Christmas again

[Clariman]

Any suggestions for Christmas with culture and things open? Last time we had Christmas without family we went to Prague and loved it. Great city with lots of concerts and had good food. Anywhere similar?

Also any thoughts on Seville at Christmas. We have a voucher for a nice hotel but wondered if everything would shut in a Catholic country like Spain.

Thanks
C

[Eboli]

Berlin is mainly open (and busy) on 25th (though some places close early on Christmas Eve). The shops maybe shut in Malaga but the bars and restaurants were open last time I was there on 25th (in 2016) - nice and warm too - as was the whole area by the port. Can't vouch for Seville.

Eb.

[Dicky99]

Any suggestions for Christmas with culture and things open? Last time we had Christmas without family we went to Prague and loved it. Great city with lots of concerts and had good food. Anywhere similar?

Also any thoughts on Seville at Christmas. We have a voucher for a nice hotel but wondered if everything would shut in a Catholic country like Spain.

Thanks
C

I can't advise on Seville over the Christmas holiday but some years ago I went with my parents in the build up to Christmas, in mid December, and really enjoyed it. Seville's a lovely place any time of year for strolling the streets, shopping and food and drink, but particularly so pre Christmas.
Nativity there is a really big thing so the shops were full of nativity figures, everything from tourist tat to the beautiful and really quite expensive. There was a life size nativity in one of the central squares for which the queues were long.
We had warm sunny days about 16c, with low single figures temps at night. It was a really good break to get into the Christmas spirit.

[the0ni0nking]

Spain is a Catholic country and their religious holidays over Dec/Jan centre around 3 Kings on the 6th January.

If anything, I'd try to time any visit around the Christmas period to include that date because the parades laid on across most cities are a site to behold.

I can't comment on Seville specifically but suspect it is not different to other areas of Spain.

Christmas itself in Spain generally involves a family gathering on Xmas eve and little on Christmas day. Indeed, near where we are most places open as normal on Boxing Day and some may actually be open limited hours on Christmas Day (unless it's a Sunday).

[Clariman]

Thanks all. We've decided to do Prague for Christmas again and use out voucher for Seville in February.

[the0ni0nking]

I appreciate the decision has been made re Christmas 2024.

However, I was chatting to a work colleague (based in Barcelona) around possible hotels to use as part of a cycling holiday.

He suggested the chain Paradores - and you will see from their website that a lot of their hotels are in what I would describe as "aesthetically pleasing" buildings and locations.

https://paradores.es/en/paradores

You can also select certain pre-determined routes (I've not looked into how this exactly works in terms of how you get between hotels etc).

https://paradores.es/en/rutas

Whether for a subsequent Christmas or simply as part of random holiday at some other time of the year, they look a good choice (and you get a discount if you sign up as an "amigo" which is free).

[DrFfybes]

Also any thoughts on Seville at Christmas. We have a voucher for a nice hotel but wondered if everything would shut in a Catholic country like Spain.

MrsF's family go to Alicante for Xmas/new Year. Fortunately we've taken on a trainee Guide Dog so I cannot joint them.

Apparently it hardly closes and they have no issues getting fed/food etc.

Paul