Linda and Filip's Guide to Christmas on the Costa del Sol

Christmas on the Costa del Sol starts earlier than you think. At the end of October the light company is already out on the main streets and boulevards, putting up this year's lights. Christmas trees appear on the roundabouts and stand there unlit for weeks, until the night the town switches them on. The shops get into the Christmas spirit, and it feels like Halloween gets skipped.

Coming from Sweden, I'm used to lots of Christmas lights. It's so dark there in winter that we need them. But Spain really goes all in. Even the little streets get decorated, and I love walking around and seeing how much effort they put into it. We spend every other Christmas here in Spain, and every other year we go back to Sweden to celebrate with my family. Christmas in Spain is soooo fun. They love Christmas here and they really do it properly.

We have our son Atlas, and my sister has three children, so between us we know quite a few things to do with kids. But before Atlas, Filip and I also spent days around Christmas out just the two of us. So there are a few suggestions here for couples and friends who want a good dinner and a little more party, too.

Filip has done party Christmases here, Christmases with a Spanish family, and now Christmas with a baby. He's also had the call from clients many times: we're coming over for Christmas, please book this. He's normally very optimistic about getting people what they want, and he always manages to get a table. But at Christmas it's very, very difficult, he says, and on New Year's Eve most of all.

What Christmas means in Spain

Christmas in Spain works differently. The big night is Nochebuena, Christmas Eve, when families sit down to a long dinner that goes on late into the evening. Gifts are few. The presents come on 6 January, from the Three Kings, and that's the day Spanish children wait for all year. The season opens with the Christmas lottery draw on 22 December, and everybody and their abuela watches it. You'll hear the children on TV singing out the numbers all morning, and you'll wish you'd bought a ticket too. It's called the Lotería Nacional de Navidad, and you won't need directions to find somewhere to buy one. And the season doesn't end until the Kings have been.

Filip has had both kinds of Christmas Eve here. His single years were a bit sad, obviously. Most people his age were home for the family dinner, and then they went out after eleven, towards midnight, to party. Coming from a small family, the dinner wasn't always the fun part for him, so he was looking forward to going out after. Then he spent a few Christmases with a Spanish family. They make a massive deal of the dinner, and the aunts and the uncles and everyone are there. Not many gifts, because the Spanish mostly do Reyes for that. It's a chance to get together and dine, for hours. New Year's is the same, but even later.

The words you'll hear, and will still be learning five years from now

• Nochebuena: Christmas Eve, the big family dinner

• Navidad: Christmas Day, the easy one

• Nochevieja: New Year's Eve

• Las uvas, las campanadas: the grapes, the midnight chimes

• Reyes, los Reyes Magos: the Three Kings

• La Cabalgata: the Three Kings parade on 5 January

• El roscón de Reyes: the ring cake of 6 January

• El alumbrado: the Christmas lights. Say it properly, like "alumbrao"

• El belén: the nativity scene, in shop windows, churches, markets and town halls

• Turrón and polvorones: the nougat and the crumbly almond biscuits on every table, a bit dry for those of us used to Swedish candy

• El Gordo: the Christmas lottery's top prize, drawn on 22 December

• Los Santos Inocentes: 28 December, Spain's April Fools' Day

Christmas lights and markets on the Costa del Sol

Let's start with the biggest: Calle Larios in Málaga lights up on Friday 27 November 2026 and stays lit into January. Fuengirola switches on the same night, with almost 3 million LEDs, until 6 January. The trees on the roundabouts light up with the towns, and the switch-on comes with a concert or a zambomba, a Christmas flamenco jam, in the main street.

The other towns publish their 2026 dates in November. These were last year's:

Every place puts up a tree, from the corner shop to the five star hotel. Some go wild: Puente Romano dresses the whole resort as a Christmas village, and Villa Padierna goes all out. El Corte Inglés puts up ice rinks and its window displays. Most businesses know Christmas sells, so they eagerly join in.

Forum on the Golden Mile is somewhere we go often, and I especially like it at Christmas with the family. We go for the cinnamon rolls and fika at Nybakat, and that part is a must for me. If you're not Swedish, fika basically means stopping for a coffee and something sweet, preferably with good company. At Christmas they also set up a skating rink, although not real ice skating, mind you: it's plastic. But anyway, it's still such a nice thing to do with the kids, along with the activities they put on for them. The place is beautiful and very photogenic.

I haven't spent Christmas in Estepona town myself yet, but I wanted to include something for those of you staying this side of the coast. My suggestion would be to keep it simple: go into the old town in the late afternoon, walk around, stop for something to eat and stay to see the lights after dark. You don't have to book a big Christmas dinner to have a lovely evening together. If you want the main event, Hotel El Pilar puts on a very nice menu. Book it way in advance.

What the towns put on, west to east. These are last season's dates; the 2026 programmes come out in November.

