Christmas 2025-2026 in Barcelona: the guide to live it to the fullest

Barcelona is preparing for a new Christmas full of lights, traditions and great events. Between the end of 2025 and the first days of 2026, the city becomes a great festive scene where the most classic fairs, horse-drawn carriages, large stage productions and new proposals that are here to stay coexist. Below, an orderly tour of all the essential appointments so as not to miss the thread of a Christmas that will fill the streets with life.

Living nativity scenes: neighborhood Christmas

One of the traditions that many Barcelona residents keep in their calendars is a visit to the living cribs. Barcelona will have up to five, divided between the Marina, Torre Baró, Guinardó, Carmel and Navasall free of charge and with a strong community component. Year after year, residents and organizations organize themselves to give life to these recreations of the traditional nativity scene, with costume scenes, biblical characters, animals and an atmosphere that combines spirituality and popular celebration. When the dates approach, each neighborhood will specify the times and days of representation, but it can already be said that these living nativity scenes are once again one of the most authentic images of Christmas in Barcelona.

Fairs and markets: Christmas between stops

the Christmas fairs they continue to be one of the great claims of these dates. The city combines historic markets with new proposals that have found their place.

At the foot of the temple, the Sagrada Familia Christmas Fair 2025of November 22 to December 23brings together a hundred stalls that surround the square. Nativity figures, fir trees, garnishes, handicrafts and typical sweets turn the surroundings of the Sagrada Família into a great festive showcase that mixes devotion, consumption and neighborhood strolls.

On Cathedral Avenue, the Santa Lucia Fair 2025of November 28 to December 23maintains the title of the oldest Christmas fair in Catalonia and claims to be the absolute classic of the city. Almost 200 stalls offer nativity scenes, moss, trees and decorations, but also host two already iconic characters: the Giant Uncle and the Christmas carapacethat serious-faced tadpole who, in reality, is synonymous with joy and candy.

Christmas also goes down to the sea. Al Moll de la Fusta, Christmas at the Port 2025-2026of November 28 to January 6deploys a market inspired by northern Europe, with a ferris wheel that dominates the horizon, a synthetic ice rink, carousel, musicians and, as a novelty, free candle baptisms and night tours with swallows. A proposal that takes advantage of the landscape of the port to give Christmas a maritime and cosmopolitan air.

Plaça de Catalunya will host, among December 19 and 30the Fair of Responsible Consumption and Social and Solidarity Economywhich bets on local products and cooperative projects. The offer is completed with the Fair of Kings of the Gran Viabetween Muntaner and Rocafort from December 18 to January 6ideal for last-minute purchases, and with the recovered Fair of Kings of Sant Antoniof January 2 to 5which once again fills Avinguda de Mistral with toys, crafts and neighborhood atmosphere.

To all this are added other quotes like Christmas in Poble Espanyolwith its particular Christmas drama, the fairs in Olympic Port or the Christmas Fair of Covered Crosswhich consolidate Barcelona as a city of markets open to the world.

Santa comes to the neighborhoods

Before December 25 arrives, the Father Christmas also has an appointment with Barcelona. A Saints and Covered Crossthe cavalcade has become one of the central events of the neighborhood: Sunday December 21the Christmas procession will travel the streets among floats, music and families who take the opportunity to see this figure up close who is already part of the local festive landscape. The street will reach the Plaça d’Espanya, in an afternoon that combines children’s nerves and the aroma of hot chocolate.

Al carmelFather Christmas maintains his own entry, more unique, in horse car. Two days before Christmas, the mountain neighborhood is transformed into the scene of a much-loved cavalcade by the residents, who turn the streets into a collective greeting before the most awaited visitor of the night of the 24th begins his gift-giving route.

The Barcelona Christmas Festival and music in the city

The Plaça de Catalunya is consolidated as a cultural epicenter with the Barcelona Christmas Festivalthat of December 20 to 30 fills the space with performing arts proposals. Mornings for the family audience, circus and dance afternoons, music evenings and nights with a great theatrical and musical show starring Theater Choir set up a program with more than 350 functionspremieres and local and international companies.

The music also extends to squares and markets with the cycle Christmas soundswhich schedules dozens of free concerts of various styles throughout the districts. And the city’s great venues—the Auditorium, the Palau de la Música and other facilities—host classic events such as the Cantagranthe Christmas concert of the Catalan Orfeó or special St. Stephen’s and New Year’s performances.

Finally, those who want to experience Christmas from another perspective can go up to the Barcelona Christmas Tourthe Christmas tourist bus, which runs through the most illuminated streets and retraces the city under the soundtrack of the lights.

