood has their own designated street parties. If you’re here in July but not fussed about forking out a lot of money to visit a festival, then taking to the streets with the locals is for you. The Raval parties are in mid-July, with Poble Sec taking over the reins from the 19th to the 28th.
Stages and bars are purpose-built around the city streets. You can purchase a beer, wine or cocktail for just a few euros and park yourself in one of the streets to watch the local bands that come to play. If you get bored in the streets (unlikely, but it could happen) then you can head into one of the many bars in the neighbourhood.
What kind of music is it? Well, expect the unexpected! From cheesy cover bands to reggae beats to house music to an old man and his guitar, anything and anyone could be a headliner at these events. Attending one of these street parties is a great way to get really immersed in what summer nights in the city are all about, so get out and discover the real Barcelona.
Sala Montjuic: Movies under the stars
Finally, a seated activity! To round off our blog about dancing, drinking and get out and about comes the Sala Montjuic. Barcelona in July has the perfect weather for an outdoor cinema, and tickets are as little as 5€.
The location is little short of spectacular. Up on the hill by the sea sits the Montjuic Castle, and the cinema screen is set up in the old moat! You can bring along your own picnic and alcohol and sit on the floor, or for a comfier experience, you can rent folding chairs for just a couple of euros extra. There’s also always a musical act or other artistic production on before the movie, so you can head up the hill in the early evening to set up camp and enjoy the music and the atmosphere before the film kicks off.
The programme for this year includes everything from comedy classics such as Some Like it Hot to big hitters from this year like Bohemian Rhapsody and The Favourite. Check out their website for the full timetable.
Hint! All the movies are shown in their original language with Spanish subtitles, so be sure to check that you’re not attending a movie you won’t understand!
Book an activity with Barcelonatours to make your visit extra special! Visit our Boat Trips page to organise a nautical adventure and our Activities page to see what great options we have for fun in the sun in July.