The best plans and what to do this Christmas 2024 in Barcelona

Christmas is already in Barcelona. Although the cold has not just arrived, the streets already smell of castanyeras that announce with their embers the arrival of the holidays and the streets boast of Christmas lights waiting to be lit.

This is one of the most beautiful times of the year in Barcelona. Hundreds of lights illuminate the streets and buildings at night transforming the city into a true Christmas paradise.

But Christmas lights are not the only protagonists of the holidays in the city. The nativity scene in Plaça Sant Jaume, the Christmas markets and villages, the big dinners or the Three Kings parade are just some of the many plans and activities that the city offers during these dates.

So that you do not miss any of these and other plans, we bring you a summary of everything you can do during Christmas 2024-2025 in Barcelona so you can celebrate as Santa Claus commands.

Enjoy the Christmas lights of the city

We said that December is the month of brilli brilli. And this includes visiting all kinds of lights and decorations in the streets. That’s why we are going to talk, and quite a lot, about various light shows. The one that wins par excellence is the Christmas lights. And is that the City Council considers the lighting an essential tool to enhance the commercial fabric of the city.

Therefore, this year, as a novelty, the lights will illuminate the streets of the city until after midnight. From Sunday to Thursday they will be on until 1am and on weekends and public holidays until 2am! This year, although the sun, as always, leaves early, Barcelona will never be dark.

In addition, different totem poles with Christmas shapes will be installed in all districts of the city, because Barcelona wants to have its own Christmas brand that mixes the traditional with the contemporary.

Get on the Barcelona Christmas Tour, the Bus Turístic of Christmas lights.

It started a few years ago but it is already a Christmas fixture. The Barcelona Christmas Tour, the Bus Turístic that travels around the city showing the Christmas lights, returns this holiday season with a magical tour that allows you to see the illumination of the streets of Barcelona like never before. Check all the information in our article.

Nadal al Port 2024, the Christmas fair at the seashore

From November 29, 2024 to January 6, 2025, the Bosch i Alsina pier (Moll de la Fusta) will once again host the sixth edition of ‘Nadal al Port’. The Port of Barcelona joins, one more year, to the multiple Christmas offer of Barcelona and offers the already mythical Christmas market at the seashore that tries to promote the maritime heritage among the citizenship, consolidating the Moll de la Fusta as a meeting space that favors the relationship between the port and the city thanks to the market, the attractions and the ice rink.

This year, the fair has important new features, such as the extension of the ice rink and the installation of new attractions such as the sled track or a flying attraction. Check all the new attractions and the dates of the fair in our article.

Moll de la fusta

Go with the kids to the Children’s Festival

We can not miss in this selection the children’s plan par excellence (with permission of the Epiphany parade): the Children’s Festival. This event, an institution in our city, will offer for five days more than 60 activities for children from 0 to 12 years old to have a great time and make the most of every minute of their school vacations.

Creative workshops, circuits, giant inflatables, magic and theater shows, toy library, concerts… The Festival’s offer is as big as its space, 20,000m2. As a novelty, this year there will be a gastronomy space focused on small chefs as well as a solidarity toy shop.

📍Location: Fira Barcelona (Av. de la Reina Maria Cristina, s/n),Palace 2 and Plaza de l’Univers.

🗓️ Dates: From December 27 to 31

Tickets: From 8,5€.

Enjoy a live show at the newly opened El Molino.

Once famous for its music-hall shows , El Molino has reopened this 2024 with a new look and a program full of music, stand-up comedy and DJ sessions. The intention is to become a new jazz club reference in the city and the bet is strong: five days a week of live shows, which kick off this Christmas with two powerful night club sessions to dance all night and, from 2025, the performances of big names in comedy and music from inside and outside our borders.

📍Location: Carrer de Vila i Vilà, 99

🗓️ Dates: December 27 and 28 and, from January 8, open every day from Wednesday to Sunday.

Tickets: from 10€.

Give (or treat yourself to) a subscription to go to the movies whenever you like

The holiday season is a great time for movie premieres. This year, without going any further, have already been released Vaiana 2, the anime adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and soon we get the new Marvel, Kraven the Hunter (December 13), the awaited Mufasa and the third part of Sonic (December 25). Can you imagine being able to see them all and many more without limit in 6 multiplexes in Barcelona?

