For such a small Mediterranean town, Sitges has an extraordinary calendar of events.
Updated 29 September 2026
International cinema, Carnival, wine, flowers, vintage cars, Pride, traditional Catalan festivals, fireworks, art, music and two major international Bear gatherings: there is almost always a reason to come back.
I’m Daniela, your host and General Manager at Hotel Noucentista, and if you’re deciding when to visit Sitges, these are the dates I would have on my calendar, together with a few of my personal favourites and some advice on when I think our town is at its best.
Some of these events completely transform Sitges, so if one catches your eye, plan ahead. Noucentista has only 11 rooms, and the biggest weekends can fill up quickly.
Sitges Events in October 2026
🍷 Festa de la Verema & Wine Fair
2-4 October 2026
One of the loveliest ways to start autumn in Sitges.
Our annual grape harvest celebration brings wine, local traditions and the Mostra de Vins to town. It’s a wonderful weekend for discovering a quieter, more local side of Sitges.
Wine lovers should also get to know Malvasia de Sitges, our historic local wine and an important part of the town’s identity.
Come for: wine, gastronomy, local culture and an autumn weekend by the Mediterranean.
🎬 Sitges Film Festival
8-18 October 2026
This is the big one.
The Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is one of the world’s major festivals dedicated to fantastic and genre cinema.
For eleven days, Sitges completely changes personality. Filmmakers, actors, industry professionals and fans arrive from around the world, screenings run throughout the day and the entire town develops this wonderfully strange cinematic energy.
Even if you aren’t attending screenings, you’ll know the Festival is happening the moment you step outside.
And then there is…
🧟 Sitges Zombie Walk
Thousands of zombies taking over the streets of an elegant Mediterranean seaside town.
Very Sitges.
The Zombie Walk is one of the most entertaining traditions surrounding the Film Festival. Expect extraordinary costumes, make-up, crowds and a wonderfully chaotic evening in town.
🏛 48h Open House Sitges
This one is particularly interesting if, like me, you love architecture.
The Open House programme gives visitors the opportunity to discover buildings and architectural spaces around Sitges from a different perspective.
Considering how much Modernista, Noucentista and historic architecture we have here, it’s a beautiful way to understand the town beyond its beaches.
And if you’re staying at Hotel Noucentista, you’re already sleeping inside a little piece of that architectural history.
November 2026
✍️ Festa de la Poesia
7-8 November 2026
A much more intimate Sitges weekend.
The Festa de la Poesia celebrates poetry and poets through different events around town.
If your idea of Sitges is only beaches and nightlife, this is exactly the sort of event that shows you another side of the town.
December 2026
December is less about one enormous international event and more about Christmas in Sitges.
The streets become quieter, Christmas lights appear around the centre and the atmosphere changes completely.
For me, this is one of the nicest times to experience Sitges without the summer crowds.
Sitges Events in January 2027
👑 Three Kings Parade
5 January
If you’ve never experienced Reyes in Spain, this is a lovely tradition.
The Three Kings arrive in Sitges and parade through town on the evening before children traditionally receive their presents.
It’s festive, local and very family-oriented.
Sitges Events in February 2027
🎭 Sitges Carnival
2027 programme pending official confirmation
If there is one event that proves Sitges does not take itself too seriously, it is Carnival.
For several days, the town becomes almost unrecognisable.
Costumes, feathers, music, parties and enormous parades take over the streets, particularly for the two major processions: Rua de la Disbauxa and Rua de l’Extermini.
Sitges Carnival attracts huge numbers of visitors and is one of the major events of our year.
If you want quiet Sitges, this probably isn’t your weekend.
If you want Sitges at its wildest, absolutely come.
🐟 Daniela’s favourite: Enterro de la Sardina
There is one Carnival tradition I have to mention because it is personally one of my favourites: the Enterro de la Sardina, the Burial of the Sardine.
Carnival doesn’t simply finish in Sitges.
We bury it.
On Ash Wednesday, the town marks the symbolic death of Carnival and the end of days of excess, costumes and celebration.
The atmosphere is wonderfully theatrical: mourning, black clothes, exaggerated grief, humour and that very particular combination of tradition and irreverence that Sitges does so well.
