The Sitges Carnival is one of the world’s top 10 carnivals. Every year Sitges (a cute village next to Barcelona) attracts to the Carnival more than 250,000 people willing to have an amazing time. Acknowledged by the straight and gay press as Spain´s most celebrated and exhilarating event, the carnival can be described as “extravagant, crazy, astonishing“. Sitges Carnival is probably your best excuse to dress up, forget who you are and pretend who you want to be! For a week long, this picturesque yet cosmopolitan town literally turns into “crazy-ville”. This year the carnival will be held on Thursday 23st February to Wednesday 1st March 2017. This very particular celebration in the town of Sitges is worth the detour if you happen to be in Spain. I’ll give you a few reasons why :
- It’s a non stop party
The Sitges carnival runs for 7 days and attracts over 300,000 party-goers each year. Sitges goes wild day and night non stop during this week. The streets are as every year, full of revelers ready to heat up the town.
- The atmosphere
Imagine parades full of colors, people dressed with amazing costumes, live music everywhere, dancers, theatrical performances … There is undeniably a wild atmosphere in Sitges, one that you can witness a bit before as the Gay Carnival takes place 4 days before the main carnival.
- Parades
As mentioned above, one of the Sitges carnival’s characteristic is its breathtaking parades. They feature around 44 floats and 3,000 dancing participants. Among the biggest parades you will find the evening ones such as ’Rua de la Disbauxa’ starting at 8pm on the 26 of February but also the ‘Rua de l’Extermini’ starting at 7:30pm on the 28 of February. Those parades usually start from PI Cap de Vila in Sitges and continue along the waterfront.
- Carnival is for everyone
One of the nicest aspects of Sitges Carnival is that everyone participates. In other places around the world, carnival is only a celebration for young revelers. Even though there is a fair share of young party-goers, they do not hold a monopoly on carnival fun. There, you can attend fantastic events for all ages. For instance, we recommend for families with youngsters to catch the Children’s Parade at 12pm on Sunday 26 of February or the one at 3:00pm (Rua Infantil) on the 28 of February.
- Crazy events
Another recommendation will be not to miss some crazy events such as the ‘Fancy dress bed race’ on the 25of February at 12:00, the ambiance is just insane. It takes place at the Casino Prado Suburenc de Sitges. Beds on wheels are pushed by teams to see who is the fastest!
- Carnival Traditions
The Sitges carnival is meant to commemorate the last week leading up to Ash Wednesday. It begins on ‘Jueves Lardero’. During this Fatty Thursday, all Spanish and Catalan people enjoy local dishes such as Catalan butifarra (type of sausage) and the Spanish tortilla . In Sitges, this day of gluttony is topped off with the celebration of the arrival of the King. In order to mark the end of the carnival, the ‘Burial of the Sardine’ takes place, in which a sardine is buried at the beach to symbolize the abstinence from fish and sweets for the following 40 days leading up to Easter.
Get there with Bus Trip Barcelona Universal Students!
Bus Trip Barcelona Universal Students is a great agency run by Albert Cobos who organize amazing trips for students to the most popular tourist destinations in Spain and around (Andorra, Camprodon, Girona but also Nice, Monaco…) with private coach and guided tours for super cheap prices. Definitely worth it!
Price: 10 euros
Website: www.bustripsbcn.com