In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Our judgement, because it depends on what you want to watch. Easter Sunday 2027 is 28 March. For processions, Seville: about 60 brotherhoods go out from Palm Sunday, 21 March, and the Madrugá runs through the night of 25 to 26 March. Granada is the smaller, steeper version, with the Cristo de los Gitanos among bonfires on the Sacromonte on Wednesday and the Cristo del Silencio in the Albaicín on Thursday. For a papal Mass, Rome: the tickets are free, and the Vatican Museums are shut on Easter Sunday and Monday. For one morning of fire and fireworks, Florence: the Scoppio del Carro in Piazza del Duomo. For markets, Vienna or Prague. For a later date, Athens: Greek Easter is 2 May. Or book: the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel tourad, from €64, for the days the Museums are open, or the City Highlights Walking Tour for up to 10 guestsad in Seville, from €22.50 for 2 hours (GetYourGuide).
⚠️ Easter Sunday shuts the doors. On Sunday 28 March the Vatican Museums are closed, and so is the whole Duomo complex in Florence, dome and Baptistery included. On Easter Monday the Vatican Museums stay closed and the Borghese Gallery shuts for its usual Monday. In Seville the Real Alcázar and the Torre del Oro are closed on Good Friday, 26 March.
Easter dates are the organisers’. Times marked 2026 come from the 2026 programme and show the usual pattern. Prices are each operator’s own, in local currency. The comparisons are our judgement.
The cities side by side
The cities are in the order of the entries below. Each is a link to the city’s own guide.
| City | Average high / low in March | What Easter is | What decides a visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seville | 21.9 / 9.2°C | About 60 brotherhoods, free on the street | Rooms in the centre sell out months ahead, and chairs on the route are rented by season ticket |
| Granada | 18.0 / 4.8°C | 32 brotherhoods in the Albaicín and Sacromonte lanes | Hotels in the province were 88.8% full on Good Friday 2026, and the Alhambra sells out |
| Rome | 15 / 5°C | Free papal Masses and the Via Crucis at the Colosseum | The Vatican Museums are shut on Easter Sunday and Monday, with no free Sunday in March |
| Florence | 16.3 / 5.3°C | The Scoppio del Carro on Easter morning | The Duomo complex is shut on Easter Sunday |
| Vienna | 10.7 / 2.6°C | Three Easter markets, from the Freyung to Schönbrunn | Shops are shut on Easter Sunday and Monday, apart from souvenir and sweet shops |
| Prague | 10.0 / 2.9°C | Markets on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square | Shops over 200 m² are shut on Easter Monday |
| Budapest | 11.8 / 3.6°C | A four-day weekend with two public holidays | The Vörösmarty tér spring fair has not stayed at Easter |
| Athens | 24.4 / 15.8°C in May | Orthodox Easter on 2 May, with midnight bells and fireworks | The state sites are shut on 1 and 2 May, including the Acropolis |
If you would rather book a guide
On Easter weekend a guide books the slot for you. The prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, and they move with the date.
- Rome: the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and Basilica tourad is from €64, for the Monday to Saturday that the Museums are open (Vatican Museums tickets).
- Seville: the City Highlights Walking Tour for up to 10 guestsad is from €22.50 for 2 hours (Semana Santa in Seville).
- Granada: the Albaicín and Sacromonte sunset walkad is from €15, through the two quarters the Wednesday and Thursday processions climb (Semana Santa in Granada).
- Florence: the Renaissance and Medici Tales walking tourad is from €12 for 2 hours (Easter in Florence).
Processions
This grouping is our judgement. In both cities the processions are acts of worship by the brotherhoods that carry them, free to watch from the street.
Seville
Madrugá, night of 25 to 26 March · chairs €90.50 to €1,016.77 in 2026 · Real Alcázar shut Good Friday
Each of the 60 or so brotherhoods leaves its own church, often in another district, and walks to the Cathedral and back, and a single procession can run for more than ten hours. The stretch they all share is the Carrera Oficial, from the Plaza de la Campana along Calle Sierpes to the Cathedral. The hooded nazarenos walk in front of and between the floats, and from a balcony you may hear a saeta, a flamenco prayer sung to a float as it passes (Semana Santa in Seville).
Palm Sunday, 21 March, opens the week with nine brotherhoods, and Easter Sunday closes it with one, La Resurrección. The night to plan round is the Madrugá, from midnight on Holy Thursday: El Silencio, El Gran Poder, La Macarena, El Calvario, La Esperanza de Triana and Los Gitanos all go out, and the Triana procession leaves from the Capilla de los Marineros on Calle Pureza.
