Spain in Late December - Suggestions?

I need to get everyone's opinion on this one. I have the opportunity to take about a week off and visit Madrid in late December. It would involve leaving around the 27th and returning around the 5th of January.
Here is my question. Is this time of the year a good time to be in Madrid?
I've never been to Spain that late in the year and was wanting to hear suggestions and thoughts. What will the weather be like? What would be some good things to do in Madrid in the winter?
I've also heard there is a huge celebration in Puerta del Sol during New Year's Eve. Has anyone been there?
Is the city extremely crowded then? Any suggesstions on places to stay?

Thanks for your help.

Cold, cold, cold! Take the week off, but go to Malaga instead! See you there!

!Viva el Sur!

I second el Boqueron's suggestion. Madrid is quite cold and damp then, and the chance of fog is high. Flights arriving in and leaving from Barajas airport get all messed up by the fog and airport closings around that time. (For some strange reason the fog hangs around longer west of the city. It can be sunny and beautiful in the city, and the airport will have dense fog!)

You would be there in the middle of Navidades, which is over after Epiphany, January 6. Christmas is celebrated for 2 full weeks, from Dec. 24 to Jan. 6. Lots of people take off a few days then, and there are lots of family get-togethers. They also spend time buying presents to give on the night of the 5th, and shopping areas are packed. It also gets dark very early. You could visit the big Christmas market in the Plaza Mayor, and maybe catch a concert or play, and of course the museums are always there. It's kind of a wierd time in Madrid. You won't see any outdoor cafés, and people hurry when outside to get out of the cold.

New Year's Eve in the Puerta del Sol is something like Times Square in New York, but smaller. A lighted ball comes down at midnight. I haven't been (I hate crowds - I watch it on TV), but a bunch of my relatives, of all ages, went the year I was married ( I was married on the 29th of Dec. and they stuck around for a few days), and they really enjoyed it.

Still, as much as I love Madrid, I'd go south!

unless you can get a direct flight to the south, you kinda have to go thru madrid anyway. Stay a few nights and then grab the AVE to Sevilla or hop back on a plane. I was in Madrid around Jan 12th and loved it-- sun, cold, but so MADRID at that time of year! rgf

As a person who feels stuck here in the states, Spain at ANY time of the year sounds wonderful to me. Having lived there for many years, I experienced Spain in all of it's seasons. Christmas is a wonderful time in Spain because they are a largely Catholic country, and they enjoy the Christmas holidays to the fullest! The fog hangs around the airport because there are a lot of fields surrounding the airport, and it is slightly lower ground. But I've been delayed far more often in Atlanta than Madrid either leaving or arrriving. I say go! Enjoy the grapes!

Good chance for enjoying an authentic Christmas week, Madrid in Christmas is really special, the downtown is ever plenty of people enjoying with the ambient, the music, the typical Christmas market of "la Plaza Mayor", where you can see a lot of stands offering "belenes", christmas trees, jokes and curiosities.

About "belenes", "belén" is a representation of the village where Jesus born, and you will can see spectacular belenes in many places, go to the Palacio Real and see the oldest one, don´t miss the Zoologico de la Casa de Campo, it also has a beautiful and big "belén", by the way, Plaza Mayor has another one.

Sometimes Madrid surprises us with a fashion white day, if you see a good snowfall, visit Retiro Park, it´s cool (and cold) !!!

About the snow: if you like a snowy day, go to the mountains, in only one hour of train you will arrive in a beautiful village called Cercedilla, using the same local trains go to C9 line and get up to Navacerrada resort, try to ski in easy skiways or look the cool views (be careful, in the tops the temperature are ever under 0º).

More...yes, all the typical things of Madrid are there, visit museums, markets, streets, monuments and parks...

And don´t forget to enjoy the midnight bells at 31th of December, eat 12 grapes in the moment you hear the first bell, this in La Puerta del Sol.

If you like more information, you can ask it to me...about the weather, normally cold or too cold, depending of your procedence, sometimes snows (but not ever) and the humidity is high, probably you will see fog (or you will see nothing)

Bye!!

muy bien dicho, rubia...!

i think that madrid is great at that time of year... it gets very cold at night (like freezing for several hours) and then can warm up to as high as 60 or 70F (como mucho) during the day, depending on what air currents are like... but in general madrid is cool and clammy in the winter... you might even see some snow!

but i don't mind this at night, it force you to bundle up and wear heavy jackets and sweaters, gloves, hat, and maybe a scarf... no doubt where you stay will have a radiator (or look for calefaccion central), and so you just enjoy it best you can. this is why you buy roasted castañas from the street vendors, and why you drink warmed up wine or coffee or tea.

what's more, "cristmas" time is very nice around madrid... noche vieja at puerta del sol is like being in the times square of new york (well, sort of.. i never been..) and you can eat the twelve grapes for the twelve gongs of the bell, but hurry because you only have one minute to stuff down 12 grapes!

and the parade of the three kings... it's really nice, and there is a big crowd of people at parque del retiro... great bar hopping and museums nearby... a caña of Mahou or sidra to warm you up... or a pull from a porron of wine and soda... or make a chorizo sandwich before walking out to the street and just walk along eating it... i love madrid in the winter!!

go to madrid this winter!! it's very unique!! now i'm crying because i miss it so...

madrid, seis meses de invierno, seis meses de infierno.

[This message has been edited by real_megia (edited 08-16-2000).]

GREAT POSTINGS/IDEAS, replay and real_megia! This is some insightful stuff. Thanks!

replay had on his webisite photos of Christmastime in Madrid last year (or was it the year before?). Replay, if you still have those photos can you provide links to those images? They're really nice of Gran Vía and Calle de Preciados.

