What's On in Catalonia This Week (27 October – 2 November): Castanyada Night, Jorge Drexler and Human Towers

Every year, the last week of October is the week when Catalonia changes rhythm. The beaches empty out, the mountains turn amber, and the whole country starts smelling of roasted chestnuts. This year, from Monday 27 October to Sunday 2 November, that seasonal shift comes with an unusually good lineup: two major concerts at Palau Sant Jordi, a film festival for music lovers, the hardest urban race in Barcelona, and a human-tower day that is one of the most respected in the casteller calendar.

Here is what is actually on, day by day, if you are visiting Catalonia this week.

La Castanyada and All Saints: the night that shapes everything

The anchor of the week is the night of Saturday 31 October. While the rest of the world does Halloween, Catalonia does something older: la Castanyada, the evening when families and friends gather around roasted chestnuts, panellets (small marzipan-and-pine-nut sweets) and sweet roasted sweet potatoes, usually washed down with a glass of muscatel.

It is tied to All Saints' Day (Tots Sants) on Sunday 1 November, the day Catalans traditionally visit cemeteries to remember their dead — which is why bakeries across the country will have queues out the door all week.

If you want to understand why Catalonia does chestnuts instead of pumpkins, we explain the whole thing in our guide to la Castanyada versus Halloween. If you only do one "local" thing this week, buy a paper cone of chestnuts in the street and eat them while they burn your fingers.

Concerts: a strong week for Palau Sant Jordi

Jungle — Wednesday 28 October, 21:00, Palau Sant Jordi (Barcelona). The British band brings its soulful, danceable live show to Barcelona with material from SUNSHINE, with Rio Kosta opening. If you like your electronic pop with a big brass section and real vocalists, this is the concert of the week.

Jorge Drexler — Saturday 31 October, 21:00, Palau Sant Jordi (Barcelona). The Uruguayan singer-songwriter brings his TARACÁ tour to Barcelona as part of the Guitar BCN programme, and it is a first: Drexler has played the city many times, but never this venue. For a Halloween Saturday, it is a calm and beautiful alternative to anything with a costume. Tickets run roughly €38–€78.

Melendi — Sunday 1 and Monday 2 November, Palau Sant Jordi (Barcelona). The Asturian singer closes the week with two dates, right after All Saints. Expect a full house and every word sung back to him.

Halloween: one big party by the sea

If you do want costumes, HLWN Fest takes over Estació de França in Barcelona on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October, two full nights of electronic music in a large open-air venue with the city as a backdrop. Smaller club events spread across Razzmatazz and other venues through the weekend.

Film: the In-Edit Festival opens

Thursday 29 October sees the start of the 24th In-Edit Festival Barcelona, the international music-documentary festival, running until 8 November at Mooby Aribau and other cinemas. Around seventy documentaries, including films on David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull. It is one of the best-value cultural events of the autumn: a single film costs little more than a normal cinema ticket, and the quality is consistently high.

Running: All Saints' Day races

Sunday 1 November is a classic running date in Catalonia, and this year there are three good options depending on your legs:

• BUFF Montjuïc–Tibidabo (Barcelona) — the headline event: roughly 11 km linking the two hills of the city, with around 450 m of elevation gain. Often called the hardest urban race in Barcelona. There is also a half-marathon distance.
• Cursa Sant Galderic (Tavèrnoles, Osona) — a 12 km and a half marathon in the countryside north of Vic, the kind of race where the prize is the view.
• Marxa Tramuncan (Sant Llorenç de la Muga) — an 8 km walk-run in the Alt Empordà, with a solidarity canicross edition.

If you are not competing, watching the start of the Montjuïc–Tibidabo race is worth it just for the sight of a thousand people running uphill on a Sunday morning.

Human towers: the Diada de Tots Sants in Vilafranca

At midday on Sunday 1 November, the Plaça de la Vila in Vilafranca del Penedès hosts the Diada de Tots Sants, the November fixture of the Castellers de Vilafranca, one of the strongest human-tower groups in Catalonia. They are joined by guest teams, and the standard is high: in recent editions this diada has produced towers of nine levels.

It is free, it starts at 12:00, and it is a genuinely local experience — no tourists around, just a town square full of people with their necks craned. Vilafranca is about 40 km from Barcelona and reachable by Renfe train from Sants or Plaça de Sants in under an hour.

A few practical tips

• Book concert tickets now. Drexler and Jungle are both close to selling out.
• Chestnuts are an evening thing. Street vendors appear around 18:00 and the smell is strongest after dark.
• 1 November is a public holiday. Many shops close, but restaurants and bakeries are open and often busy — book lunch if you are travelling.
• Traffic peaks on Friday afternoon and Sunday evening, as people leave and return from the long weekend.

Why this week is worth it

Because it is the week when Catalonia is most itself. You can watch human towers in the morning, eat chestnuts in the afternoon and hear one of the best singer-songwriters in the Spanish-speaking world at night — all in the same day, all within an hour of Barcelona. Not many weeks offer that.

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