Christmas in Girona

Day-by-day guide to Christmas in Girona

Late November: Christmas lights switch-on

Girona's Christmas lights are switched on in late November in Plaça Catalunya. There is usually music and a parade.

Girona's Christmas tree

December 22nd

December 22nd is the day of the Spanish Christmas Lottery (Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad). A ticket to enter costs €20. The drawn is broadcast on television, online, and radio. Weirdly, children sing out the numbers and the prizes. One child sings the winning number, the other child sings the corresponding prize. The top prize is €4,000,000. and over €2 billion in prizes are given out.

December 24th

The night of Christmas Eve is called la Nit de Nadal in Catalan. Supermarkets close early. Families have a dinner together called el sopar de Nadal (Christmas dinner). Before or after dinner (depending on the household), the children hit the tió with sticks, and the tió poops out presents.

At midnight on Christmas Eve is the Missa del Gall (Midnight Mass), to commemorate the birth of Jesus. The main midnight mass in Girona is at the Girona Cathedral. It is free to attend. It starts at 11:15 PM with the "Liturgy of the Hours: Office of Readings". Then at 12 PM is the Midnight Mass. After the Mass, there is an adoration of baby Jesus in the Chapel of the Annunciation, with liturgical and traditional hymns. There is also another Missa del Gall at the much smaller Església de Sant Narcís at Plaça de l'Assumpció, 18

Dia de Nadal (December 25th)

On December 25th, almost all shops and restaurants are closed, except for Condis Express (open all day), Konig (open from 6 PM), Sunset Jazz Club (from 7 PM), PdePa Claret (open in the morning), and a few others.

There are usually a few Christmas events like

• Els Pastorets, a Christmas play at the Teatre Municipal
• A quina at Pavelló Municipal de Santa Eugènia-Montfalgars.

In Catalonia and the rest of Spain, children do not wake up to presents on Christmas morning. Instead, presents traditionally arrive on 6 January, from Els Reis Mags (the Three Kings).

Christmas Day is mainly a family day. Most people gather for a long lunch at home. After lunch, children often stand on a chair and recite a Christmas poem from memory, usually one they learned at school. In Catalan, this tradition is called dir el vers de Nadal or el poema de Nadal. Afterward, children are typically rewarded with applause and some money, often from their grandparents.

But Christmas in Spain does not end on December 25th. In fact, it's only the beginning...

Sant Esteve (December 26th)

December 26th in Catalonia is pretty much the same as December 25th. Many families have another Christmas lunch this day.

99% of shops are still closed. Shops that are open include:

• Almost all the restaurants in Plaça Independecia
• Small convenience shops like Condis Express
• Casa Moner
• A few restaurants, like Konig
• Ocra Bar
• Plis Plas
• PdePa Claret
• Some gyms may be open (O2 Wellness Parc de Migdia operates on Sunday hours)

Día de los Santos Inocentes (December 28th)

December 28th is the Día de los Santos Inocentes (Day of the Holy Innocents), which is Spain's equivalent of April Fool's Day.

December 31st

Libraries and civic centres are closed. Supermarkets close early. Supermarkets are busy with people buying last-minute groceries.

The Cursa Sant Silvestre de Girona takes place on New Year's Eve.

The night of December 31st is called la nit de cap d’any. The tradition in Spain is to eat one grape for each of the 12 chimes at midnight. Many people in Girona gather at the cathedral for the ringing of the bells at midnight. Usually people just eat their grapes on the cathedral steps and go home, but on New Year’s Eve 2025 there was a DJ and light show.

There are no fireworks in Girona on New Year’s Eve.

January 2nd, 3rd, and 4th

January 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are normal days in Girona.

Patges reials (royal messengers) appear in public places around the city. They talk to children and collect their letters. Children can put their letters to the Three Kings in special mailboxes called bústies dels patges reials.

January 5th

Three Kings' camp

Traditionally, there is no Santa Claus in Spain. Instead, the Three Kings (Reis Mags in Catalan, or Reyes Magos in Spanish) bring the presents. These are the same Three Kings who gave Jesus his gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

From 4 to 6 PM, there is the campament dels reis (Three Kings' camp) at Camp de Mart in La Devesa. It feels like something from medieval times, with fabric tents and people drumming. There are six areas:

