Christmas and New Years - considerations?

One thing I know is that the Prado is closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. I assume many other attractions will be closed on those days as well, but you have to check individual websites.

First, you are going to lose a couple of days. Most of Spain begins to shut down early afternoon of both Christmas and New Years eve. And on both of those days, very little is open. We only saw a couple large hotel restaurants open and they were packed with long lines of tourists. The concept of New Year's eve celebration is very different in Spain than in the US. No big parties or bars being open. On the advice of our tour guide in Sevilla we hit the local grocery store the day before and bought enough wine, cheese, cold cuts, fruit, etc. to get us through both days. We didn't travel on either Christmas or NY day so cannot comment on train availability but was told that the train schedule was severely limited. Of course, you can always check the schedules for those days. But I would not plan on traveling those days.

Good time to visit cathedrals and listen to the music. For some reason the bull ring and the museum was open on Christmas day in Sevilla.

Many tourist sights will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Also, Epithany is a public holiday, perhaps not observed by sights so much, but may be busier. Big shops will be closed on Christmas Day, etc. and most smaller stores too. Restaurants can be open on the holidays, but they may be busy or reserved. You won't starve in the big cities, but smaller communities can be closed up. New Year's Eve is a biggish thing in many town squares. Eating grapes is a tradition. Hotels will be open and at least some local and national transport will run. The basics will vary between regions.

re the grapes Nick mentioned, the most famous New Year’s tradition in Spain is eating 12 grapes, one for each gong at midnight. If you find yourselves in Madrid during New Year's Eve, and don't mind crowds, you could head over to the Puerta del Sol, where most of the reveling will be centered at. You'll have a blast with a bottle of Cava and a handful of grapes.

In the same regard, in Barcelona, Plaça d’Espanya and Plaça Catalunya will be the main congregation points for NYE revelers.

During Christmas time, we also have a tradition of eating Turrón – a nougat-like sweet. I would be on the look out to buy some when you are in Spain, if you would like to partake in some of the traditional treats. For sure, one can pick them up at a Corte Inglés.

P.S. and don't forget about Churros con Chocolate for a nice warm treat!

How many nights will you be spending in Spain (not counting the night on the plane)? Even without holiday closures, that seems like an awful lot of spread-out cities if you have fewer than 14 nights actually in Spain. I suspect that the holidays will make it much more difficult to squeeze in a lot of tourist sights in some of those cities. If your major interest is just wandering around and being there, it won't be as much of an issue.

I was curious about the situation in Barcelona, some of whose key sights have normal hours that are significantly longer than a tourist expects to find. This is what I uncovered on the websites of some of the city's key attractions:

• Casa Mila: Closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 7-13. Opens late (11 AM) on Jan. 1.

• Casa Batllo: Website indicates that it is open 365 days a year.

• Parc Guell: Website indicates that it is open 365 days a year.

• La Sagrada Familia: Seems to be open every day but has limited hours (9 AM to 2 PM) on Dec. 25, Dec. 26, Jan. 1 and Jan. 6,

• Picasso Museum: Closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

• Palau de la Musica Catalana: When you try to buy tickets, the calendar shows none being offered for Dec. 24, 25, 29, or 30. I didn't check to see whether there were performances on any of those days. Attending a performance is another way to see the interior of the building.

The above sites generally require a pre-purchased ticket if you don't want to stand in quite a long line and possibly not get in at all.