Plan a December trip to Valencia like a British or American Christmas and the itinerary breaks on the wrong day. Valencia closes the museums of the Ayuntamiento de València, the Catedral de Valencia and the Mercado Central de València on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January, while Bioparc Valencia and the metro keep going on all three. Valencia’s Christmas holiday period is 14 days long, from 24 December to 6 January, with 3 public holidays that close the city museums. Everything else is a question of afternoons: on 24 and 31 December the Valencia History Museum closes at 2pm and the Central Market at 3pm.
What is open in Valencia on Christmas Day? Bioparc zoo, which opens 365 days a year, the metro, and some Christmas markets in the evening. City museums and monuments, the Cathedral, the Central Market and the Science Museum close. The same pattern repeats on 1 January and 6 January, the Three Kings holiday.
How to spend Christmas Day in Valencia when the city shuts
Plan Christmas Day around three things that do not close, in this order:
- Bioparc in the late morning. Bioparc, the African-themed zoo by the Parque de Cabecera, opens every day of the year, with last entry an hour before closing.
- Lunch at about 2pm, which is when Spaniards sit down for the main Christmas meal, so a table needs booking weeks ahead. Meal times run late here: lunch from 2pm, a late dinner from 9pm.
- Lights and a market after dark. The 2.4 km Christmas lights walk through the old town works on any evening from 6.30pm. And in 2025 the Christmas market along the Umbracle walkway at the City of Arts and Sciences opened on 25 December from 5pm to 11pm.
What does not work is the classic sightseeing list. The Cathedral, La Lonja, the Serranos towers and the Central Market are all shut. At the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, the Science Museum and the Hemisfèric closed on 25 December 2025, and the Oceanogràfic sets its own holiday hours, so book a time slot through the City of Arts and Sciences tickets page before counting on it.
Prices and set menus for that lunch are in the guide to Valencia restaurants on Christmas Day.
Which days are public holidays at Christmas 2026
Between 24 December and 6 January there are three public holidays, three half-days and eight normal days. The normal days, including Saturday 26 December, Monday 28 to Wednesday 30 December and Saturday 2 January, are when the city museums and the market work as usual.
| Day in 2026-27 | City museums and monuments | Cathedral | Central Market | Family fairs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday 24 December | Open, History Museum until 2pm, City Museum shut | Open | Morning only, to 3pm | Expojove not yet open |
| Friday 25 December | Shut | Shut | Shut | Expojove not yet open |
| Thursday 31 December | Open, History Museum until 2pm, City Museum shut | Open | Morning only, to 3pm | Expojove 10am to 2pm |
| Friday 1 January | Shut | Shut | Shut | Expojove 4pm to 9pm |
| Tuesday 5 January | Open, 10am to 7pm | Open | Morning only, to 3pm | Expojove over, ended on the 4th |
| Wednesday 6 January | Shut | Shut | Shut | Expojove over |
Is 6 January a holiday, and what closes
In Spain the presents come with the Three Kings, not with Father Christmas, and 6 January is the bigger family day of the two.
That makes Epiphany a full public holiday with the same closures as Christmas Day: city museums, the Cathedral and the Central Market stay shut. By then Expojove, the big children’s fair, has already ended on the 4th, and in 2025 the main council nativity scene in the City Hall’s Salón de Cristal closed on 3 January.
The evening before is the main event. On 5 January the Three Kings parade took over the centre in 2026, with the Kings landing at the Marina at 4.30pm and the procession leaving at 5.30pm. Until then 5 January is a normal Tuesday, with museums open from 10am to 7pm. On 6 January itself the lights, the two life-size nativity scenes in Plaza del Ayuntamiento and Plaza de la Reina, and Bioparc are what is left.
What’s open on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are working days in Spain, so mornings are normal. Afternoons shrink. The Valencia History Museum closes at 2pm on both days and the City Museum does not open on either, while the Serranos towers, La Lonja and the Almudín keep their usual hours, because their only annual closures are 1 and 6 January, 1 May and 25 December.
The Central Market keeps its weekday hours, 7.30am to 3pm, so buy picnic food in the morning. In 2025 it stayed open later on 22 and 23 December, until 4pm and 6.30pm.
