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Holidays in Madrid/Barcelona

We will be traveling between these two cities and need to decide where to stay on the 24 of December. Will things be open?? Is one city better than the other? Will there be closures on the 25th?

Posted by
23524 posts

I was hoping that someone would give you an answer based on their experience in those areas at that time. We were in southern Spain (Seville) over that time this past year and it was pretty quiet. Only restaurants associated with big tourist hotels were open. Nothing else was open. Our hotel had a roof top garden so we laid in some supplies for that day and were glad we did since the few open restaurants were very crowded.

Posted by
34 posts

We are trying to figure out the same thing. We'll be traveling from Seville up to Madrid on Dec 24 and are wondering if anything will be open.
One thing we are thinking of doing is renting an apartment/vacation flat instead of a hotel so we'll have a kitchen to make our own dinners.

Posted by
23524 posts

I am guessing more might be open in Madrid simply because of the size of the city -- BUT that might not be much. Spain is a major catholic country and the church has much more influence than here in the US. But most of the US is also closed on Christmas day. Good luck

Posted by
7 posts

Thanks everyone...so we've narrowed our plans even more and will actually be in Barcelona for those days. Does that change it up any?? Anyone know if the hop-on hop-off bus still functions on the 24?? Your replys are greatly appreciated.

Posted by
124 posts

I went onto the viator.com website to see if the Barcelona hop-on, hop-off bus runs on Dec.24 or 25 (we may be there over New Years so was also checking for Jan.1). It looks like it runs on Dec.24 but not on Dec.25 and tickets can be booked ahead if you go onto the viator site.