• The camp of Melchior (the elderly king with white hair). The king sits on a throne in a fabric canopy with golden tassels. The helpers wear red and white. There are flags and flaming torches.
• The camp of Gaspar (the youthful, blonde-haired king). The camp has censers that create smoke. The helpers either wear blue robes like people from the Middle East, or smart blue jackets and yellow trousers, like elves.
• The camp of Balthazar (the black king from Africa). The helpers are dressed in turbans and long brown robes, and wear blackface, which is not considered racist in Spain for some reason. Most of the helpers energetically play drums, which makes the black king's camp the funnest place to be. The king sits in a tent that looks like it's made of sticks and sheets sewn together.
• In the middle of the camp is a triangular-shaped stand where the chefs of the blonde-haired King give out free hot chocolate and cake.
• The Comitiva del Carbó (coal entourage) is in one corner, led by the Carbonara (a woman who gives coal to children). She rides a wagon carrying sacks of coal. There are people playing drums. And for some reason, a couple of people climbing up and down trees with ropes.
• In another corner is the camp of the Mag, a man with white hair and a beard. He tells the story of the three kings. Later on, the Comitiva del Foc (fire entourage) start juggling fire sticks.

The helpers give out sparklers and hard-boiled candy to kids. They also stamp shapes (stars and letters) onto kids' hands. They also give out chocolate coins designed by Jordi Roca. There are three types of chocolate coin, one for each king.

Around 4:45 PM, the Kings arrive. They talk to some of the kids and then climb up on the stage and sit on their thrones.

Around 5 PM, the Fal·lera Gironina arrive, accompanied by the Aliga. The Fal·lera Gironina play the Three Kings song on drums and horns.

Three Kings' parade

One of the Three Kings throwing sweets to children in Girona during the 2025 Three Kings Parade

At 6 PM, the Kings parade through the city streets on floats, tossing carmels (hard-boiled candy) to kids. At the same time, everyone sings this song:

Visca els tres Reis 
de l'Orient
que porten coses a tota la gent
Una botifarra per a la meva mare
Un got de vi pel meu padrí
Un tall de coca per la meva boca
Un tros de pa pel meu germà

English translation:

Long live the Three Kings from the Orient
bringing gifts to all the people
A sausage for my mother
A glass of wine for my grandfather
A slice of cake for my mouth
A piece of bread for my brother

Sometimes an extra verse is added:

Una bicicleta per la senyoreta
Uns calçotets pel senyoret

Which translates to:

A bicycle for the lady
Some underpants for the gentleman

The three kings are accompanied by their patges (royal pages, or helpers).

At the very back of the parade is the carbonera, a woman who gives coal to children to remind them to behave well. With her big hat she looks like one of the guards who guard the witch's castle in Wizard of Oz.

Then everyone goes home and children ready for bed. Kids and parents each leave out one shoe (so the Kings know where to leave to presents), as well as carrots and water for the camels, and milk and cookies for the Kings.

January 6th

January 6th is a public holiday in Spain. It is called el dia dels tres reis (Three King's day). Children wake up and find presents from the Three Kings waiting for them next to their shoes.

It is normal for kids to find a piece of coal among their presents. The coal is for the bad things they’ve done that year. However, kids see the coal as something fun, not something to be upset about.

Some shops sell coal made out of sugar (carbó de Reis de sucre).

Tortell de reis

On January 6th, people in Spain eat a cake called the roscón de Reyes (or tortell de reis in Catalan). This is a circular cake with a hole in the middle, like a giant doughnut. It is filled with cream (nata), marzipan (massapà), or chocolate (trufa or trufa de chocolate) or unfilled (sin relleno). It is topped with glace fruit, pine nuts or chopped almonds.

Two things are baked inside the cake: a bean wrapped in tinfoil and a small figure of a king. If your slice of cake contains the king, you get to wear a paper crown. If your slice contains the bean, however, the custom is that you have to reimburse the person who paid for the cake, or pay for the cake next year (the rule depends on the household).

There are two types of tortells de reis: those found in supermarkets and those from bakeries.

• Supermarket version: A cheap industrial version that costs between €5 and €11. Fresh or frozen. Most supermarkets sell them, including Lidl (€7.49), Mercadona (around €10), Bon Preu (€11), and Dia.
• Bakery version: A more expensive version that has better ingredients and tastes better. Costs between €15 to €35, depending on the size and the bakery. All bakeries sell them, including Casa Moner (cheapest is €25.50), 365 (cheapest is €15), and Can Boix (€25).

You can also make one yourself at home pretty easily with puff pastry (pasta de full) which you can buy in supermarkets, and some cream.