New Year’s Eve: between Montjuïc and the theatres

The night of New Year’s Eve 2025-2026 puts Barcelona back on the map of great urban celebrations. On Avenida de la Reina Maria Cristina, at the foot of Montjuïc, the city is preparing a spectacular display with fireworks, drones and music to say goodbye to 2025 and welcome 2026. It’s an appointment that brings together families, groups of friends and visitors in the same countdown, among grapes, wishes and selfies.

But New Year’s Eve in Barcelona is also strongly experienced in the theaterswho have turned the night of the 31st into its own tradition with special functions, cotillion and artists who extend the party to the stage. Companies and spectators celebrate together the beginning of the year with comedy, musicals and big titles. See all the information here

The Reis Factory in Fabra i Coats

When the calendar approaches Twelfth Night, Barcelona opens the doors to one of its most beloved universes: the Factory of the Kings of the East to the Fabra and Coatsin the neighborhood of Sant Andreu. Between the end of December and the beginning of January (with exact dates yet to be specified), the site is transformed into a large magical chain where elves and operators prepare the toys that will later travel with Their Majesties. Entry is free, but required advance reservation and places fly very fast. For the children who visit the factory, seeing how the gifts are “cooked” is almost as exciting as the Christmas matinee itself.

Royal camps: the wait before the Kings

The days before January 5 are also time of royal camps. A New NeighborhoodstheOasis of Nou Barris will again host the retinue of the Kings between the January 2 and 4every afternoon, in the courtyard of the district headquarters. There, the little ones will be able to meet the kite, the royal postman, the toy makers, the guardians of the magic key, the candy makers, the pacifiers and the coal bin, in a tour that mixes scenography, characters and proximity.

A saintsthe Royal Camp “Peace Without Truce” will convert the Sants garages in an itinerary of activities the Sunday, January 4in the morning and in the afternoon, with workshops, shows and a final correfoc that puts the icing on the cake just before the cavalcade of Sants i les Corts.

The Cavalcade of Kings 2026: the most magical night

The January 5, 2026Barcelona will once again experience one of its most crowded nights: the Cavalcade of Kings. In the afternoon, around 4:30 p.mthe pailebot Santa Eulalia will dock at Gate of Peace with Melcior, Gaspar and Baltasar, who will be received by the mayor and will receive the magic key that opens all the doors of the city.

From the 6 p.mthe large procession will start to parade from Marquès de l’Argentera avenue, pass Paseo de Colom, go up Paral·lel avenue, turn around Sant Pau roundabout, touch the Sant Antoni market, continue along Carrer de Sepúlveda and culminate in Plaça d’Espanya, in front of the Magic Fountain. Floats, music, confetti and thousands of creatures with the letter in hand and bright eyes will once again turn the route into a long string of nerves and excitement. At the same time, a fortnight of neighborhood rides they will bring the Kings to the different districts, so that no one is left without greeting them up close.

Lights and projections: Sant Jaume and beyond

In recent years, Barcelona has incorporated the light show as one of the big bets at Christmas. At the Sant Jaume squareof November 22 to January 5the City Council and the Generalitat present “Symphony of Kites”a proposal of Xavi Bové Studio which turns the facades of the two institutional buildings into a second golden skin, full of stars and garlands. The projections, in the evening and at night, create a warm atmosphere that invites you to stop and look up. In the same square, the Christmas tree will return from 15 meters and the nativity scene will be exhibited, one more year, in the Town Hall’s Carriage Yard.

The other big stage of light will be, again, the Modernist complex of Sant Pauwith the Lights of Sant Pauan immersive tour that transforms the architectural ensemble into a poem of light. Added to this is the special lighting of the Casa Batllówhich plays with Gaudí’s fantasy in a light and music show, and the Christmas decoration of the Park Güellwith the Hypostyle Hall and the fir trees turned into a point of desire and photographs.

Tradition and family settings

Apart from the big spotlights, Christmas in Barcelona is also recognized in other settings faithful to the date: the nativity scenes of the Cathedral, the Frederic Marès Museum or the Pedralbes Monastery; the Christmas in Tibidabowhich adds attractions and atmosphere; the Circus Raluywho usually sets up his tent in the port; the Children’s Festival in Montjuïc or the proposals of House Seat. And, of course, the Song of the Sibylperformed on the night of December 24 in several churches, which connects Barcelona with a thousand-year-old tradition and a shared spirituality.

the ice rinks they have earned a place in the Barcelona Christmas calendar, especially in their ecological or synthetic version. This Christmas you can skate in several emblematic spots, such as Tibidabothe Moll de la Fusta inside Nadal al Port, or the shopping center Westfield The Machinistwhich turn skating into a recurring family activity between shopping, attractions and views of the city.