Fiestas in Madrid

Madrid's fiestas

Look out for fiestas whenever you're in Madrid : there are dozens, some of which involve the whole city, others just an individual barrio. The more important dates celebrated in the capital are listed below.

Also well worth checking out are cultural festivals organized by the city council, in particular the Veranos de la Villa (July-Sept) and Festival de Otoño (Sept-Nov) concerts (classical, rock, flamenco), theatre and cinema. Many events are free and, in the summer, often open-air, taking place in the city's parks and squares. Annual festivals for alternative theatre (Feb), flamenco (Feb), books (end of May), dance (mid-May to mid-June), photography (mid-June to mid-July) and Jazz (Nov) are also firmly established on the cultural agenda. Full programmes are published in the monthly En Madrid tourist handout.

January

5 Cabalgata de los Reyes (Cavalcade of the Three Kings); an evening procession through the city centre in which children are showered with sweets.

February

Week before Lent Carnaval – the excuse for a lot of partying and fancy- dress parades, especially in the gay zone around Chueca. The end of Carnaval is marked by the bizarre and entertaining parade, El Entierro de la Sardina (The Burial of the Sardine), on the Paseo de la Florida.

March/April

Easter Week Semana Santa is celebrated with a series of solemn processions around Madird, although for a more impressive backdrop head for Toledo (routes and times of processions are available from tourist offices).

May

2 Fiesta del Dos de Mayo in Malasaña and elsewhere in Madrid. Bands and partying around the Plaza Dos de Mayo – a bit low- key in recent years, having been the funkiest festival in the city during the 1980s.

15 Fiestas de San Isidro – Madrid 's patron saint- spread for a week either side of this date, and among the country's biggest festivals. A non-stop round of carnival events: bands, parades and loads of free entertainment, usually centred around Plaza Mayor. There's a band each night in the Jardines de las Vistillas (south of the Palacio Real), and the evenings there start out with chotis (a dance typical of Madrid ) music and dancing. The fiestas also herald the start of the bullfighting season.

June

13 Fiestas de la Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida ; events around the church and in the adjacent Parque de la Bombilla.

17-24 Fiestas de San Juan ; bonfires and fireworks in El Retiro.

July

9-16 La Virgen del Carmen ; local fiesta in Chamberí barrio, north of the city centre.

August

6-15 Castizo fiestas . Tradicional fiestas de San Cayetano, San Lorenzo and La Virgen de la Paloma in La Latina and Lavapiés barrios. Mucho f the activity takes place around Calle Toledo, the Plaza de la Paja and the Jardines de las Vistillas.

December

25 Navidad . During Christmas, Plaza Mayor is filled with stalls selling decorations and displaying a large model of a crib. El Corte Inglés, at the bottom of c/Preciados, has an all-singing, all-dancing clockwork Christmas scene, which plays at certain times of the day to the delight of assembled children.

31 New Year's Eve (nochevieja) is celebrated at bars, restaurants and parties all over the city, and there are bands in some of the squares. Puerta del Sol is the customary place to gather, waiting for the strokes of the clock – it is traditional to swallow a grape on each strike.