Christmas in Southern Spain

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

What's it like? i.e. is everything shut or is there a bit of life?

[Enrique]

Hi Rick,
Will depend on where you are...............Here inland its quiet.
For Three Kings its a bit livelier in the larger Towns .
What I do like about Spain ...they don't have the Christmas stuff in the shops until December and then its low key.............again speaking of inland.

[scotty]

San Pedro has street markets and christmas stalls. It can be a bit quiet though. The ex pats that have their health return to Ireland and UK / Scandanavia ....... the ones that stay behind congregate in each others houses or restaurants. Benahavis restaurants are good but book early.

[knowal]

It's just another day.

[curatokid]

The Christmas lights in Malaga along with the Christmas stalls are as good as any in the UK but everything here seems to revolve around three kings when kids get their pressies, as someone has posted " its just like any other day " Happy Christmas!!

[oliveview01]

Last Christmas it POURED all day or most of it the previous year we had our Christmas dinner outside and had to use high factor suncream for the pale skinned visitors!
The lights in Seville were good. Antequera usually has a good Christmas light display. I guess this year all depends on the cutbacks.
The first Christmas in Spain we went for a long walk with the Spanish neighbours and we got very lost in the olive grove
Happy Christmas!

[anyroads]

Should still be better than Ireland.

Christmas is cancelled this year.

anyroads

[scotty]

If you saw the BBC tonight you would know that its back on again...... & the brits tax system is paying for the party

[anis]

Alhaurin de la Torre usually has a good display of Christmas lights and I saw them making preparations last week to put them up as normal, along with hundreds of poinsettias. It is worth a visit in the evening when they are all up.
The roundabouts are spectacular, some beautiful structures and very elegant, some of the best I have ever seen anywhere in the world and they are usually all lit up for the festive season, with many fountains and water features.
The latest sculpture is superb, a mythical woman figure in a boat, sorry, I digress from the thread, but they are worth seeing.
Christmas day is usually quiet but New Year goes off with a bang, I can recommend Coin if you like wearing fancy dress. A very colourful fun evening out but don't take babies and pushchairs, there is not a lot of elbow room.

[aquaman]

Most Spanish restaurants are closed on Christmas eve as its a tradition for a family get together.
Christmas day not so important.Boxing day is a UK thing so it's just a normal day here. The English run bars are lively on Christmas eve and English restaurants and some Spanish do a traditional Christmas day lunch.

[Jalpujarra]

We used to come to Spain to avoid Christmas but sadly scrooge now has to look elsewhere. Spain has been colonised by inflatable santas climbing over balconies like everywhere else. Plan your eating out on the 24th carefully or you will go hungry.

[katy]

I loved Christmas the first few years we lived in Spain....it only appeared about 23rd Dec and everything back to normal on 26th Dec. Still not a hectic as the UK but it's getting there!

In marbella we usually had family visiting, large English breakfast in the morning, into marbella at lunchtime for tapas and a walk on the Paseo. Great ambiente, all the town parading around as they don't "do" xmas lunch. We had the turkey in the evening, dressed ourselves up and it worked very well.

The worst Christmas days we had was the 3 times we booked at restaurants. Even though we chose tried and tested places they were completely different, all of them packing in too many people and unable to cope.

Discounting family ties my ideal Christmas would be somewhere like Barbados or a cruise.

[Babby]

In most places the Spanish like to spend Christmas Eve with their families - usually with a 5 or more course dinner which starts around 10.00 pm. When the meal finally finishes, the "jovenes" and old go out to party, all the bars and discos are alive and kicking, some until sunrise. It can be misleading if you head off into a town or village at 10.00 pm and it could look like a ghost town, but wait a few hours and see everything come to life, probably when most pensioners are tucked up in bed with a cup of cocoa )