This is possible with Unlimited Card, a pioneer subscription program in our country that allows you to go to the movies as many times as you want. It is an ideal gift for our family or friends… or a perfect self-gift if we love cinema. In addition to the Christmas premieres, 2025 comes loaded with the most interesting movies: from the new installment of Captain America to the new live-action Snow White, including the return of Bridget Jones or Game of Thieves 2: Panther.

TheUnlimited Card also includes a 10% discount on the bar’s products, invitations to special screenings and other exclusive benefits. The card comes in two forms: Standard (with additional surcharges for Luxe cinemas) and Luxe (with access to all cinemas without additional payment).

💸Unlimited card annual: 149€ ; Unlimited Card annual Luxe: 189€.

📍 Location: Cinesa Diagonal, Cinesa Diagonal Mar, Cinesa SOM Multiespai, Cinesa Parc Vallès (Terrassa), Cinesa La Farga (L’Hospitalet de Llobregat), Cinesa Barnasud (Gavà).

Visit the fantasy world of Bubble Planet

Bubble Planet, the immersive experience dedicated to bubbles, will close its doors in February. So, this will be its last Christmas in Barcelona and just this time of year is ideal to enjoy it: its colorful world, which we love all year round, is complemented for these dates with Christmas decorations and a photoboothso we can take themed photos.

It is a perfect plan for after Christmas meals or for one of those days of leisure that come with the school vacations. And children, so full of energy during this period, will be able to make the most of it in all the interactive rooms of the experience.

Tickets: 15% discount with the code XMAS15BP until December 31.

Location: Espacio Inmersa – Access 1 Calle Llull, 119.

Glide like a professional skater on all the ice rinks in Barcelona.

Climate change does not forgive but neither does Christmas, so the ice rinks have been reinvented to become sustainable and not depend on ice. Thus, every year there are more ice rinks in Barcelona that allow us to slide with the grace of a swan (or not) enjoying Christmas. We tell you where are all the ice rinks in Barcelona in this article.

Pixar World’ stays in Barcelona this Christmas

The immersive exhibition dedicated to the animation studio is staying in Barcelona until 2025. With the exhibition extending until January, you have the opportunity to live a unique experience this holiday season, ideal to fill both Christmas and Epiphany with excitement.

With its 13 movie sets, each corner of this exhibition recreates iconic moments from films such as Toy Story, UP or Coco, allowing you to immerse yourself in the most emblematic Pixar worlds.

From Andy’s room, where toys come to life in Toy Story, to the colorful Mexico of Coco, full of flowers and joy, each scenario has been carefully designed to make you feel the Christmas spirit of the stories of our childhood.

Admission: from 17,60 €.

Location: Outdoor Parking – Westfield La Maquinista. C/ de Potosí, 2, (Sant Andreu)

Visit Llums de Sant Pau, the great modernist spectacle of Christmas lights.

For the third consecutive year, the city of Barcelona will enjoy Els Llums de Sant Pau, an experience that has established itself as one of the most outstanding Christmas events in the city. Between November 21 and January 12, 2025, the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site will be transformed into a spectacle of light and color, with outstanding new features and a completely revamped Christmas experience.

With the success of recent years, this event has already become one of Barcelona’s most outstanding Christmas traditions. In fact, after attracting more than 400,000 visitors in its first two editions, Els Llums de Sant Pau returns this year with new features, where Christmas is the protagonist par excellence.

Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 167

Candlelight Christmas Concerts

For some years now, Candlelight has been filling different locations in Barcelona with candles. All of them unique and special. And Christmas was not going to be less.

The series of concerts that has already conquered half the world has prepared some other Christmas tribute to celebrate the holidays. How about a concert recalling the most repeated songs at this time in the Gaudí Crypt? Undoubtedly, one of the best Christmas plans to do in Barcelona this 2024.

The musical tribute to Christmas carols and the most typical Christmas songs is not the only great plans that Candlelight has prepared for the most festive season of the year. In the months of December and January, there will be many more concerts for all tastes. A great gift for any fan of Coldplay, Queen, Metallica or even cinema.

