Christmas will come a few days earlier this year in Barcelona. The traditional Christmas lights will be lit 4 days earlier than usual, still in the middle of November. This has been announced by the City Council, which has already set a date and time for the starting signal: Friday, November 22 at 6:30 pm.
As is tradition , the epicenter of the festival will once again be Passeig de Gràcia, which will host a great multidisciplinary show to welcome the most illuminated time of the year.
Open your calendars and make a note, because Christmas 2025 already has an official start date in Barcelona. The city has decided not to wait until the last week of November and will bring forward the switching on of its lights by four days compared to last year. We tell you all the details.
And what is the reason for this rush to turn on Christmas?
The reason, as communicated by the consistory, has to do with the mayor’s international agenda. The change of date is due to the trip of Jaume Collboni and other members of the municipal government to the Guadalajara Book Fair (Mexico).
Barcelona will be the guest of honor at the 39th edition of this fair, which takes place between November 29 and December 7, and the mayor did not want to miss either event.
The big Christmas lights switch-on on Passeig de Gràcia: all the details of the show.
The lighting event will repeat last year’s location. It will take place in the stretch of Passeig de Gràcia located between Ronda de Sant Pere and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes.
Far from being a simple act of “flipping the switch”, a 20-minute show is being prepared . The event, conceived by the Catalan company Brava Arts and under the direction of Pep Anton Gómez, will combine music, light and visual effects.
The highlight will be an aerial dance show by the Barcelona company Sacude, along with a light installation created by the Australian collective Amigo & Amigo.
The show will also serve to present the official soundtrack of these festivities: the nadala “Un cor que batega”, which will be performed by a choir of forty voices. The event will culminate with the awaited moment of the “push button” and the countdown, which will give way to the simultaneous lighting of the entire city, including the “signature lights” of Plaça de Catalunya, Via Laietana and Aragó street.
Days and times of the Christmas lights 2025 in Barcelona
Once switched on, the Christmas lights will be active until January 6, 2026. The hours of operation will be:
- Sunday to Thursday: 5:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
- Fridays and Saturdays: From 17:30 to 2:00 h.
- Special dates (December 24, 25 and 31, and January 5): Also lit until 2:00 h.
All lighting, both municipal and that of the merchants’ associations, uses LED technology to keep energy consumption at bay.
The ‘authors’ of the lights
The creative projects once again bear the signature of five design studios that won the contest promoted by the City Council and ADI-FAD:
- ARTEC: In Plaça de Catalunya.
- APO: On Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes.
- SMLXL + MA-MA: In carrer d’Aragó.
- Esther Pujol (Nahtrang Studio) and Marta Cerdà: In Via Laietana.
In addition, in Passeig de Sant Joan will remain the celebrated proposal of Brosmind that premiered in 2023 dedicated to anime and manga.
126 km. of illuminated streets, 3.8 million euros, 39 illuminated markets
The municipal budget for Christmas lighting is up 15% this year, reaching 3.8 million euros. Of that figure, 1.3 million will be used to subsidize (covering up to 75% of the cost) the lighting proposals promoted by the merchants’ associations of the different neighborhoods.
The program includes the lighting of 28 sections of streets in districts such as Ciutat Vella, Sants, Horta-Guinardó and Sant Martí. The facades of the 39 municipal markets, more than fifty ornamental fountains and the Mestral and Gregal docks of Port Olímpic will also be illuminated.
As if that were not enough, the City Council is already thinking about next year. It has opened the competition for the new 2026 signature light designs, aimed at design and architecture professionals. Proposals can be submitted until the end of October, with the aim of having the projects selected in early 2026.