International Bears Week Sitges 2026

Bears Sitges Week is the biggest bear event in the world, and for ten days every September it takes over Sitges — the small, pretty beach town just down the coast from Barcelona that has long been one of the Mediterranean's most relaxed gay resorts. In 2026 it runs 4–13 September, and it is the 25th-anniversary edition, so the party village opens three days early (4–6 September) as a free "Early-Village" before the main week gets going on the 7th.

More than 8,000 bears come from around the world, and the town absorbs them easily. The hub is the open-air Bear-Village down on Plaça de la Fragata by the seafront; from there the days run on the beach — the gay beach at Bassa Rodona, the more relaxed Balmins cove — and the nights run the "Ruta del Oso", the bar crawl around the town's bear bars that kicks off around 8pm and rolls into the small hours at Bears Disco. The week's centrepiece is the Mr Bear Sitges contest, with a bear market, beach volleyball and pool parties threaded through it.

Tickets are not a gate wristband — it is a discount "Pack" sold through the official site that gets you deals across the partner bars and venues; the Early-Village is free. Prices are on bearssitges.org.

Practical notes: Sitges is about 40 minutes by train from Barcelona, and many people stay in Sitges and treat Barcelona as the day trip rather than the other way round. It is small and walkable, everything is near the beach, and September is warm and swimmable. Book accommodation early — the town fills. This is a bear circuit week, not a Pride; there is no parade.