Málaga's Christmas lights, our yearly trip

This is the first trip outside Marbella and Estepona that I really wanted to include. We go to see the Málaga Christmas lights every year, and they're beautiful. With the family, we make a day of it. We walk through the Christmas market, wander around town and stop for tapas in different places. Then, when it's time for the light show, we head to Calle Larios, the main shopping street, with time to spare, as you'll be pushing through the crowd unless you take the side streets. There's also a hotel rooftop right in front of the lights, at the Only YOU hotel, that's a lovely spot for a drink. You need to get there in good time to even have a chance of a table with the view, and I'd book. But I also love being down in the street with everyone when the show starts. For me, it's the whole day that makes it: walking around, tapas, the market and then the lights together.

Last year we went with Atlas, when he was only a few months old. Expect the music to be quite loud: we had ear protection for him.

The alumbrado never fails to amaze. In 2024, Diana Navarro sang at the switch-on. The light and music show on Calle Larios ran three times an evening last season, at 18:30, 20:30 and 22:00, with no show on 24 and 31 December or 5 January, when the lights are on without the music. On the 24th and the 31st the lights stay on until 6:00 in the morning. Málaga publishes this year's show times in November.

The artisan Christmas market on the Paseo del Parque, the one we walk through, ran until 7 January last season, with 86 stalls. Muelle Uno, by the port, has its own Christmas market, open every day from 10:00 to 22:00.

Christmas dinner in Marbella: book by November

Christmas is high season here. Families from inland Spain come to stay with their villa-owning relatives, where they can all physically fit, and people from all over Europe, and further, come down for the holidays. The hotels and restaurants fill months in advance. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day go first, and New Year's Eve hardest of all, because everyone wants to be out dining and then go out.

Filip books Christmas for clients, and he says it's always the same thing: "Yes, we have two spots left, it's €300 a person, set menu." You take it or you don't. You quickly send the payment and you breathe out, because you've actually secured something for Christmas. You don't think about how you're getting there, or where you're staying. You start thinking about whether your suit needs redoing. If you haven't booked somewhere in November, you're going to be stuck without a table.

When the tables go, from what the venues did last season:

• Hacienda Los Naranjos opens its julbord to everyone on 1 October. SO/ Sotogrande publishes its menus in October, Breathe in September.

• In Málaga, José Carlos García, thirty covers, was full a month before New Year's Eve in 2024. Other popular spots in Málaga are Dynamit, La Cabrera, Atrezzo, Mezcal and Los Marangos. Expect them to be in demand too.

Puente Romano

Sea Grill or La Petite Maison is Filip's pick. Christmas there is always good. The one thing with the fancy places is the set menu: with his allergies he can only pick a certain amount of things, and if the menu comes with drinks and you don't drink, it doesn't make a lot of sense. But that's the new Filip. The old Filip would have said: I don't care what it costs, it's Christmas, I want to be in the best place. And make sure there's an after party lined up.

Puente Romano does a Christmas Eve dinner and a Christmas Day brunch, with Father Christmas at Sea Grill, mulled wine and chestnuts at La Plaza every evening, and La Casita, the kids' club for ages 4 to 12, with plenty of activities for Santa's little helpers. Puente Romano's Christmas page.

La Sala, Puerto Banús

We've spent Christmas Eve at La Sala too many times to count, and also with the kids, so this is one I can recommend from our own experience. I'd choose an early dinner if you're coming with children. If you're a couple or a group of friends, I'd go later and make more of an evening of it. It's a social place, and the music and atmosphere are a big part of why I'd choose it. That's what I like about La Sala: it can work for quite different plans depending on when you go and who you're with.

Christmas Eve at La Sala is à la carte. Christmas Day lunch is €130 a person, half price for children under ten, plus 10% service. La Sala's Christmas page. Mention Filip's name for a better chance of a good table. They know him well, as he used to work there.

Hacienda Los Naranjos, a little Swedish Christmas

If you're Swedish and spending Christmas here, Hacienda Los Naranjos is the one I'd recommend for the Christmas julbord with the family. It's popular with Swedes, and sometimes you want a little bit of home even when you're celebrating abroad. For me, this is the one if you want that Swedish Christmas feeling around the table. Book way ahead, especially if you're a bigger family.

The julbord is a lunch, on the 24th and the 25th from 13:00 to 16:00: €95 a person, €85 for golf members, €50 for under-12s, with a welcome glögg. Other drinks are extra. You pay in full when you book, and it's non-refundable. Los Naranjos' events page.

What the big tables cost, Christmas and New Year's Eve

West to east. Where a price says 2025, it's last year's.

A Swedish Christmas on the Costa del Sol

Every year, we make or decorate our own pepparkakshus, a gingerbread house. It's such a cosy thing to do together, and one of the Swedish traditions we bring with us wherever we're celebrating. You can look for the house kits and sweets to decorate them at Spisa, the Scandinavian food shop found in Estepona, Marbella and Fuengirola. It's a nice little plan for an afternoon at home between all the dinners and days out.