Different locations in Barcelona

Route through the Christmas villages: Bosc Encantat de Gavà, Les Barcarés, Bosc dels Somnis, Natalis al Poble Espanyol…

Escapade to the Bosc Encantat de Gavà, the viral Christmas village

Barcelona has its own Christmas village, but there is a place next to Barcelona that has a forest that is Santa Claus’ dream. It is the Bosc Encantat de Gavà, a place where the story becomes reality, and that allows, fifteen minutes from the center of Barcelona, immerse yourself in a planet where, for the time that lasts the walk, everything around us is Christmas.

The party will be in the Parc de la Torre Lluc, and it will be a free access event that will include the lighting of the tree and the opening of the Bosc Encantat. The Bosc will be open until January 7, with all its 50 thousand lights and its giant Christmas tree included.

Natalis: this is the Christmas village within Barcelona

If it is already nice to feel the winter cold and walk through a city full of Christmas lights, what to say about a whole village dedicated to snow and gifts? That’s why one of the great plans for Christmas (especially for families), is to approach the Spanish Village and soak up the Christmas spirit of a whole (small) town.

From November 30 to January 5, the Poble Espanyol will be transformed into Natalis, a magical and unique world where visitors will enter to find several worlds with lots of emotions and adventures for the whole family.

Les Barcarès, the fantasy Christmas village just two hours from Barcelona.

Le Barcarès is an idyllic fishing village, which lives from fishing in winter and tourism in summer. But, like other villages at this time of the year, it is transformed during Christmas to welcome Santa Claus, who is installed from November 18 to January 7 in the Village de Noël Le Barcarès.

Thanks to this magical village, where you can enjoy Christmas markets, parades, attractions and shows, Le Barcarès, just two hours from Barcelona, has become one of the most visited places in the south of France and one of the best plans to enjoy this holiday season.

Bosc dels Somnis: Sant Boi premiered its immersive Christmas village.

The Christmas shows are spread throughout Barcelona, and the Kings, elves and pages are accumulating work to be in all the places that require them. Now, after the success of the Bosc Encantat de Gavà or the Christmas village of Les Barcarès, another Christmas village is born in Barcelona: El Bosc dels Somnis de Sant Boi.

The Bosc dels Somnis, however, has a particularity, its 4500 m2 of show are full of actors that make the walk in an immersive outdoor experience, something like the classic tunnel of terror, but in Christmas version.

Thus, the Masia de Can Julià (Carrer Bonaventura Calopa, 26, Sant Boi de Llobregat) will host an immersive tour, outdoors and unguided, where to find the Fada Garlanda, the Christmas post office, the kitchen of the best sweets, the planetarium of illusions, the toy factory or even the coal mine.

The private street turned into a Christmas spectacle of Premià de Mar

Forget the traditional Christmas decorations. The new festive attractions are the houses of neighbors transformed into authentic Christmas scenes in the purest American style.

In Premià de Mar, Francisco García has turned his street into a light show with 300,000 LED bulbs, turning his facade and those of his neighbors into a unique Christmas attraction. For the eighth consecutive year, his decoration on Carrer Martí Casas attracts visitors and locals alike, transforming this quiet Maresme town into a true Christmas paradise.

Three Kings Parade 2025 in Barcelona: timetable and route

As every year, on January 6, Their Majesties the Three Wise Men will enter our homes to fill them with gifts, but not before having walked the streets of the city handing out candy.

The parade will start on Thursday, January 5 at 18h. in Marquès d’Argentera Avenue and will go through the main streets of the city until it reaches the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc.

The Three Wise Men’s Toy Factory at Fabra i Coats

The best Christmas markets are already installed in Barcelona, the ice rinks where to skate with the family and the lights in all the streets of the city. But this list is missing a small enclave that marks the official start of the holidays: the opening of the Toy Factory at Fabra i Coats.

As every year, children will have the opportunity to witness the work of elves and magical workers as they prepare the toys, discovering the secrets behind the most anticipated night of the year. We tell you all about it in our article.

