Barcelona keeps Sundays open
Barcelona’s city council confirmed that commercial and leisure venues — including restaurants and cinemas in tourist areas — will remain open on Sundays from May through September, increasing weekend dining and cultural flexibility (elperiodico.com).
The municipal timetable fixes the summer window precisely from 15 May to 15 September and authorises commercial activity on those Sundays between 12:00 and 20:00. (ajuntament.barcelona.cat) The exception applies only inside the city’s Zona de Gran Afluència Turística (ZGAT), a newly delimited sector that covers PEUAT areas 1 and 2 and includes neighbourhoods such as Ciutat Vella (El Raval, Gòtic, La Ribera, La Barceloneta), parts of the Eixample, Sants‑Montjuïc and Les Corts. (ajuntament.barcelona.cat) The policy traces to a 2022 Social Agreement on commercial hours signed by Fundación Barcelona Comerç, Barcelona Oberta, PIMEC Comerç, Foment del Treball, ANGED and the unions CCOO and UGT, with the backing of the Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat. (ajuntament.barcelona.cat) Not all vendors embrace the change: the merchants at Mercat de la Boqueria voted roughly 69–70% against opening on Sundays and public holidays, so the market will keep its traditional closed‑Sunday schedule despite the legal possibility to open. (elperiodico.com) Major shopping centres named in previous seasonal openings include Las Arenas (Plaça d’Espanya), Glòries, Diagonal Mar, La Maquinista and L’illa Diagonal, which have been listed among the centres that operate on the designated summer Sundays. (elperiodico.com) The regional context: the Catalan Advisory Council on Commerce approved a 2026 calendar (ratified 20 March 2025) that sets eight statewide opening days and allows each municipality to add two more — with limited substitution rights and specific protected dates that cannot be moved. (pimec.org) This summer window marks the fifth consecutive year the city has applied the tourist‑area Sunday opening framework introduced in 2022. (metropoliabierta.elespanol.com)