The other Scandinavian shops on the coast are in our Scandinavian supermarkets guide.

Our Swedish friends, if they're not out for dinner, host a house party with games, like we do in Sweden. Everyone brings one present that could go to anyone, with an agreed maximum spend, and we play julklappsleken: you roll a dice on a timer, and a six or a double lets you take one or two presents from the pile. Once the timer is over, it's played again, but this time you get to steal one from someone at the table. When the timer runs out, you keep what you're holding. Nobody has to think about which gift goes to who. It's more about the game than the gifts. Watch out for the competitive ones. This is where they show their true selves.

Going to someone's house? Don't arrive empty handed. A bottle of wine, or some chocolates, is what people bring, duh.

What to wear, and the weather in December

You can't overdress at Christmas here. Go gala, go glittery, go fancy, stick a feather in your hair. A suit is always welcome, but you don't need a tuxedo. And you're expected not to show up in a matching Adidas tracksuit.

December is mild by day and cool at night. In Málaga the afternoons average 17.5 degrees and the nights 9, and it rains on 7 days in an average December. So the dinner dress comes with a proper coat, for the walk between the dinner and the party, or while you try to find an Uber. Today's weather is on our weather page.

Public holidays, opening hours and the January shutdown

With the 7th and the 8th, the first weekend of December runs from Saturday to Tuesday: the puente de diciembre. Puente means bridge, and I love how the Spanish bridge a holiday and a weekend into one long break. None of the coast towns' own local holidays falls in December or January. The rest of Spain's year is in our holidays guide.

The big shops can open on these Sundays and holidays over Christmas: 29 November, 7 December, and 13, 20 and 27 December, then 3 and 10 January. They stay shut on 8 December, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Small shops, under 300 square metres, open whenever they like. Most people stuck without a gift find success in the luxury shops in Puerto Banús. That's the price you pay for not thinking ahead!

Filip puts it best. Between Christmas, New Year's and Reyes, it's very hard to get anything done here until the second week of January. The lawyers, the accountants and the offices are gone, with a very valid excuse: it was Christmas, New Year's and Reyes, of course I wasn't working. You don't even get a say in pushing them, because their answer is valid.

If you're buying, selling or signing anything, get it done by mid December, or you'll be looking at the second week of January.

New Year's Eve on the Costa del Sol

New Year's Eve here is a lot like it is in the north: the countdown, a kiss and champagne at midnight. Except for the grapes.

The twelve grapes

Yes, grapes. At midnight you eat twelve grapes, one on each of the twelve chimes, for luck in the new year. Everyone watches the countdown on TV and tries to keep up. Only a few thousand people choke each year, but eh, who's counting? Every supermarket sells them at the end of December, neatly packed without the seeds, peeled, in packs of twelve. Mercadona stocks them, and so do the Chinese shops. Ask for las uvas. You won't miss them.

If you're going to try it with small children, the Spanish paediatricians' association says no whole grapes before four or five years old: cut them lengthwise in four, peeled and without seeds, with an adult watching. For the little ones they suggest raisins or corn puffs instead. Their advice, in Spanish.

After midnight

Everyone under fifty ends up in the street after midnight, and it gets very busy. The nightclubs and discos have entry fees or minimum spends, they're hard to get into, and in many cases you have to be on a list, or roll up and take a table with a few bottles of Dom, or you're not getting in. So it's a bit chaotic. You really don't want to be left behind. It's cold, too, and you're in your suit or your dinner dress with a big coat on top, and in heels. Standing outside in a queue hoping to get in, with the stress of "I'm not going to be left without a party this New Year's", is not ideal. House parties are normal too, and after parties, for the ones who don't get in.

Where we'd go

Filip's advice: if you really want to go as expensive as it gets, Puente Romano and its venues, like COYA. Alternatively, something in Málaga city, if you can get an Airbnb in time, so you don't risk the drive home with the drunkies on the road. A lot of people do Breathe or La Sala. Or just do something public, because every town organises something.

If you're in your twenties or thirties and looking to dress up and have a proper party, Puente Romano would be my suggestion too. I've done New Year's Eve there myself, at Supperclub, now COYA, so this recommendation comes from having spent the evening there. There are different restaurants and nightlife options within the resort, so I'd choose the actual dinner and party you want rather than just booking somewhere because it's at Puente Romano.

Or celebrate for free. Last year Estepona's Plaza del Reloj had a live band from 23:00, the chimes and fireworks at midnight, and La Cala de Mijas held an afternoon party for families at 16:00 on the Bulevar.