Things to do in Girona during Christmas

Christmas market in Plaça Independençia

Girona's Christmas market

The Christmas market in Plaça Independençia runs from late November/early December until early January. It consists of around 20 stalls selling things like jewelry, nativity figures, cheese, more jewelry, flowers, more jewelry, tions, turrons, children's toys, more jewelry, Christmas decorations, hats and scarfs, honey, fuet, and more jewelry. The market is very small compared to bigger Christmas markets in cities like Barcelona.

Quina

A quina card

Quina is the Catalan Christmas version of bingo. It's a fun, loud event where you can win prizes. Several quinas are held across Girona during Christmas, in community centres and sports halls. The Quina infantil is a special quina for children. Held at Centre Civic Sant Narcis a few days before Christmas.

How to play Quina

First, you have to buy a card (cartó). One card is usually around €3-5. Each card has 3 rows, with 5 numbers in each row.

Then the announcer calls out numbers. If you have that number, you cross it off on your paper (or put a dried bean on it). The announcers call out the numbers in Catalan, so if Catalan is a foreign language for you, you might need someone to help to decipher the numbers.

There are two prizes per round:

• Línia: If you are the first person to complete a line, you have to shout "Línia!" ("Line")
• Quina: If you are the first person to complete the whole card, you have to shout out “Quina!”

The announcer will stop the game, check your card, and if it’s correct, you win the prize. Prizes are usually local products, gift baskets, or food hampers.

Once someone has won the quina prize, another round will start, and you may need to buy another card to play again.

How to calculate if participating in a quina is financially worth it

• Add up the value of all prizes you can win with one card (linea prize + quina prize)
• Count the number of cards in play
• Divide the total prize value by the number of cards in play, to get the expected value of one card
• If a card costs less than its expected value, then it's profitable to play

For example,

• Línia prize: Worth €20
• Quina prize: Worth €100
• Total prize value = €20 + €100 = €120
• Cards sold = 300
• Cost of one card = €5
• Expected value of one card = €120 / 300 = €0.40

You pay €5 for something worth €0.40, which is financially terrible.

Ice-skating

Girona's ice-skating rink

There is an indoor ice-skating rink from 21st December to 6 January at the Fira de Girona (Girona's exhibition centre, next to la Devesa). This is apparently one of the largest ice rinks in Catalonia, but it can feel small when it gets crowded.

Gloves are mandatory. You can either bring your own or pay €2 for a pair of gloves at the ice-skating rink.

Els Pastorets

Els Pastorets (The Shepherds) is a play staged during Christmas in many parts of Catalonia, including Girona. The play combines the story of the birth of Jesus, a battle between angels and demons, and a comic storyline involving two shepherds called Rovelló y Lluquet.

Lleuresport

Lleuresport is a big indoor play park for children at Christmas. There are inflatables, a zip line, climbing wall, circus activities, giant games, workshops, face painting, shows, and play areas. The price is €5 per person (adults and children). It is held in the sports halls of GEiEG Sant Narcís (GEiEG is a private Spanish sports club).

It gets very busy and the queues can be horrible. For example, a 20 minute queue for the food bar and a 30 minute queue for the bouncy castle is normal.

The food bar serves crepes, packets of crisps, and drinks.

Tips:

• The queues are shortest when it opens at 3:30 PM and about an hour before it closes. When the queues are busiest, aim to do things that don't require queuing (like the giant games or circus activities).
• Bring your own food to avoid having to queue for the food bar.
• Bring a book to read in the queues.

Website: web.girona.cat/lleuresport

History of Lleuresport

The first edition of Lleuresport was in January 1986, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the GEiEG Sports School. It was originally planned as a one-off event, but it became an annual Christmas tradition.

• 
  2025 edition of Lleuresport
• 
  2025 edition of Lleuresport

Traditional Catalan Christmas characters

Tió de Nadal

Tions for sale in Leroy Merlin in Girona

The Tió de Nadal, or just el Tió, is a wooden log with a painted smiling face and a red Catalan hat (called a barretina).

In the days leading up to Christmas, children in Catalonia "feed" the Tió by leaving food next to it, typically mandarins. When the children aren't looking, parents will eat the mandarin but leave behind the peel, to food children into thinking the Tió ate it.

On the evening of 24th December, children gather around their Tió and whack it with sticks while singing a special song. When they lift the blanket, they find that the Tió has “pooped” presents.

In Girona, the song is:

Tió, tió,
caga turró
d’aquell tan bo;
si no en tens més,
caga diners,
si no en tens prou,
caga un ou.
Caga, tió!

English translation:

Tió, tió,
poop out some nougat,
the really good kind!
If you don’t have more,
poop out some money.
If you don't have enough,
poop out an egg.
Poop, Tió!