After days of absolute madness, Carnival receives its funeral.
The huge parades are spectacular, of course, but the Burial has something different. It feels more local, more eccentric and somehow much more Sitges.
If you’re staying with us at Hotel Noucentista, don’t assume Carnival is finished once the last big parade has passed.
Stay for the funeral. Trust me.
March 2027
🚗 Barcelona-Sitges International Vintage Car Rally
2027 date pending confirmation
One of the most photogenic weekends of the year.
Historic cars travel from Barcelona to Sitges, with many participants dressed in period clothing.
When they arrive in town, the seafront feels as though it has slipped backwards in time.
🧵 International Patchwork Festival
2027 dates pending official confirmation
This event surprises people.
Every year, the International Patchwork Festival brings exhibitors, artists and visitors from around the world to Sitges.
It is a major event for the town and accommodation can become surprisingly difficult to find.
If you’re coming specifically for Patchwork, book early.
Sitges Events in April 2027
🌹 Sant Jordi
23 April
One of my favourite Catalan traditions.
On Sant Jordi, streets across Catalonia fill with books and roses.
It isn’t really a festival created for tourists, and that’s precisely why you should experience it.
Walk around Sitges, buy a book, give someone a rose and enjoy one of the loveliest days in the Catalan calendar.
🐻 Bears Sitges Meeting: Spring Edition
29 April – 2 May 2027
Yes, Sitges has two major Bear events.
This is the spring one.
The Bears Sitges Meeting, sometimes called the Spring Edition, traditionally takes place around the 1st of May and brings Bears from around the world together for a long weekend of beach days, cultural activities, aperitivos, BBQs, bars, parties and shows.
It is smaller than Bears Week in September, which gives it a different atmosphere.
And I love its timing.
The terraces are alive again, the days are getting longer and Sitges is moving properly into its Mediterranean season.
If you love Bears Week but have never experienced the spring gathering, put this one on your calendar too.
May 2027
May is when Sitges begins transitioning properly into summer.
Terraces fill up, beach days become increasingly reliable and the town starts getting busier, without reaching the intensity of July and August.
If you prefer Sitges lively but not at absolute peak season, May can be a wonderful compromise.
Sitges Events in June 2027
🌸 Corpus Christi
2027 dates pending official confirmation
If you love flowers, photography or traditions, Corpus is one of the most beautiful times to see Sitges.
Residents spend hours creating elaborate Corpus carpets made from flower petals across the streets of the historic centre.
Then the procession passes over them.
For a few hours, streets you may have walked along the previous evening are completely transformed into enormous temporary artworks.
🏳️🌈 Sitges Pride
2027 dates pending official confirmation
Pride is part of modern Sitges.
Concerts, performances, parties and the Sitges Pride Parade bring thousands of LGBTQ+ visitors into town and turn the seafront into one enormous celebration.
Sitges has had a long relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, so Pride here feels less like an event temporarily imposed on the town and more like an extension of something that already belongs to its identity.
🔥 Sant Joan
23-24 June
Welcome summer the Catalan way: with fire, fireworks and a very late night.
Sant Joan is celebrated across Catalonia on the night of 23 June, and Sitges is no exception.
Don’t expect an early night.
☀️ Daniela’s tip: one of my favourite times for the beach
If you ask me when the best time to come to Sitges for the beach is, I have two favourites:
Late June and September.
Late June has those beautiful, incredibly long Mediterranean days. Summer has properly arrived, you can spend almost the entire day outside and you’re still just ahead of the busiest part of July and August.
If you want beach days and that first proper feeling of Mediterranean summer, late June is difficult to beat.
July 2027
⚓ Mare de Déu del Carme
16 July
A traditional celebration dedicated to the patron saint of sailors and seafarers.
Given Sitges’ relationship with the Mediterranean, this is a particularly appropriate local tradition to experience.
July also brings summer cultural programming, concerts and those wonderful long evenings when the town seems to live almost entirely outdoors.
Sitges Events in August 2027
⛪ Mare de Déu del Vinyet
5 August
One of Sitges’ traditional local celebrations, centred around the beautiful Santuari del Vinyet.
It’s a lovely glimpse into a Sitges that exists beyond the beach and nightlife.