Another website that has lots of photos of noche vieja (New Year's Eve) for Madrid is Steven Erat's Madrid: New Year's Eve <entering> 1999 & other Madrid photos for that trip of his.

Saludos, MadridMan

I was in Madrid December 30th to January 12th 1999. It was very cold, but what I did enjoy was the celebration in Puerta del Sol. It was New Years Eve 1999 and it was great. The celebration is pretty cool. I spent part of the evening at a friend’s apartment only a couple blocks from Puerta del Sol then we went out later. My friends were actually all from Ecuador, so we incorporated their traditions, along with the Spanish and my own American traditions on New Years Eve. It was a great experience.

Although it was very cold during my visit, I enjoyed walking through the streets without all the tourists. We went to the Palicio Real and checked out the nativity scene inside. I really didn’t do much of the touristy stuff, just enjoyed being with my girlfriend and her classmates. I took day trips to Toledo, and Avila, and except for the local day trippers, we had the towns to ourselves.

I personally would recommend Madrid anytime. If you can handle the cold weather, it’s a great time to be there, even an Irish guy like myself can fit in with the locals.

……I did escape the cold some and spent some time in the South as well, although it wasn’t all that warm there either, though you could lose the jacket.

Oh real_megia! Reading your post made me sad and happy at the same time. I forgot about chestnuts from street vendors, and warm cider! Not to mention a few shots of Silver Bullet to warm the.... heart!
I was sick one holiday season ,and experienced the healing properties of a Sol Y Sombra!
The holidays are a great opportunity to purchase the wool garments that you couldn't touch in the states. The food is always wonderful, and the nightlife is hot no matter what time of the year. I enjoy the grape thing, but I can never manage all 12.
Gosh, I really wish I had the $700 for me and my companion by the middle of the month, all this talk has made me homesick, unfortunately the kids braces have to come first... Maybe my ship will come in! Soon...

rubia,

i can smell the roasting chestnuts now... mmmmmmmm...... and the nip of cold on your nose as you stroll around the city... (boo hoo.. sniffle...) i miss it so much! and my friends there too...

i haven't lived in the south or north of spain, so in turn Madrid and my pueblo in la mancha are what is home for me in spain, and those are not necessarily the winter tour spots, but they are a wonderfully warm memory in my past...!

SPAIN, anytime, anyplace.

¡viva la segunda patria!

pd> keep saving your money! you and yours will get to spain again!

[This message has been edited by real_megia (edited 08-17-2000).]

Madrid in Christmas is beautiful but I have to say that the sweetest Christmas that I ever had have been here, in USA. Last Christmas were my first ones here and without my family. I felt like it wasn't Christmas because you don't celebrate the 24th and 28th, I couldn't find a nice Belen, I didn't have turron, mazapan... So I was veeeeeeeeeeery sad. The fisrt nice thing that happened to me was that one of my co-workers whose husband in son of spaniards gave me some turron that her father in law gave her. Maybe it is silly but that made me feel much better because she did that in order to make me feel closer to home. Then, on New Years Eve my husband and friends bought grapes to celebrate in the same way that we do in Spain. They did very well and they ate the grapes on time, I couldn't eat mine because I was so homesick that I was crying like a baby. But the point is that even if they were a very sad Christmas everybody here tried to make me feel better and the adopted my spanish customs in order to make me feel at home and that is something that I didn't expected.
I cannot go to Spain next Christmas either because I don't have more time off so another Christmas without my family but at least I have good friends here and I wont be alone, and of course my husband is here too so that will make my Christmas wonderful again.

Hi Nuria - my wife's Spanish and she always feels most homesick when the festivals are on - Semana Santa for example (we're planning to be there for it next year). Right now it's the Feria De Malaga (her parents live there), and she's all day reading EL SUR on the web to see what's happening. We're always in Malaga for Noche Buena (!Ande, ande, ande...!) y los Reyes though - couldn't miss it.

Spain has so many great festivals, and no one knows better how to celebrate them. My wife can't understand how people get through the year without them. !?Como que no llevan tronos en Semana Santa? ?Es que no hay hermandades? Que barbaridad!

Y tiene razon...

Thanks for all the good tips guys. Due to some good luck, it looks like I will be able to celebrate New Year's Eve in Madrid after all.
If anyone has more suggestions on places to see or things to do at that time of the year, please post your thoughts.

IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO Madrid in Christmas can be an experience to remember . Christmas in Madrid is a very special part of the year since the whole metropolis cheers up, awakens from the winter to celebrate live. I would recommend you the taverns that fit with cold weather, “the winter taverns”. La taberna del buey in “General Pardiñas” street is one of them. It is a basque one (north of Spain) and has proven very cozy in winter. In front of it you have the buey restaurant a very famous one between foreigners (also expensive).
La taberna de Antonio Sanchez (the oldest in Madrid) is a must in winter but go straight since some streets near the tavern are a little bit dangerous if you are alone. The place is cool if you enjoy going back in time a hundred years. Try: Valdepeñas wine, tortilla española and montado de solomillo.
As long as the night my recommendation is “El Berlin Cabaret” in Costanilla de San Pedro Street. Trendy German-Cabaret in the thirties style, next to the second oldest “mudejar” tower in Madrid. I do not say what mudejar is, I want you to investigate. Visit the place, they have an inside board where the timetable of their shows is published. Young-modern public, artists and yuppies also.

Regards,
Andrés.


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