I’ve had a busy month getting in to the holiday spirit in Barcelona! There are lots of fun things to do in the city as it celebrates the holidays, though the celebrations are a bit different from they are back home. So here’s my roundup of what to do in Barcelona at Christmas.
See the Christmas lights
Barcelona’s Christmas lights are a world away from the lovable but tacky snowmen and reindeer at my local mall. These lights have serious style and fit in perfectly with the city’s glamorous but funky architecture. They’re everywhere in the city center, from Las Ramblas to Portal d’Angel and Passeig de Gràcia. I even got lights on my street this year!
Go shopping at the Christmas market in front of the cathedral
Every year, the Fira de Santa Llúcia sets up in front of the Catedral de Barcelona and sells Christmas-related things.
You can buy decorations, like Christmas lights or the special Catalan figurine, the Tió de Nadal (The Christmas Log) or the Caga Tió (The Shitting Log). He gets ‘fed’ something every night, and then on Christmas he ‘poos’ out all his presents. How does this happen? Everybody hits him with a stick, of course.
The Tió is so popular that he’s even on Barcelona’s town hall’s official Christmas posters this year. Here is his official song, as sung by Norah Jones and with accompanying sounds:
The Caganer is another lovely poo-related figurine. These are squatting, pooing figurines, usually of famous people, who are added as a finishing touch to the Nativity scene.
If you would prefer something slightly less scatological as a Christmas souvenir, the market also sells handmade gifts, traditional foods, and more, um, internationally recognized forms of Christmas decorations.
Have a look at the city’s Nativity scene
Nativity scene displays are huge in Spain! People have them in their houses, and cities put up special ones. Barcelona’s is in Plaça Sant Jaume, and this year it has a twist – the scenes are inside of four-foot tall Christmas ornaments. ‘Pessebre’ is the Catalan word for this.
Eat traditional Catalan Christmas food
Some restaurants do special Christmas menus del dia in the weeks leading up to Christmas, so you can try lots of specialties that way.
One of the most popular holiday foods is galets, which is a special type of pasta shaped like snail shells. The traditional Christmas soup is galets stuffed with ground beef or lamb, vegetables, chicken broth, sometimes eggs, and a bit of jamón serrano, of course! HERE’s a great recipe, though it is in Spanish.
Photos credit: Mi Granito de Sal
They’re so popular that the city has giant galet Christmas lights on the Rambla de Catalunya. They’re so big you can climb inside them (not that I’ve tried or anything…)
Canelones stuffed with meat and topped with creamy cheese sauce are also a favorite Christmas dish.
And for dessert, try some special holiday turrón. This isn’t specific to Catalunya, but it’s delicious anyway! It gets translated as nougat, but you can find turrón in tons of flavors, from crema catalana to chocolate to honey and nuts.
Don’t forget to have a glass or two (or three!) of cava with your Christmassy food.
On Christmas Day, put on your Santa hat and jump into the harbor for a quick swim.
Or if you’re feeling really festive, wear an entire Santa suit for your swim!
Photo credit: Emilio Morenati, Associated Press
Watch the light show at the Torre Agbar
Barcelona has been obsessed with light shows projected onto important buildings this year, and they’re really impressive. Go check out the Christmas special at the tower fondly known by a variety of phallic nicknames.
See the Christmas show at the Font Màgica (the Magic Fountain)
I love the Font Màgica, which is a big fountain at the base of Montjuïc in front of the Palau Nacional. It does light and water shows to music, and they run a Christmas special show. The lights are holiday-colored, and the music runs from traditional Catalan Christmas tunes to Mariah Carey’s cheesy but wonderful “All I Want for Christmas.” It’s every Friday and Saturday at 7, 7:30, 8, and 8:30, as well as on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Eat chestnuts
At the beginning of November, chestnut-selling stands pop up all over the city. The little metal shacks emit rich smells and clouds of smoke. The castanyers also sell roasted sweet potatoes (or maybe yams, I don’t know what the difference is). Either way, it’s all delicious!
Go ice skating at Plaça Catalunya
There’s a big open-air rink in the center of the city that’s always bustling. It pumps out pop and electronic music. Check out their official site at BarGelona (‘gel’ is Catalan for ‘ice’ – clever, eh?). It’s €7 for half an hour, or €9 for an hour.
Play the Christmas lottery
I’m not sure why, but the Christmas lottery is a really big deal here. All my Spanish friends have bought tickets, and my office has a pooled ticket. It’s advertised all over the metro every few minutes. Hey, you might win big!
Don’t forget to celebrate all the way until January 6th!
