Festa de la Pagesia and Prades Bosc, autumn in the square

What they are and what you see

In autumn Prades has two festivals that fill the Plaça Major, the arcaded red-stone square of the vila vermella (red village). The Festa de la Pagesia, in mid-October, celebrates the land: a community breakfast with Prades potatoes, an exhibition of local produce and a round of popular competitions. Prades Bosc, straddling October and November, is dedicated to the forest: chestnut sales at the gateway, a wild boar dinner and a chainsaw competition in the square. Both are organised by the Town Council and are village festivals, not stage shows: you come to eat, to watch and, if you feel like it, to compete.

When

The Festa de la Pagesia was held on 10 and 11 October 2026, and the 15th edition of Prades Bosc from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November 2026. The 2027 dates have not yet been announced. The Town Council publishes the programme for each festival on its website a few days beforehand, in the tourism news section.

Festa de la Pagesia programme

Using the 2026 programme as a guide:

• Saturday afternoon, 19:00 to 20:00: handing out ingredients for the potato-dish competition (omelettes, stews and other recipes). It needs a minimum of twenty participants or it is cancelled.
• Sunday at 9:30: community breakfast for €4, with baked potatoes, herring with muscat grapes, Prades longaniza sausage and wine.
• Sunday morning: the 30th Exhibition of local produce, with local products, crafts and food, on the Plaça Major.
• Sunday competitions: potato peeling at 11:00 (over-18s, five minutes), waiters with a tray at 11:30 (over-18s) and hazelnut cracking at 12:00, with a category for under-12s. The prize-giving is at 13:30.

In 2026 the Town Council warned that there would be no tastings.

Prades Bosc programme

In 2026, the chestnut sale at the Portal de Prades, run by the school parents’ association and the secondary school pupils, ran over all three days. On Saturday there was a chestnut-roast tea-dinner at the Casal d’Avis and, at 21:00, the Prades Bosc wild boar dinner at the Centre Cívic: €20, cash only, limited places and no adapted menus. On Sunday, from 11:00 to 14:00, the chainsaw competition in the Plaça Major, and at 19:30 the free theatre and music show El Sonall, with prior registration.

Getting there and where to park

Prades is at about 950 metres above sea level, at the end of winding roads that climb from the Camp de Tarragona and the Conca de Barberà: allow an hour by car from Tarragona or Lleida and about two from Barcelona. The centre, inside the wall, has narrow, steep streets: leave your car on the streets outside and walk in through the gateway to the square. The 2026 programmes did not announce traffic closures or special car parks. There is a bus and taxi, but with few timetables.

Tickets and price

Both festivals are free to enter. You pay for what you consume: in 2026, the community breakfast cost €4 and the wild boar dinner, €20. Registrations for the competitions and the dinner are made at the tourist office, on Carrer Muralla, a few days ahead: registration for the dinner closed on 28 October.

Practical tips

On festival Sundays the square fills up: arrive before ten if you want to have breakfast in peace. With children, the hazelnut-cracking competition has a category for under-12s and the chestnut stalls at the gateway are run by children and young people from the school and secondary school. At 950 metres, an October morning can be cold: bring a coat even if it is nice down below.

Make the most of the trip. In the afternoon, the walk around the vila vermella or the short walk to the Roca Foradada; and if you stay overnight, a night of stars at the astronomy park.