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Of this festival listing April and May how much do you think it will affect a trip?

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I love a party but I don’t like shoulder to shoulder people, sold out or inflated hotels, closed sites etc. I’m sure Octoberfest is a blast but I adored Munich a couple weeks before it and it was much easier to experience. I looked up festivals for our previous Switzerland trip but forgot to look up religious holidays and when we got there a lot of shops and all the big watchmaker shops were closed. Any idea about these festivals or anything I missed or religious holidays in Spain ?

April 26–May 2: Feria de Abril (April Fair), Sevilla
April 29–May 3: Festival of the Crosses, especially in Andalucía, particularly in Córdoba (processions and parties)
May: Bullfights and zarzuelas all month long, Madrid
May 1: May Day/Labor Day (closures)
May 2: Madrid Day (closures in the city, street parties centered on Plaza 2 de Mayo, fireworks on evening prior)
May 3: Fiesta de las Cruces, Granada and Córdoba (religious festival)
Early May (4 days): WOMAD, Cáceres (Extremadura; world music festival, free)
May 4–17: Córdoba Courtyards Festival (Los Patios de Córdoba; courtyard-decorating competition)
May 7–10 (likely): Ibiza Medieval Fair
May 8–10: Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona
May 9–16 (likely): Feria del Caballo, Jerez de la Frontera (horse pageantry)

Posted by
7534 posts

I will preface that I have not been to any of these festivals, but looking at your list, many are somewhat minor. Certainly local businesses may be affected, there may be crowds, but not vast international hordes.

The exceptions, from my view, would be:

  • May Day...in some places this can be significant, many businesses will be closed, not sure about actual celebrations, similar to Labor Day here, so probably varies quite a bit.
  • WOMAD sounds like crowds could be an issue.
  • Spanish Grand Prix...Barcelona can be crowded at all times, add an international event, road closures, etc.; if I had no interest, I would stay away.

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Posted by
2940 posts

For Barcelona... hardly any event will affect your trip, this is, after all, a city with 1.8 million people + 400/500 thousand visitors every month (up to 1 million in certain months of the year). There are always events going on, some of them very large and sometimes concurrently, but city life goes on. Large events might affect you on specific places at specific times but they won't "bog you down to a stall", and if you are visiting other areas of the city you won't even notice these are going on.

Specifically for the Grand Prix... well, that's not even in Barcelona, but in Montmeló, a town some 20 miles from Barcelona.

Posted by
16224 posts

We have been in Sevilla during the Feria (3 nights) and Cordoba during the patio festival (1 night). In both cases, it was a great time to be there, although the hotel prices were elevated. (The earlier you book the better, I found). Seville did not seem crowded at all; there were no lines at the Alcazar and the restaurants were not full—-everyone is out at the fairgrounds. The Feria is free to attend and quite a spectacle. I urge you to consider including this one, unless you are put off by the hotel prices.

The Cordoba patio festival seems to affect only a small area of the city. There, it was very crowded, but elsewhere it was not.

Posted by
15582 posts

Larry from Carmel recently responded to another thread with details of his stay in Jerez during Feria, which he recommended. On that trip he was also in Cordoba for the Patios Fair, though it's sometime since he wrote about it. If he doesn't pop up here soon, do a search and PM him for more details.

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