Three Kings parades in the neighborhoods

Apart from the royal parade, the Three Wise Men arrive in all the neighborhoods of Barcelona. Up to 18 Three Kings parades are celebrated in the different neighborhoods of Barcelona. Find yours. We tell you everything you need to know about all of them so you don’t miss a single one.

Sant Esteve, the great feast of the cannelloni

Catalan Christmas is not complete without Sant Esteve. The great feast of December 26, the one that ends the days of celebrations, is a unique celebration in Catalonia. We explain why Sant Esteve is celebrated only in Catalonia and also the curious feminist and working class history of why we eat cannelloni on this date.

SHEIN District: visit the new trendy creative district

If you are looking for a different place to get inspired for Christmas shopping, you have to visit SHEIN District at Fira Barcelona. Here you will find the latest trends in fashion and art in an impressive space that brings together creative workshops, shows, games, gym classes, foodtrucks and great discounts. A unique immersive experience, and the first that SHEIN makes, to surprise all visitors in a fantasy world. Be sure to participate in the draw for a free shopping cart, what are you waiting for?

📍Fira Barcelona (Av. de la Reina Maria Cristina, s/n)
🗓️Del December 13 to 17
🎟️Desde 6€.

Gastronomic Christmas: The best gastronomic proposals to eat like queens during the holidays.

The Christmas holidays are synonymous with binge eating, binge, whims and, ultimately, a few months where to be a little more lax with the diet. That’s why, because in these months we have no mercy with ourselves (or we have a lot, depending on how you look at it), we will leave here all the great gastronomic plans for Christmas, so you always find a new treat you didn’t know you needed.

Restaurants for groups with Christmas or New Year’s Eve menus

Speaking of chocolates, one of the best ways to combat the cold is by indulging in a good hot chocolate. With melindros or perhaps with churros. Few things more Catalan than that, so we leave you a list of the best chocolate shops in the city for you to enjoy Christmas com deu mana.

Going out in search of the best Roscones de Reyes in Barcelona

Christmas isn’t Christmas without a meal. And in the same way that a Christmas feast is not the same without its corresponding panettone and a lunch of kings is not the same without its corresponding roscones of kings and the search for the bean to bites between its spongy dough.

Last year in Barcelona we had, officially, the best roscones de Reyes de Catalunya, which are made in these two bakeries, but throughout the city there are many more worth trying to spend a morning of Kings of luxury.

Treat yourself to a visit to some of the best restaurants in Barcelona.

The Macarfi guide defines the 10 best restaurants in Barcelona and the 5 best openings of the year. Within the ecosystem of the most veteran restaurants, the big winner in Barcelona has been Alkimia. It has been followed by Estimar and Via Veneto, as well as the Torres Brothers Kitchen, Lasarte, Aürt, Els Casals, Gresca and two ex-aequo, Coure and Albert Adrià’s Enigma.You can also take a trip to the province of Girona and try some of the winners there: El Celler de Can Roca, Miramar, Les Cols, Bo.tic, Ca L’Enric….

But you also have the Michelin restaurants, which recently handed out new stars in the city.

Of course, if you prefer to adjust your budget, we leave you some of the cheapest lunch menus in Barcelona so you can treat yourself to an affordable luxury. In short, do not stay without eating luxury this Christmas.

Several locations

Visit the Christmas markets in Barcelona and surroundings.

At Christmas time Barcelona is full of Christmas markets that turn the city and its surroundings into living reflections of what one expects from a city during Christmas. From markets of fir trees or Tiós de nadal, to design markets to find the most original gifts.

Or visit the largest Christmas store in Spain.

Surely you did not know that just an hour from Barcelona is the largest Christmas decoration store in the country. It is Navidecor, a shop in Sant Fruitós del Bages with more than 1,400 m2 of exhibition and 50,000 items on display, among which you can find everything from simple Christmas tree balls to a life-size carriage of the Three Wise Men.

Take a trip to the snow (for skiing or not)

December is also the month of snow and outdoor plans in the mountains and skiing. The perfect excuse to leave the city and go to one of the many snow paradises: Baqueira Beret, Vall de Núria… We tell you in detail what you will find in each of them.

Several locations