There are only a few days left to say goodbye to 2025 and receive the new course. Between meals, family reunions and gifts to open, Madrid’s cultural agenda doesn’t stop and offers a varied range of activities. Around 15,000 people will come to Puerta del Sol to eat the grapes in front of the Royal Post Office clock, in what has become a very traditional Christmas postcard.
But it will also be possible to subscribe to less frequented packages. A wide catalog of events to experience in Matadero with the family, the most varied exhibitions or the possibility of attending open-air concerts in different spaces of the capital in the last week of 2025.
Range of proposals in Matadero
The Matadero Cultural Center offers a variety of plans to enjoy Christmas with the family. Its offering includes outdoor shows like The Mad Hatter’s Café (with various sculptures in the form of giant inflatable toys installed in Alice in Wonderland) or the puppet and clown show La Caravana del Dr. Masterfil. It will also be possible to attend concerts such as those of Luli Bono, Naked Family or El Cuerpo del Disco, among other scheduled performances.
- Date: December 20 to January 4 at different times (closed December 24, 25, 31 and January 1).
- Location: Matadero Cultural Center, Plaza de Legazpi, 8.
- Transport: Legazpi metro station (lines 3 and 6).
Receive the year at Puerta del Sol
This year again, Madrid’s Puerta del Sol will become the nerve center of the New Year’s celebration. Some 15,000 people will crowd the square to welcome 2026 in front of the characteristic clock of the Royal Post Office. Cleaning of the area will begin at 9:00 p.m. and entry will be activated from 10:00 p.m. with musical performances scheduled until shortly before the bell rings. It is advisable to come early enough, given the large influx of public, although it will also be possible to take advantage of the rehearsal scheduled for December 30.
- Date: December 31, from 10 p.m.
- Location: Puerta del Sol.
- Transportation: Check open metro stations and active bus lines in the area.
Concerts in the Plaza de los Carros
The central Plaza de los Carros is the stage chosen to host different shows on the last weekend of the year. On December 27 at 7 p.m. it will be the turn of the Sugar Soul Shakers who will perform Christmas classics from the likes of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder to soul and funk rhythms. The next day, at noon, it will be the turn of The Good Men Swingtet, a group of international musicians living in Madrid who will fill the square with swing and Christmas melodies. On December 28, at 7:00 p.m., The Buttshakers will take the stage, with their latest album Lessons in love.
- Date: December 27 and 28.
- Location: Plaza de los Carros.
- Transportation: La Latina metro station (line 5).
Remains of the Casa de America
Bolivian artist Erika Ewel exhibits her exhibition at the Casa de América – until February 14 From the remains that I build myself. Through textiles, the author develops his art, in addition to using it as a tool to unravel social complexities. His works use everyday materials to tell through them personal and collective stories with which Ewel seeks to transform textiles into a space of resistance, memory and reflection.
- Date: from December 13, 2025 to February 14, 2026 (open Monday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Sunday and public holidays, closed).
- Location: Casa de América-Abanca Gallery, Calle del Marqués del Duero, 2.
- Transportation: Banco de España metro station (line 2).
Mexican Christmas
The Casa de México Foundation in Spain invites you to discover the Christmas traditions of this Central American country. For this purpose, it presents a program of activities to carry out as a family, among which the exhibition of nativity scenes stands out. A sample of more than 20 nativity scenes from different regions of the country, in which the main nativity scene is made up of 10 pieces of clay that exceed 170 centimeters. A wide variety of raw materials, techniques and symbolisms to approach Mexican craftsmanship.
- Date: November 28 to January 11.
- Location: Casa de México Foundation in Spain, Calle de Alberto Aguilera, 20.
- Transport: San Bernardo metro station (lines 2 and 4) and bus lines 21, 147 and C03.
Space for memory
Until January 30, it is possible to visit the collective exhibition at the Espacio Mados gallery. Memory of a place. A selection of works by the artistas well as Eduardo Alonso, Óscar Beade, Laura Pilar Delgado, Arles Iglesias and Nathalia Lasso who address the concept of memory. What traces do we leave and what traces shape us? This is the question posed by this exhibition in which each piece functions as a fragment of time which reveals a presence, an absence or a transit in a place and invites dialogue with visitors.
- Date: from December 22, 2025 to January 30, 2026 (open Monday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Sunday and public holidays, closed).
- Location: Mados Space Gallery, C/ Conde de Xiquena, 12. 1st on the left. Madrid.
- Transportation: Chueca Metro Station (line 5).
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