Where to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Spain
Peeps the year is almost over and we are wondering if all of you already chose a place to spend New Year’s Eve, so before you make a decision we want to make sure you know this: Spaniards really know how to celebrate and have fun like no other culture, so do you imagine spending a NYE in Spain?
This being said it is important you know that if you chose Spain you will have an unforgettable Noche Vieja no matter where in Spain you are. The traditions are simple but so much fun!
Spaniards families gather to say bye to the year with a very special feast. Usually all families celebrate a very sophisticated dinner with best and most expensive local products, seafood is what most fills the table; but also, serve delicious meat and veggies.
The stars of the night are shrimps, oysters, elvers, percebes (an exquisite seafood from Galicia), scallops, crab legs, but also, many families serve as entree lamb, sirloin or fish. besides all this, the product that will be present in all spanish tables during New Year’s Eve, are the grapes.
The grapes will be served with the dessert separated in recipients by dozens for each person attending to the dinner.
After a succulent dinner, all eyes are put on TV, to see 12 bells that happens in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid. At 12 o’clock, we will start eating the grapes. One with each bell representing each month of the year.
It supposes to bring fortune and luck for the next year and surely it makes a great and more exciting way to begin the new year.
After this feast, young people usually go out and meet with friends at the clubs that opens around 1 am while the more mature member of the family stay playing table games and drinking wine and cava all night long.
Many young people prefer to gather in Puerta del Sol because is the epicenter of the celebration in Spain since is where the bells that everybody watches in TV happen, and go from there directly to the best clubs that are located in the same area.
In Puerta del Sol there is an ancient clock that used to mark the official time of Spain, even though the clock no longer marks the official time it is still the one that marks the new year has started, and that is why around 10 thousand people go there to eat the 12 grapes, and cheers with cava.
This can be very nice if you aren’t bothered by crowds and having to wait long time because you have to be there early to get a spot, and the weather is already very cold.
Besides start the new year in Puerta del Sol in Madrid, you have other options like private parties. There are many restaurants and hotels that host new year’s eve parties for the Spaniards who want something special, and many travelers like you, prefer this option since is a exclusive way of enjoying a traditional Noche vieja in this Beautiful country. We selected the best ones, so you know your options ahead.
The pick for Madrid is the swankiest hotel of the city with a privilege location in the heart of Madrid. The Hotel Ritz Madrid is a palace built in 1910, and the surroundings are not less that the most important cultural icons of Madrid.
The atmosphere is elegant and classy. The area is the meeting point of the Spanish high society. For NYE The Hotel Ritz Madrid has a 5 course gourmet menu accompanied with music and a lot of entertainment which will make you feel like a member of the royal family.
If you want to start the new year’s in Ibiza, we suggest you to have dinner in Pacha, the emblematic club that stays open all year long.
They have a special gastronomic experience at the marina of Ibiza for New Year Eve with a magnifique show, the idea is to eat while having an unforgettable time, because is the last time of the year and you have to live it up.
When everybody has eaten the grapes and had a glass of cava they open the club for one and unique celebration of The New Year that is just starting.
We have picked our third option in the cosmopolitan city of Barcelona. The Casa Rocamora, one of the most beautiful modernist houses of the city, is hosting this year a unique New Year’s Eve party for travelers like you who want an outstanding and different celebration.
The Casa Rocamora is Located in an Elizabethan palace of the 19th century. The mansion has been rehabilitated, and has recovered its original splendor and glamour.
Thanks to this Casa Rocamora has become the perfect spot for events and celebrations of great social interest and what better event that The New Year´s Eve to spend in this lordly palace.
They will have a sophisticated dinner with cocktail, and music to dance, so you better bring on your dancing shoes.
Since the party is very exclusive it will only host 60 people you should hurry to purchase your tickets as soon as they are out to make sure you will not miss this amazing opportunity to have your dreamed Spanish noche vieja in the most elegant and unique way! If you need help with this, we will be happy to assist you with the reservation.
Although we only mentioned three options (because they are the ones we like the most) you can find a great variety of parties around Spain and no matter which one you chose you will have an unforgettable night having so much fun, eating delicious food and drinking Cava.
Feliz Año Nuevo!!