Getting home on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve

Our warning: if you're trying to get a taxi, an Uber or a Cabify when dinner ends, to go to your next place or home, good luck. You're going to be standing in the cold for a long time, fighting people over every car, and the price will be expensive. Pre-booking a driver is something you can do, but that driver can also leave you stranded. Back in the day, if somebody was driving, you'd hope they weren't drinking, secure an early place with them, and make sure during the party that they didn't ditch you and leave without you. Or you're close to home and you can walk. People don't think about it, and once they're done partying, they're like, oh yeah, I should get an Uber, and they spend another hour waiting for a taxi, or find somebody to share with. And forget the train on those nights. It's too crowded and chaotic.

On the 24th and the 31st, the taxis switch to their highest tariff at 22:00. In Marbella it runs until 6:00 the next morning: €5.81 to start, €1.76 a kilometre, €8.54 minimum. For the rest of the year, our getting around guide has the buses, trains and taxis.

A white Christmas in Spain: Sierra Nevada

Plenty of people from Marbella and the coast spend Christmas, New Year's or Reyes up in Sierra Nevada, and we've done it for a few years now. Some years it feels like we've spent more of the holidays up there than in Marbella. It's an easy two and a half hours' drive from Marbella, it's Europe's southernmost ski resort, and it's real snow in southern Spain. Filip's full Sierra Nevada guide has the drive, the parking, the slopes and the restaurants.

It gets busy. People come up from Granada and the towns nearby just for the day, and the whole resort turns around "the Plaza", Plaza de Andalucía, where the gondolas start and the après-ski bars are. On New Year's Eve the plaza gets giant screens and a DJ. There aren't many fireworks up there, because of the avalanche risk, and because it's a natural mountain with wildlife we want to keep.

Where you stay decides the kind of holiday you get:

• Up the hillside, in an apartment, a townhouse or an Airbnb. The cheapest, with the most scenic views over the resort, and perfect if you're celebrating inside. But the little lift down to the plaza stops after dark, the bus takes cash only and comes full, and forget taxis. It's a lot of walking up and down.

• On the plaza. Pricier, but still affordable. Our pick is the Inside Plaza hotel: a very good mix of location and price, dog friendly, with space and views. It will be loud. If you want it quieter, take a room facing away from the slopes.

• The luxury end, El Lodge or Maribel. We've stayed at El Lodge a few times and it's absolutely amazing, apart from the burger with nuts in it that nearly killed Filip last year. To be fair, they reimbursed the whole stay, which was the only thing they could have done. Maribel is the quieter of the two and more modern. They have a nicer spa too.

New Year's Eve 2024 was Filip's first New Year's without drinking, so we went up for something nice and cosy, with the dog. We were in bed by ten, exhausted from a day of skiing and snowboarding. At a quarter to midnight I woke up to the noise outside. Our room at Inside Plaza was right above the giant screens at the plaza, so I peeked out through the curtains, topless, and over two thousand people were looking straight up at the TV screens under our window. We're still laughing about it.

With children, Christmas up there is lovely. Santa skis down the slopes on Christmas Eve and hands out sweets, and Mirlo Blanco in the village has sledges, small hills and a little train for the ones who don't ski. And yes, you can build a snowman.

Same rule as on the coast: book in advance. Christmas, New Year's and Reyes are the busiest and most expensive days of the season, and the rooms on the plaza go first.

The Three Kings parade, the Cabalgata

On the evening of 5 January, every town holds its Cabalgata de Reyes, the Three Kings parade, with floats, music and a lot of sweets thrown into the crowd. The next morning, Three Kings' Day, Spanish children open their presents, and the roscón de Reyes is on every table: a ring cake with a little king hidden inside, and sometimes a bean. Whoever finds the bean pays for the cake.

The Cabalgatas close entire streets, mostly the main streets. Traditionally it was the three kings and their following, but at this point a float can be Donkey Kong, or a giant octopus, or anything in between, properly made, or papier mâché. The candy comes from young schoolchildren on the floats, from the schools picked that year. And the biggest threat at a Cabalgata isn't what you think. It isn't getting run over, terror attacks, or an angry kid hitting you in the eye with a piece of candy. It's the abuelas. The grandmothers launch themselves at the candy on the street like they were back in their twenties, to collect a bunch for the grandchildren visiting. And what you don't see on the night: for weeks after Reyes, your tyres squeal on the main streets, because of the candy stuck to the asphalt.

The 2027 routes come out at the end of December, and I'll update the guide when they're out. These were last year's:

Nueva Andalucía has its own parade at midday. As for the asphalt: Estepona's floats threw 16,000 kilos of sweets last year, Málaga's 20,000, and Fuengirola's more than 30,000.

So if you're here into January, you still have something to look forward to, especially with children who like the sound of a parade where people give out sweets.

Found something we should add?

If we've missed your favourite Christmas spot on the coast, tell us in the forums. And if you're here from October, our Halloween guide covers the month before.