Standing is free. A chair on the Carrera Oficial is a season ticket from the Council of Brotherhoods, which cost €90.50 to €1,016.77 in 2026, the cheapest on the Plaza Virgen de los Reyes, and a balcony in the centre averaged €6,000 for the week. Holy Thursday and Good Friday are public holidays, and the Real Alcázar, the Torre del Oro and the Archivo General de Indias are shut on Good Friday (Real Alcázar tickets, where to stay in Seville).
Granada
32 brotherhoods · Wednesday on the Sacromonte, Thursday in the Albaicín · Alhambra €22.27
Granada keeps the same week on a hill. Thirty-two brotherhoods leave churches in the centre, the Albaicín, the Sacromonte, the Realejo and the Zaidín, and the Cathedral is where they are all headed. Good Friday has the most processions, six, and the two nights Spain.info singles out are on the climb: on Holy Wednesday, 24 March, the Cristo de los Gitanos goes up the Sacromonte among bonfires lit at the cave houses, and on Holy Thursday the Cristo del Silencio goes out in the Albaicín with only a drum (Semana Santa in Granada).
Our judgement: Seville is the bigger week and Granada the steeper one, with the Alhambra open all through it, since it closes only on 25 December and 1 January. The general ticket is €22.27 from tickets.alhambra-patronato.es, the Nasrid Palaces open only in the half hour printed on it, and the tickets can sell out (Alhambra tickets). San Jerónimo is closed on Good Friday. In Easter 2026 hotels in Granada province were 88.8% full on Good Friday and 85.9% on Holy Thursday, so book the room first (where to stay in Granada).
Papal Masses and a cart of fire
This grouping is our judgement. Both are single events with a time, and both come with a closed door.
Rome
Papal Masses free · Vatican Museums €25 · shut Easter Sunday and Monday
The Pope’s Easter ceremonies are free, and lay visitors request tickets from the Prefecture of the Papal Household at eventi.pontificalisdomus.va. The 2027 programme comes from the Vatican, and the 2026 one shows the pattern: the Passion of the Lord in St Peter’s Basilica at 17:00 on Good Friday, the Via Crucis at the Colosseum at 21:15 that night, the Easter Vigil at 21:00 on Holy Saturday, and on Easter Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square at 10:15 and the Urbi et Orbi blessing (“to the city and the world”) at 12:00 (Easter in Rome).
The Vatican Museums are shut on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, and on 19 March for the feast of St Joseph. They are open Monday 22 to Saturday 27 March, at €25 online. Easter Sunday is the last Sunday of March, which is normally the free Sunday, but the free entry does not apply on Easter Sunday, so there is none in March 2027. The Pantheon, a €7 ticket, holds Mass at 10:30 on Sundays and holidays, and only worshippers are admitted while it runs. Colosseum tickets go on sale 30 days ahead, so Good Friday opens on 24 February and Easter Sunday on 26 February (Colosseum tickets, where to stay in Rome).
Florence
Scoppio del Carro on Easter morning · Brunelleschi Pass €30 · Duomo shut Easter Sunday
The Brindellone is a cart of fire, drawn by white oxen decked with flowers and escorted by 150 members of the historic procession of the Florentine Republic. It stands between the Baptistery and the cathedral. At the Gloria in Excelsis, a rocket in the shape of a dove, the Colombina, runs along a wire from the high altar to the cart outside and sets off the fireworks on it. The city council, the Comune di Firenze, publishes the timetable a few days before Easter. In 2026 the cart left its depot in Via il Prato at 7:30, the Colombina flew at 11:00 and the cart was home by about 12:30 (Easter in Florence).
Fireworks from the Scoppio del Carro beside Giotto’s Bell Tower. Photo: Celuici, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
The evening before, the blessed fire is lit on the Duomo steps at 21:00 on Holy Saturday, as it was in 2026. The cathedral, dome, Bell Tower, museum and Baptistery are all closed on Easter Sunday, which the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore lists as a closing day every year, and in 2026 the dome was shut on Good Friday too. Santa Maria Novella is closed to visitors on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Santa Croce is free on Easter Sunday from 14:00 to 17:30 (Duomo tickets and the dome climb, hotels near the Duomo).
Easter markets
This grouping is our judgement. Vienna and Prague each have markets to plan round; Budapest has a holiday weekend and a bath.
Vienna
Freyung market, 2026 daily 10:00 to 20:00 · shops shut Easter Sunday and Monday · Schönbrunn €42
The Old Viennese Easter Market on the Freyung builds a tower from about 40,000 painted eggs and sells Easter bread and roast lamb. In 2026 it ran from 20 March to 6 April, daily 10:00 to 20:00, with a second market on Am Hof on the same dates and the Schönbrunn Easter and Spring Market from 25 March to 28 April, 10:00 to 19:00, with a straw maze and a children’s train in front of the palace (wien.info).