On 31 December 2025 the council cleared Plaza del Ayuntamiento at 8.30pm and let people back in from 10pm through five entrances for the countdown; how to get in is in the guide to New Year’s Eve in the Town Hall square.
8 December, the holiday when museums are free
Tuesday 8 December 2026, the Immaculate Conception, is a public holiday that works in a visitor’s favour. City museums and monuments follow their Sunday and holiday regime, open from 10am to 2pm with free entry, as the guide to Valencia’s free museums explains. The Cathedral closes that day, and the Salón de Cristal nativity closed on 6 and 8 December in 2025. Monday 7 December is not a holiday in the Valencia region.
How to get around on holidays and holiday nights
Metrovalencia runs on every holiday. Over Christmas 2025, FGV extended trains and trams to about 3am on Friday and Saturday nights and on the eve of each holiday, which in 2026 means 24 and 31 December and 5 January. On New Year’s Eve the service ran without a break until the morning of 1 January, out to Picassent, Bétera, Llíria, Rafelbunyol and Riba-roja, with trams 4, 6, 8 and 10.
From the airport, metro lines 3 and 5 reach the centre on holidays too, with a zone A and B ticket at €4.80 and a €12.50 minimum taxi fare, as set out in the airport to city centre guide. Expojove, at the Feria Valencia exhibition grounds, is on metro lines 1, 3 and 4 and bus 62, with extra trams laid on from 26 December to 4 January in 2025.
Which Sundays shops open in December 2026 and January 2027
Spanish shops mostly close on Sundays, which matters more than the holidays for a December visit. For 2026 the Generalitat Valenciana allows every shop in the region to open on Sunday 29 November and on Sunday 13, 20 and 27 December, for the Christmas and Three Kings season. For January 2027 the regional commerce observatory has proposed Sunday 3 and Sunday 10, which still need sign-off before they count.
On 25 December and 1 January assume shops and supermarkets are shut and stock up on the 24th or the 31st, in the morning.
Where the 2025 timetables still apply
The family attractions run to their own season, not the calendar. Expojove at Feria Valencia opens on 26 December 2026 and closes on 4 January 2027, with entry from €3, so neither Christmas Day nor Epiphany is an option; the Expojove guide has the daily hours. The Racó de l’Olla visitor centre in the Albufera, a free nature stop, closes on 24, 25 and 31 December and on 1 and 6 January.
Market, rink and nativity hours in this guide are from the 2025 season, the latest published, and the 2026 programme usually appears between late November and early December. For everything else happening over the holidays, from the lights to the parade, see the Christmas in Valencia guide.
Frequently asked questions about what’s open in Valencia at Christmas
Is anything open in Valencia on Christmas Day?
Yes, but not much. Bioparc zoo opens every day of the year, the metro runs, and in 2025 the Christmas market at the City of Arts and Sciences opened from 5pm to 11pm. City museums, the Cathedral, the Central Market and the Science Museum all close on 25 December.
Are museums open in Valencia on New Year’s Day?
No. The council’s museums and monuments, including La Lonja, the Serranos towers and the Valencia History Museum, close on 1 January, 6 January and 25 December, and so does the Cathedral. On 1 January the Expojove family fair opens from 4pm to 9pm.
Is 6 January a holiday in Valencia?
Yes. Epiphany, 6 January, is a public holiday across Spain and the day Spanish children open their presents, brought by the Three Kings. City museums, the Cathedral and the Central Market close. The parade is the evening before, 5 January, which is a normal working day until late afternoon.
Does the Valencia metro run all night on New Year’s Eve?
It did in 2025. Metrovalencia ran trains and trams without a break from before midnight on 31 December until the morning of 1 January, out to Picassent, Bétera, Llíria, Rafelbunyol and Riba-roja, with trams 4, 6, 8 and 10. On other holiday eves service ran until about 3am.
Can I get from Valencia airport to the city on Christmas Day?
Yes. Metro lines 3 and 5 serve the airport on public holidays, and a zone A and B ticket costs €4.80. Taxis run as normal, with a €12.50 minimum fare from the airport. Arriving on 25 December is fine; the problem is finding anything open once you are in town.
Christmas Day is the easy one to plan for. The day that empties a Valencia itinerary is 6 January.