🎆 Festa Major de Sant Bartomeu
23-24 August
If I had to choose one event for understanding traditional Sitges, this would be it.
Sant Bartomeu is our Festa Major, the town’s biggest traditional festival.
For roughly 36 intense hours, the town fills with gegants, diables, traditional dances, grallers, fire, processions and celebrations that have been passed from generation to generation.
And then, at 23:00 on 23 August, come the fireworks over the Mediterranean.
Watching them explode above the church and the sea is one of those moments when Sitges looks almost unreal.
If you’re staying at Noucentista, you’re right in the historic centre while all of this is happening around you.
Sitges Events in September 2027
🐻 International Bears Sitges Week
2027 dates pending official confirmation
And then comes the big one.
Bears Sitges Week is the major international Bear gathering in Sitges and one of the biggest dates on our hotel calendar.
For around ten days, an enormous international LGBTQ+ crowd arrives for beaches, bars, parties, dinners, social events and a lot of fun.
The atmosphere is friendly, international and unmistakably Sitges.
And accommodation gets very, very busy.
If Bears Week is the reason you’re coming, this is one occasion when I absolutely would not leave your hotel booking until the last minute.
Remember: this is different from the Bears Sitges Meeting in spring.
If you’re a regular Bear visitor, you can essentially experience two different Bear seasons in Sitges: the smaller spring gathering around May and the huge international Bears Week in September.
🔥 Santa Tecla
23 September
Think of Santa Tecla, the little festival of Sitges, as the younger sister of Festa Major, although calling it “small” doesn’t really do it justice.
Children become the protagonists, with their own dragons, giants, dances and traditional celebrations filling the streets.
It is colourful, noisy, wonderfully local and one of the traditions that makes Sitges feel like a real community rather than simply a holiday destination.
☀️ Daniela’s other favourite time for the beach
And then there is September, which might actually be my favourite month for the sea.
The Mediterranean has had the entire summer to warm up, the weather is usually still wonderfully summery and Sitges begins to breathe again as the peak August crowds start to disappear.
You can still have proper beach days, swim, have lunch at a chiringuito and spend the afternoon by the Mediterranean, but everything begins to feel a little more relaxed.
And September gives you the added bonus of Bears Week and Santa Tecla: two completely different sides of Sitges in the same month.
If you make me choose: late June for the longest summer days; September for the warm sea and a more relaxed Sitges.
October 2027
And then, almost before you realise a year has passed, autumn returns.
The Sitges Film Festival, the grape harvest celebrations and that extraordinary October atmosphere return with it.
The exact 2027 programmes and dates still need to be officially announced, so this calendar will be updated as they are confirmed.
So, When Should You Visit Sitges, and for Which Events?
It really depends on which Sitges you want to meet.
Come for Carnival if you want outrageous Sitges, and whatever you do, stay for the Enterro de la Sardina.
Come for Corpus if you want beautiful Sitges.
Come for Pride if you want Sitges celebrating its LGBTQ+ identity.
Come for the Bears Sitges Meeting in spring if you want the smaller, more relaxed Bear gathering.
Come for Bears Week in September if you want Bear Sitges at full energy.
Come for Sant Bartomeu or Santa Tecla if you want traditional Sitges.
Come for the Film Festival if you want strange, cinematic Sitges.
Come in late June if you want those incredibly long Mediterranean summer days.
And come in September if you ask me personally when I most enjoy the sea.
Or come between the big events if you want the version of the town that those of us who live here get to enjoy.
Where to Stay for All These Sitges Events
Whichever Sitges you choose, I would love to host you at Hotel Noucentista.
We’re a small, 11-room hotel in the historic centre, which means many of these celebrations happen practically outside our door.
Our house is a 1908 Modernista building on Carrer Illa de Cuba, so you can walk to the Film Festival screenings, the Carnival parades, the Corpus flower carpets and the Festa Major fireworks.
For the busiest Sitges events, such as Carnival, Pride, Bears Week and the Film Festival, I recommend booking as early as you can.
And because we’re small, hosting is personal.
If you’re not sure which event, beach, restaurant or time of year suits you, ask me.
I’m Daniela, your host and General Manager at Noucentista, and I’ll happily help you find your Sitges.