Caganer

Caganers

Spider-Man and Batman caganers

A Christmas tradition in many Catalan homes is to set up a nativity scene (pessebre in Catalan or belén in Spanish) with baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in a stable. There is also a character at the back called the Caganer. The Caganer is a man in a traditional barretina hat squatting down and taking a poo in the back of the stable.

There are also celebrity versions of the Caganer. If you go to Caganer.com (a shop on La Rambla in Girona) you can find little statues of famous people and characters taking a poo, including Spider-Man, Marilyn Monroe, and Darth Vader.

There is also a Pixaner (a man urinating).

El Fumera

The Fumera is a mythical Catalan character who acts as a spy for the Three Wise Men during the Christmas season. The Fumera has four eyes on the front of his head and four eyes on the back of his head. Basically, he has lot of eyes. So maybe he should be called "eye-man" instead? We guess the more eyes he has, the better he can watch children to see if they have been good or bad. He also has a finger with an eye on it, like something from a Guillermo del Toro movie. He can stretch his eye-finger to extreme lengths to better see around corners and into bedroom windows. He spies on kids and then reports back to the Three Wise Men, who then decide if the kids have been good enough to deserve Christmas presents or not. Also, when children see him, he disappears in a cloud of smoke like Batman.

Home dels nassos

The Home dels nassos ("Man of the noses") is a mythological character who has as many noses as there are days left in the year, and loses one nose every day. So one January 1st he has 365 noses, on January 2nd he has 364 noses, and so on. However, he can only be seen on December 31. Children of Catalonia told to search for him on last day of the year, when he only has one nose.

Similarly, the Home de les orelles (or sometimes the Dona de les orelles) has as many ears as the number of days left in the year. However, he/she can only be seen on the 30th December.

Other Christmas things

• Every Christmas, there is a free nativity scene at the entrance of Girona City Hall in Plaça del Vi.
• Barcarès is a Christmas attraction in France. They have rides, food stands, and lights. It's a 1 hour 20 minute drive from Girona.
• Perpignan in France has a Christmas market. 1 hour drive from Girona.
• Fira de l'Avet Espinelves (Espinelves Fir Tree Fair) is a famous Christmas fair in December that sells real Christmas trees and other local products. It takes place in Espinelves (40 minute drive from Girona). Espinelves is only a small town and the fair can get quite crowded. Trying to get there by car can be frustrating, with long lines of traffic just to enter the village. Saturday morning is usually the best time to visit. If you go, you can easily combine the trip with visits to nearby towns like Viladrau and Sant Hilari Sacalm. firadelavet.cat | @firadelavet
• The Ajuntament de Girona puts the city's Christmas events on the Agenda.
• Every Christmas, Clicks Girona organise a shop-based scavenger hunt, where children have to find objects hidden in Playmobil dioramas in shop windows in Girona. The first year they organised it was 2023.

Where to see Santa

• You can drive to France (1 hour drive), where all the big malls have Santas
• Sometimes El Corte Inglés has a Santa.
• Malls in Barcelona sometimes have a Santa e.g. https://tickets.poble-espanyol.com/en/1201-natalis

Where to buy...

• Christmas trees (avets in Catalan)
  • Centre Verd is a garden centre in Salt. They sell Christmas trees in November and December, both real and plastic ones. El Sitjar, 1A, 17190 Salt. @centreverd
  • El Sitjar is another garden centre in Salt that sells Christmas trees. Camí del Sitjar, 17190 Salt @elsitjar
  • 9 Jardí is a garden centre in Banyoles that sells Christmas trees, which is 30-minute drive from Girona. Carrer Catalunya, 12, 17820 Banyoles. www.9jardi.com | @9jardi
  • Fira de l'Avet Espinelves is a Christmas fair in December that sells Christmas trees and other local products. (40 minute drive from Girona).
  • There is sometimes a stall selling Christmas trees at Girona's Christmas market in Plaça de la Independència.
  • Bauhaus is a huge DIY store on the outskirts of Girona. In December, they sell fake and real Christmas trees. Parc Comercial Mas Gri, 17003.
  • Navet.cat delivers real Christmas trees to your house or apartment. They can also take the Christmas tree away after the Christmas.

• Mulled wine
  • Aldi/Lidl have stocked it in the past, but it's easy to make it yourself. There's a spice/fruit shop in Mercat del Lleo where you can get all the ingredients.

• Wrapping paper
  • The cheapest place to buy Christmas wrapping paper in bulk is Flying Tiger, which sell rolls of 10 metres for €5.