Vienna shuts for the holiday. Shops close on Sundays and public holidays, and only souvenir and sweet shops may open, so they are closed on Easter Sunday and on Easter Monday, 29 March. The palaces and museums are not: Schönbrunn is open every day including holidays, 8:30 to 17:00 until 31 March, and the Palace Ticket is €42 for a fixed admission time. Belvedere 21, shut on Mondays, opens on public holidays, which makes it open on Easter Monday (Schönbrunn tickets, Belvedere tickets, where to stay in Vienna).
Prague
Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square · 2026 stalls 10:00 to 22:00 · Prague Castle 450 CZK
An Easter market on Old Town Square. Photo: Bahnfrend, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
In 2026 the markets ran on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square from 21 March to 12 April, with stalls open from 10:00 to 22:00. Good Friday, 26 March, and Easter Monday, 29 March, are public holidays. The shop ban covers only Easter Monday, when shops over 200 m² cannot sell, and it exempts small shops, pharmacies and anything at a station or the airport, so Good Friday and Easter Sunday trade as normal.
Easter Monday carries a Czech custom: boys and men go round with a braided willow whip, the pomlázka, and switch the women they meet, who give a painted egg in return. Prague Castle’s main circuit is 450 CZK, valid for two days, and St Vitus Cathedral opens at 12:00 on Sundays, so Easter Sunday morning belongs to the markets (Prague Castle tickets, where to stay in Prague).
Budapest
Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays · Széchenyi 14,800 HUF from Friday to Sunday
Our judgement: Budapest is the one to pick for the baths, not a market. The spring fair on Vörösmarty tér ran at Easter in 2025, from 28 March to 21 April, and in May in 2026, from 1 to 25 May, so a trip should not be built round an Easter fair there. Good Friday, 26 March, and Easter Monday, 29 March, are both public holidays, so the weekend runs four days.
Easter Monday has its own Hungarian custom, locsolkodás, in which men and boys go from house to house reciting a poem to women and sprinkling them with perfume, or traditionally with water. In our judgement a day in the thermal pools suits March, when the average high is 11.8°C and the low 3.6°C: Széchenyi’s 2026 price list is 14,800 HUF for a daily ticket with a locker from Friday to Sunday and 15,800 HUF on holidays and peak days (Széchenyi baths tickets, where to stay in Budapest).
A later Easter
Athens
Orthodox Easter Sunday 2 May · Epitaphios on Good Friday 30 April · Acropolis €30, shut 1 and 2 May
Greece keeps Orthodox Easter, five weeks after the Western date. On Good Friday, 30 April, each parish carries a flower-covered bier, the Epitaphios, through its streets in the evening, with the City of Athens putting the start at around 21:00. On Holy Saturday, 1 May, the churches fill from 22:00 or 23:00. At midnight the lights go out, the priest announces “Christos Anesti” (Christ is risen), the flame passes from candle to candle, the bells ring and fireworks go off above the Acropolis. The Holy Flame goes first to Agioi Anargyroi church in Plaka (Easter in Athens 2027).
The state sites, the Acropolis among them, are shut on Saturday 1 May, which is also Labour Day, and on Easter Sunday, 2 May. The Acropolis is €30 from the Ministry of Culture’s ticket shop (Acropolis tickets). The weather is the best of the eight: May averages a high of 24.4°C and a low of 15.8°C (where to stay in Athens).
What closes
| City | Good Friday, 26 March | Easter Sunday, 28 March | Easter Monday, 29 March |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seville | Real Alcázar, Torre del Oro and Archivo General de Indias; a public holiday | La Resurrección is the last procession | The usual Monday closures: see Seville museums |
| Granada | San Jerónimo; a public holiday | The Alhambra is open | The Alhambra is open |
| Rome | Vatican Museums open | Vatican Museums shut; no free Sunday | Vatican Museums, Borghese Gallery and Castel Sant’Angelo shut |
| Florence | Dome shut in 2026; Santa Maria Novella shut to visitors | Duomo complex shut; Santa Croce free 14:00 to 17:30 | Duomo complex back on its regular hours in 2026 |
| Vienna | Shops open | Shops shut apart from souvenir and sweet shops | Shops shut; Belvedere 21 open; a public holiday |
| Prague | A public holiday; shops open | Shops open | Shops over 200 m² shut; a public holiday |
| Budapest | A public holiday | Not a listed holiday | A public holiday |
Athens is on its own dates: the state sites are shut on Saturday 1 May and Sunday 2 May.