The holidays are longer in Spain, so there’s an endless stream of parties from mid-December to early January. Fiesta on!
And a bonus…
This isn’t strictly related to the holidays, but you should definitely go see the World Press Photo exhibition at the CCCB. It’s a show of all the best photojournalism of the year, and it’s truly stunning work. It’s probably the best museum exhibition I’ve ever been to.
Does anyone else know of Christmas traditions in Barcelona I’ve missed? How does your city celebrate the holidays?
Besos!
-Jess
Is it really a tradition to jump into the harbor in full Christmas get-up??
I’d never heard of galets before! My school is all about serving canelones de atun, which just screams “left-overs”. I’m hoping they’ll get creative this week and make us galets instead 🙂
Well, I’ve seen reports of it for a few years – I’m not sure how long it’s been going on for, but it looks hilarious!
Galets look tasty, though I’ve yet to try them. Do they sell them in Madrid?
This is the first I’ve heard of galets!
They are delicious! Mercadona sells them around Christmas time but it may just be in Catalunya.
So grateful for this! Will send you a message this week so we can exchange numbers and hopefully meet up!
Awesome! I am leaving for Christmas (on Saturday), so let me know if you’re here before then. If not, I’m still happy to help you out with anything.
I thought one ‘present’ you could give your mom and sister might be to eat inside a Gaudi house? There’s one that’s a little less famous called Casa Calvet that has a restaurant inside. I believe you can also go to a bar inside Casa Batllo.
As far as paella goes, they have some decent stuff (and generally good food) at this restaurant called La Fonda by Plaça Reial. But I almost never go out to eat paella, so here’s a list of people who may know better: http://www.oh-barcelona.com/en/blog/2012/tourist-guide/sightseeing/paella-barcelona-11982. Barceloneta, the neighborhood by the beach, is supposed to be the best place for paella.
I’m not really sure when this became a thing, but the picture of the people clad in Santa suits just made me think of Santacon which happened yesterday in New York City. I didn’t participate, but from what I can tell, it’s a loosely organized tradition involving a bunch of college kids/twenty somethings who dress up as Santa Claus/Santa related costumes and trek around Manhattan to different parties. It’s basically an excuse to dress up in a Santa costume and to go out and drink. This year, Santacon asked participants to donate money/buy a gift to donate to Toys for Tots and tried to plan an “itinerary” for party goers.
Not my thing, red and white velour suit not really my style haha!
I did see a ton of photos from SantaCon in the news this week! It looked pretty funny. Any excuse for a party, eh? 🙂
Love this! I had a Catalan Christmas party last year with a caga tio and paper doll caganers. I think I have to make a return visit to Barcelona at Christmas time!
Related: I bought a part of a part of a lottery ticket last year and was one number away from winning 10€
Hahaha I may have to buy a Caga Tío, they’re too weird not to have one! I heard there was a peeing equivalent of the Caganer too, which was news to me.
Wowza, that’s even odder, if possible.
Haha it’s just weird all-around!
I love that chestnuts are such a big part of the holidays here in Paris too! Glazed chestnuts all over the stores, chestnuts crepes, Pierre Herme has chestnut macarons and my favorite Italian place has chestnut gelato…now if only they had yams too! (Actually in China they have both chestnut and yams on the street all through the cold winter months!)
How funny! I had no idea it was so international.
I wanna wear a santa hat and jump in the water!!
Me too! 🙂
What a great post. Am currently trying to decide whether to stay in Barcelona for the festive period.
Sounds like there’s lots of fun stuff going on. And a lot of scatological stuff too!
Thanks for sharing
There’s tons of great stuff going on over the holidays, scatalogical fun included haha.
Barcelona has the best christmas lights, that is for sure.. and in combination with all those magically decorated shop and restaurant windows it creates a very special feel..
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Definitely! I can’t wait to see it all lit up this year.
When does the Christmas season begin Barcelona? If we’re there the first week in December, will it be too early?
You’ve got a very nice web site.
Hi Frank! Thanks very much. This year they turned the lights on on the second-to-last Friday in November and stuff was definitely in full swing by December 1.
That looks so fantastic Jess, one of these days I’ll have to come check it out.
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Definitely! I’ll show you around, it’s a great place.
Thanks a lot for this. I just moved here in August so it’s very useful!
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Good to know! 🙂 Hope you’re enjoying BCN so far!
Nice post, will definitely have to check out the Santa’s jumping into the cold port water. That’s in Port Vell right? Barceloneta?
Yup! I’ve never seen it in person, but it looks hilarious!