Christmas in Seville: the lights, the nativity scenes, the markets, the Three Kings parade and what is shut on 25 December

💡 The Short Version: Seville’s lights ran from 29 November 2025 to 6 January 2026, across 304 streets with nine million LEDs on the Avenida de la Constitución, lit 18:30 to midnight. The nativity scenes (belenes) include a council one on the Plaza de San Francisco that is free and outdoors 24 hours a day, and the Three Kings parade is on 5 January. The Real Alcázar, the Palacio de las Dueñas and the Torre del Oro are closed on 25 December. The council confirms each year’s switch-on date in November. Or book a walk: the Small-Group City Highlights Walking Tourad is from €22.50 for 2 hours.

⚠️ 25 December. The Real Alcázar, the Palacio de las Dueñas, the Torre del Oro, the Archivo General de Indias and the Divino Salvador church are closed. The Alcázar is also closed on 1 and 6 January.

The season in dates

These are the dates of the 2025 to 2026 season, the latest published. The council confirms the next one in November.

The lights

In 2025 the council lit 304 streets and squares, ten more than the year before, with a new display on the Avenida de la Constitución: 32 lit trees 7.60 m tall, 17 hanging baubles and 42 light features on the lamp-posts, which it renamed the Avenida de la Navidad for the season. Sierpes, Tetuán, Velázquez, Imagen, Laraña, Campana and Alfonso XII, the Plaza del Salvador and the Triana, San Telmo and Los Remedios bridges have their own designs. The switch-on that year was at 17:30 on 29 November, with a concert on the avenue (Sevilla Actualidad).

The Town Hall covered in Christmas lights. Photo: CarlosVdeHabsburgo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The lights run from 18:30 to midnight, and to 01:00 on 24 and 31 December and 5 January. The sun sets at about 18:07 in mid-December, so they come on in the dark.

A walk that covers the centre in an hour starts at the Cathedral on the Avenida de la Constitución, passes the Town Hall façade on the Plaza de San Francisco, where a 14-minute light-and-sound show, Acordes de Sevilla, ran every 30 minutes from 18:30 to 23:00, and goes up Sierpes. The three biggest nativity scenes in the centre are on the same few streets, in the next section. For the Cathedral and the Alcázar by day, see Seville Cathedral and Giralda tickets and Real Alcázar tickets.

The floodlit Cathedral at night. Photo: Steven Lek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The nativity scenes

A belén is a nativity scene, and Seville’s are exhibitions as well as devotions. The hours below are those of the 2025 season; each exhibition publishes its new dates in November.

A belén in the church of the Santo Ángel. Photo: CarlosVdeHabsburgo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In 2025 the council also built a giant nativity scene on the Avenida de Roma, opposite the Palacio de San Telmo, with a Saint Joseph 9.80 m tall (Sevilla Actualidad, 2025).

Markets and music

• Feria del Belén. Stalls of figures, stables and decorations on the Plaza del Triunfo beside the Cathedral, to 23 December in 2025.
• Nervión market. On the Avenida Luis de Morales beside El Corte Inglés, 28 November to 5 January in 2025.
• Setalandia. Under the Setas, to 6 January; the viewing walkway is in Metropol Parasol tickets.
• Craft fair. The Feria de Artesanía Creativa in the Jardines del Cristina had 52 stands in 2025, 50 of them artisan workshops.
• Alameda de Hércules. A Christmas village with rides and activities to 4 January in 2025.
• Concerts. In 2025 the Real Alcázar held eight concerts, three of them lyric in the Salón de Embajadores, and the Salón de los Tapices had a free series that needed a reservation (Sevilla Actualidad).
• Carols and zambombas. The council ran more than 150 activities in its eleven districts in 2025, among them zambombas, the street carol sessions named after the friction drum, and children’s workshops.
• Navigalia. An 18-minute light, music and water-screen show on the river opposite Triana, from 18 December to 4 January in 2025, with tickets at €2 and stands for 1,900 people.

The Three Kings parade

The Cabalgata de Reyes is on 5 January. The Ateneo de Sevilla organises it, and in 2026 it had 33 floats, 15 of them new. It left the Rectorado of the University of Seville, on Calle Palos de la Frontera, at 16:15 and looped round the north and centre of the city, down Calle Reyes Católicos, across the Puente de Isabel II to Triana and back over the Puente de Los Remedios. Because of roadworks the route changes from year to year. The traffic diversions began at 14:00, and cafés had to clear their terraces an hour before the parade reached them (Diario de Sevilla, 2026).

What is shut

• The Real Alcázar. Closed on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January; open in the morning only on 24 and 31 December.
• The Palacio de las Dueñas. Closed on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January, and closing at 15:00 on 24 and 31 December and 5 January: see Palacio de las Dueñas tickets.
• The Torre del Oro. Closed on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January.
• The Archivo General de Indias. Closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 and 6 January.
• The Hospital de los Venerables. Open 10:00 to 15:00 on 31 December and closed on 1 January.
• The Cathedral. Hours change with services; the Cathedral’s own calendar has the day. The Divino Salvador church is closed on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January.
• The Triana market. The shops are closed on Sundays and holidays; the bars and restaurants inside open from 10:00 to 17:00.
• El Rinconcillo. The tavern says it is closed on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January, and open until 16:00 on 24 and 31 December without reservations: see where to eat in Seville.

Seville museums and free things to do in Seville have the Monday closures that fall on the same weeks. The evenings, when the lights are on, suit a flamenco show or a tapas tour.

The weather and the days

December is Seville’s wettest month: an average high of 16.6°C, a low of 7.3°C and 99 mm of rain on 7.5 days, with 154 hours of sun. November has 91 mm. The figures are AEMET’s averages for the airport station for 1981 to 2010. Daylight runs from about 08:31 to 18:07 on 15 December. In 2025, December’s hotel room occupancy in the city was 65.6% against 88.0% in September (INE), and 8 December, 25 December, 1 January and 6 January are public holidays. The rest of the year is in the best time to visit Seville.

Where to stay for the lights

The links go to the hotel on Hotels.com. Where to stay in Seville compares the areas, and hotels near Seville Cathedral lists the closest.

Hotel Simón

Calle García de Vinuesa 19 · Hotels.comad

The hotel calls itself one of the oldest in Seville, in an 18th-century building 50 m from the Cathedral. A courtyard has a fountain, some rooms have Andalusian tiles and dark wood, and breakfast is served in a dining room decorated with Seville tiles.

Hotel Inglaterra

Plaza Nueva 7 · Hotels.comad

A hotel on the Plaza Nueva that dates itself to 1857. It has rooms with terraces and a roof terrace with views over the city.

Hotel Kivir

Paseo de Cristóbal Colón 3 · 31 rooms · Hotels.comad

On the river opposite the Arenal market. The Skyline terrace looks over the Guadalquivir to the Triana bridge, and the hotel has a rooftop pool. Some rooms have a river view or a private terrace.

Next

Semana Santa 2027 and the Feria de Abril 2027 are the other two seasons that change a visit. Seville in one or two days fits the sights round the closed days, where to eat in Seville and Seville tapas cover the meals, and what to book before you go to Seville has the hours for every sight. For the way in, see Seville airport to the city and Seville public transport. Madrid’s Christmas market and lights are in Christmas in Madrid.