In depth · Christmas & New Year
Christmas in Andalusia: the lights of Calle Larios, the zambombas of Jerez and the Three Kings
Christmas in Andalusia is lived in the street. Málaga’s Calle Larios turns into a canopy of light with music, Seville’s nativity fair sets up beside the cathedral, Jerez gathers round the zambomba to sing flamenco carols, and the season ends on 5 January, when the Three Kings parade through every town.
Updated October 2026
The lights of Calle Larios
Málaga is famous across Spain for its Christmas lights. The city council switches them on in late November (on 28 November last season), and Calle Larios, the marble-paved shopping street that runs from the Alameda Principal up to the Plaza de la Constitución, becomes a vaulted canopy of light with a light and sound show set to music. Last season the show ran until 4 January, with performances at 18:30, 20:30 and 22:00; on 24 and 31 December and 5 January the lights stayed on without the music. More than 2.7 million LED lights decorated the historic centre, and a light show was projected onto the cathedral.
Our advice: arrive a little before a performance and stand towards the middle of Calle Larios, then walk on to the cathedral. The 2026 dates and times are published by the city council in November.
Seville: the Feria del Belén and the lights
Every Andalusian home sets up a belén, the nativity scene, and Seville’s Feria del Belén is where the figures come from. Its stalls stand beside the cathedral, on Calle Fray Ceferino González and the Avenida de la Constitución, selling clay figures, moss, little houses and lights. The city’s lights switch on at the end of November: Calle Sierpes, Calle Tetuán and the Avenida de la Constitución are the most beautiful, and a light show plays on the facade of the City Hall in the Plaza de San Francisco.
Christmas markets set up in the Plaza de la Magdalena and on the Alameda de Hércules, and churches across the city open their nativity scenes to visitors. Last season the gardens of the Real Alcázar were lit for evening walks from mid-December to early January.
Our advice: walk from the Plaza de San Francisco along the Avenida de la Constitución to the cathedral at dusk, when the fair, the lights and the Giralda are all lit at once.
The zambombas of Jerez
In Jerez de la Frontera, Christmas sounds like flamenco. A zambomba is a gathering in a courtyard, a bodega or a square where neighbours sing villancicos, Christmas carols, in flamenco style, keeping time with clapping, mortars and the zambomba itself, a friction drum that gives the party its name. The Junta de Andalucía protects the zambomba of Jerez and Arcos de la Frontera as a Bien de Interés Cultural, a heritage tradition. They take place in the weeks before Christmas, and zambombas are also held in Seville’s neighbourhoods.
Our advice: ask at your hotel or the Jerez tourist office which zambombas are open to visitors, and pair the evening with a sherry bodega visit.
The living nativity of Arcos
Arcos de la Frontera, the white town on its cliff above the Guadalete, stages a Belén Viviente each December: a living nativity performed by the townspeople in the steep streets of the old town, on a single evening in the run-up to Christmas. It is declared a Festival of Tourist Interest in Andalusia. Living nativities are staged in other towns too, in the province of Seville among them.
Our advice: the date is announced each autumn, so check it before you plan, and wear flat shoes for the cobbles.
Mantecados, turrón and the Christmas table
The great family meal is on Christmas Eve, Nochebuena, with seafood, ibérico ham and roast lamb. Andalusia’s Christmas sweets are mantecados and polvorones, crumbly almond and lard shortbreads, most famously from Estepa in the province of Seville, served with turrón and a glass of sweet wine or anís.
Our advice: buy mantecados in the bakeries and convents rather than the supermarket; Seville’s enclosed convents sell their own sweets through a revolving window.
New Year’s Eve and the twelve grapes
Spain sees in the New Year with twelve grapes, one at each stroke of midnight, for luck in every month of the year ahead. In Seville the crowd gathers in the Plaza Nueva for the chimes; in every town the main square fills at midnight. On New Year’s Eve last season, Málaga kept its Christmas lights on until six in the morning.
Our advice: buy your grapes ready-peeled in a little tin, as the Spanish do, and get to the square early.
The Three Kings, 5 January
In Andalusia the Three Kings, the Reyes Magos, bring the presents. On the evening of 5 January every town holds its Cabalgata de Reyes, a parade of floats from which the kings and their pages shower the crowds with sweets. In Seville the Cabalgata sets out from the University of Seville in the late afternoon and tours the city until late in the evening. The next morning families share a roscón de Reyes, a ring-shaped pastry with a surprise hidden inside.
Our advice: bring a bag (or an upturned umbrella) for the sweets, and find your spot on the route an hour before the parade passes.
Questions and answers
When do Málaga’s Christmas lights go on?
In late November. Last season the lights and the Calle Larios light and sound show began on 28 November and ran until 4 January. The 2026 dates are published by the city council in November.
Where is the Christmas market in Seville?
The Feria del Belén, the nativity fair, stands beside the cathedral on Calle Fray Ceferino González and the Avenida de la Constitución. There are also Christmas markets in the Plaza de la Magdalena and on the Alameda de Hércules.
What is a zambomba?
A Christmas gathering in Jerez and Arcos de la Frontera where people sing flamenco carols. It takes its name from the zambomba, a friction drum, and is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural.
When do the Three Kings come in Andalusia?
On the evening of 5 January, with a parade (Cabalgata de Reyes) in every town. Presents are opened on the morning of 6 January.
Join the conversation
Spent Christmas in Andalusia? Share your favourite lights, zambomba or Three Kings moment.
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Each city publishes its 2026 Christmas programme in the autumn; where it is not yet out, we give last season’s dates and say so. Check the city council and andalucia.org before you travel.