Christmas lights switch-on 2026 in Barcelona and Catalonia: dates, times and places

Barcelona City Council has not announced the date of its 2026 Christmas lights switch-on yet (checked on 4 November 2026). In 2025 it was on Saturday 22 November 2025 at 18:00 on Passeig de Gràcia, and in 2024 on Thursday 28 November 2024 at 18:00, also on Passeig de Gràcia. This year the City Council plans 130 km of lit streets. Elsewhere in Catalonia, none of the 25 towns in this guide has published its 2026 date yet: we give the 2025 date wherever the council's website has it.

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Barcelona's 2026 lights switch-on: day, time and place

Not yet. The City Council sets the date and announces it in its press room: on 14 October 2024 it announced a switch-on on 28 November 2024, and on 16 October 2025 one on 22 November 2025. As of 4 November 2026 it has published no date for this year, either in its press room or on its Christmas website, which says it will be updated "around November".

These were the last three switch-ons, all on Passeig de Gràcia at 18:00:

In 2025 the ceremony lasted about twenty minutes and ended with a countdown that switched on the lights in every neighbourhood at once. Passeig de Gràcia was closed to traffic between Gran Via and Carrer d'Aragó from 17:30, according to the City Council's traffic notice.

Which Barcelona streets are lit in 2026

According to the 2026 lighting plan, presented on 9 July 2026, this year there will be 130 km of streets and squares with lights in every district, with the local shopping associations (126 km in 2025).

• Designer lights: back on Via Laietana, Plaça de Catalunya, Carrer d'Aragó, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes and Passeig de Sant Joan, and new on Rambla de Prim (Sant Martí) and Passeig de Maragall.
• Streets lit by the City Council: Ronda de Sant Pere, Carrer de Balmes, Plaça d'Urquinaona, La Rambla and Avinguda del Paral·lel, lit along its whole length for the first time.
• Fountains: more than fifty ornamental fountains across every district get Christmas lighting.
• El Galet, the Christmas light designed by Ramon Bigas, returns to every district and to Plaça de Sant Miquel.

Barcelona's Christmas lighting hours, and until when

The 2026 hours have not been published. In 2025, according to the City Council's note, the lights were on from the switch-on until 6 January 2026, 17:30 to 1:00 from Sunday to Thursday, and 17:30 to 2:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and on 24, 25 and 31 December and 5 January, all with LED bulbs.

Christmas lights switch-on 2026 across Catalonia, town by town

Each town's date, from its council's website. The ceremonies are usually held in the main square, often with music, and some councils announce them only a week or two ahead.

If you are going from Barcelona to see another town's lights, our guides cover getting there by public transport: Figueres, Girona, Sitges and Tarragona.

After the switch-on: Christmas markets, Santa Llúcia and nativity scenes

The Fira de Santa Llúcia, in front of the Cathedral, runs from 27 November to 23 December 2026, 10:00 to 21:00, according to the Catalan government's cultural agenda. This and the other markets in Barcelona and Catalonia are in our Christmas markets guide, and every market with an official date, town by town, in Christmas markets by town.

The Plaça de Sant Jaume nativity scene, what is open on the holidays and the metro at Christmas are in Christmas in Barcelona; Catalonia's living nativity scenes, with dates and times, in our living nativity calendar.

Everything on in the city in December, day by day, is in Barcelona in December, and the parade on 5 January in our 2027 Three Kings parade guide.

Data on this page last verified: 4 November 2026.

Keep reading

• Barcelona Christmas lights switch-on and what's open
• Christmas markets in Catalonia
• Living nativity scenes in Catalonia
• Barcelona in December 2026: what's on and what's open
• Three Kings Parade 2027 in Barcelona: times and route
• Catalan Christmas traditions: tió, caganer and Sant Esteve