What to book before you fly
| What | How far ahead | Where |
|---|---|---|
| A room in Seville or Granada | As soon as the dates are fixed; Hotel Adriano in Seville takes a stay that includes Holy Thursday or Good Friday only for at least four nights | Hotels near Seville Cathedral |
| A chair on the Carrera Oficial, Seville | Season tickets were payable by 31 January in 2026 | Semana Santa in Seville |
| Alhambra, Granada | Online, in a name, with the Nasrid Palaces slot printed on it | Alhambra tickets |
| A papal Mass, Rome | Free, requested once the Vatican publishes the 2027 celebrations | Easter in Rome |
| Vatican Museums, Rome | €25 online, Monday to Saturday that week | Vatican Museums tickets |
| Colosseum, Rome | On sale 30 days ahead: 24 February for Good Friday | Colosseum tickets |
| Dome, Florence | A booked slot and photo ID, on the €30 Brunelleschi Pass | Duomo tickets and the dome climb |
| Schönbrunn, Vienna | A fixed admission time; the Palace Ticket is €42 | Schönbrunn tickets |
The weather and the clock
For Easter Sunday itself, March is the month to read. Seville and Granada are the warm ones, with highs of 21.9°C and 18.0°C, Rome and Florence sit at 15 and 16.3°C, and Vienna, Prague and Budapest have highs of 10 to 12°C and lows of 2.6 to 3.6°C, so pack for a cold evening at an outdoor market. In every city here the clocks go forward on the morning of Easter Sunday, 28 March, so you lose an hour of sleep before an early start such as the Scoppio del Carro’s 7:30 in 2026.
Where to stay
Stay within walking distance of the route or the square, because the roads are closed. The two hotels below are the ones our city guides name for the week, and both links go to Hotels.com.
Hotel Adriano, Seville
Calle Adriano 12 · Hotels.comad
An 18th-century town house with courtyards, facing the church of El Baratillo. The hotel says guests can watch that brotherhood leave and return from the roof terrace, and it takes a stay that includes Holy Thursday or Good Friday only for at least four nights.
Gran Hotel Claridge Granada
Plaza Villamena 1 · 5 stars · Hotels.comad
Faces the Cathedral, where the Carrera Oficial ends. One room category has a private terrace facing the Cathedral, and the hotel’s page names the Holy Week processions among the reasons to take it.
Each city’s stay guide compares the areas: Seville, Granada, Rome, Florence, Vienna, Prague, Budapest and Athens.
Other cities and other trips
For a budget break, see cheap city breaks in Europe. For eating, see food city breaks. For two or three days, see long weekend city breaks. For a pair, see romantic city breaks for couples. For Italy side by side, see Rome vs Florence. For the markets at the other end of the year, see the Christmas market cities. For museums and history, see museum city breaks. For the weather and festivals month by month, see where to go each month; all guides are gathered on Compare cities.
Common questions
When is Easter in 2027?
Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027, with Good Friday on 26 March and Easter Monday on 29 March. The clocks go forward in Europe on the morning of Easter Sunday. Orthodox Easter, the date in Greece, is five weeks later, on Sunday 2 May 2027.
Which city has the biggest Easter processions?
Our judgement: Seville. About 60 brotherhoods go out between Palm Sunday, 21 March, and Easter Sunday, 28 March, and six of them process through the Madrugá, the night of 25 to 26 March. Granada has 32 brotherhoods and the steeper streets, and its Holy Thursday procession in the Albaicín is led by a single drum.
Are the Vatican Museums open at Easter 2027?
They are closed on Easter Sunday, 28 March, and Easter Monday, 29 March, and open on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Easter Sunday is the last Sunday of March, so it is not a free Sunday: there is none in March 2027, and the next is 25 April.
How do I get tickets for the Pope's Easter Mass?
They are free. Lay visitors request them from the Prefecture of the Papal Household at eventi.pontificalisdomus.va once the Vatican publishes the 2027 celebrations. In 2026 the Easter Mass was at 10:15 in St Peter's Square, with the Urbi et Orbi blessing at 12:00.
What is the Scoppio del Carro in Florence?
A cart of fire drawn by white oxen into Piazza del Duomo on Easter morning. At the Gloria a rocket in the shape of a dove runs along a wire from the cathedral's high altar to the cart and sets off the fireworks on it. In 2026 the dove flew at 11:00.
Are there Easter markets in Vienna and Prague?
Yes. In 2026 Vienna's Old Viennese Easter Market on the Freyung ran from 20 March to 6 April, daily 10:00 to 20:00, and the Schönbrunn market from 25 March to 28 April. Prague's markets on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square ran from 21 March to 12 April, with stalls open 10:00 to 22:00.
