It is probable that a large part of Barcelona residents have never visited the Port of Barcelona. Surely, it is part of that list of facilities and monuments, which also include the Sagrada Família or Casa Batlló, and which, however close they may be, are not usually visited. Although the port may seem like a distant structure, serving as an entry point for goods and cruise passengers who, with cameras around their necks, explore and photograph every corner of the city, the activity carried out in these facilities has a direct impact on the routine of Barcelona residents. From the first cup of coffee of the day to the clothes in the shops would not be possible without port activity.
With the aim of publicizing its activity, the Port of Barcelona is organizing for the second consecutive year open days with guided tours, family activities, and cultural events during the weekend of May 17 and 18. An initiative they are repeating after the success of its first edition, when 30,000 people discovered the hidden secrets behind the port facilities.
These open days have also been expanded compared to 2024 and, among other novelties, will allow access for the first time to two container terminals, APM Terminals Barcelona (APMT) and Hutchison Ports BEST, spaces that in the guided tours of the previous edition could only be seen from afar. The terminals will not stop their usual activity of loading and unloading goods; instead, citizens who come will be able to see their intense usual energy.
"We want people to understand what the port is, what we do, and how it positively impacts their daily lives," said José Alberto Carbonell, president of the Port of Barcelona. Carbonell emphasized that it is about people understanding that the facilities "are much more than a cruise space, but rather concentrate immense activity, with more than 40,000 workers from some 500 different companies."
With this objective, on Saturday, May 17, they will organize bus, walking, and sea tours. The bus routes include a shorter option, about 45 minutes, with a tour of the different restricted access areas of the port enclosure, or a more extensive visit where access will be granted to the container terminals. As last year, the sea tours will be repeated, aboard Las Golondrinas, an activity that was very successful in its previous editions, as it allows observing the facilities from an unusual point of view.
For those citizens who prefer to explore the port on foot, they can also join the theatrical guided tours, with different historical characters who will guide them through the evolution of the facilities and their relationship with the citizenry. The tour will start at the Muelle de la Fusta, at the monument to Ròmul Bosch i Alsina, and will extend to the Palau del Mar. The guided tours are free but require prior reservation through the Port of Barcelona website, which can be obtained starting Tuesday, April 29, at 12 p.m. Last year, the 16,000 tickets made available sold out in a few hours.
In addition to the guided tours, Barcelona residents will also be able to learn firsthand about the work of the Port Police and the Firefighters of the Port of Barcelona, agents specialized in extinguishing fires on ships and terminals who will be present with their vehicles at the Drassanes dock throughout the weekend.
A visit that can be complemented with access to the Barcelona dock, which is now being finished reforming and will finally open to the public one day before the open day, on Friday, May 16. In 2018, the Barcelona City Council and the Port signed an agreement to concentrate all cruise activity, which until then occupied the Drassanes and Barcelona docks, towards the Adossat dock, and free up these spaces for citizen use, an agreement that is now completed seven years later with the opening of the Barcelona dock. During the weekend, this space will offer concerts, family workshops, and food trucks to complement the activities of the port facility.
During the weekend, to complement the guided tours, the Port of Barcelona has organized a wide program of activities that include the celebration of the RAC1 Race, with 7,000 runners covering a total of six kilometers that include some of the most emblematic spaces of Port Vell. Another of the sporting events that will be organized in this space next to the sea will be the RC Sailing University Regatta in the waters of the Espanya dock, where students of the university scholarship for training in the design and construction of a radio-controlled boat will test their designs.
Likewise, the Barceloneta Neighborhood Association organizes the Rumba Beach Festival, an event in support of the official presentation of Catalan Rumba as Intangible Cultural Heritage to UNESCO with concerts by fifteen musicians, workshops and musical vermouths, in addition to a craft market.
The two museums located next to the Port of Barcelona, the Maritime Museum of Barcelona ---where the temporary exhibition The Infamy can be visited--- and the Museum of History of Catalonia, will offer free admission from seven in the evening during the weekend of the open days, which also coincides with the celebration of the Night of the Museums, which is held on Saturday, May 17.