Spain

New Year’s Eve in Seville, Spain: Our 4-Night Itinerary (2025/2026)

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Seville, Spain at dusk on New Year's Eve

Quick Take: New Year’s Eve in Seville

  • When: December 28, 2025 to January 1, 2026 (four nights in Seville, then on to Granada and Madrid)
  • Where we stayed: Querencia de Sevilla, Autograph Collection, across from Seville Cathedral
  • Tip 1: Book Seville Cathedral and La Giralda tickets on the official website as early as you can. They sell out over the holidays.
  • Tip 2: Reserve a spot at El Mirador de Querencia, the hotel’s rooftop bar, if you are not staying at the hotel. There was a line every day.
  • Tip 3: Pre-book your New Year’s Day taxi. Neither our hotel nor Uber could find us a ride on January 1.

Dan and I often travel the week between Christmas and New Year’s. While it’s generally pricier than traveling at almost any other time, work is usually on the quieter side (I will regret saying this!) and my birthday is during that week. In the past we have traveled to Italy, Costa Rica, Scotland, Ireland, and Portugal, among other places. Last year, we decided to visit Seville, Spain, followed by Granada and Madrid. We had, shockingly, never been to this part of Spain, and honestly had not been to Spain in far too long. We spent New Year’s Eve in Seville, arriving on December 28, 2025 and leaving on January 1, 2026. This post details what we did in Seville in the days leading up to New Year’s Day!

Seville during the holidays.

Seville during the holidays.

Day One: Arrival, Rooftop Drinks, and the Best Dinner

We left New York on an evening flight, arriving in Madrid early the following morning. We taxied to Madrid’s Atocha train station, where we waited about two hours for our fast train to Seville. We were pretty exhausted, but we did spend a little time in the Renfe (Spanish train) lounge at Atocha station. We had also booked Premium class seating (as that was the only option left when I purchased our tickets). This class was super nice, with large leather chairs and a pretty tasty hot meal served with wine. 

Our big day of travel went smoother than expected. We were checked in to our hotel in Seville by 4:00 PM.

Welcome drink on arrival at Querencia de Sevilla hotel in Seville

Made it to Seville – welcome drink!

Our hotel was the beautiful Querencia de Sevilla, part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. Located right in the heart of Seville amongst its stunning Christmas decorations, Querencia de Sevilla is special.

Querencia de Sevilla, Autograph Collection hotel decorated for Christmas in Seville

Our Seville hotel decked out for the holidays.

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New Year’s Eve Gala at Abades Triana in Seville (2025/2026)

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Plate of twelve lucky grapes and a glass of Champagne on a New Year's Eve gala table in Seville

*Last updated October 2026*

Dan and I spent New Year’s Eve 2025/2026 in Seville, Spain. We arrived on December 28, and stayed until January 1. You can see everything we did in our 4-night New Year’s Eve in Seville itinerary. Seville is an excellent destination to ring in the New Year. The entire city’s vibes are high, and there is a lot going on during this holiday period, which extends to January 6 in Spain. The city is decorated beautifully and, while it’s a holiday period with many on vacation, most tourist attractions and restaurants remain open (except on January 1 and 6).

Seville was not our first New Year’s Eve abroad. We also celebrated Hogmanay in Scotland; see our guide on how to celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh and our review of New Year’s dinner at Cannonball Restaurant.

Glass of tinto de verano on our Seville hotel rooftop on New Year's Eve, with La Giralda bell tower in the background

Seville on New Year’s Eve. This was at 6:00 p.m. on our hotel rooftop.

New Year’s Eve in Seville

The big tradition on New Year’s Eve in Seville (and Spain, generally) is “Las Doce Uvas de la Suerte”, which translates to the 12 grapes of luck.  Practically, this tradition consists of attempting to eat one grape for each of the 12 clock chimes at midnight on New Year’s Eve, for a total of 12 grapes in a very short time period. It’s nearly impossible to do, LOL.

Aside from this tradition, many locals celebrate at home or in the city streets, which are full of people on New Year’s Eve. While sounding very fun, as we knew no one in Seville, we wanted to do something a bit more formal that included both dinner and drinks, so that we could guarantee a fun New Year’s Eve. We identified a few options, including a big celebration at Hotel Alfonso XIII, and ultimately opted for a “gala dinner” at restaurant Abades Triana.

Seville street lit with white Christmas light trees and hanging ornaments on New Year's Eve

Seville, Spain on New Year’s Eve.

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Eating Our Way Through Seville Between Christmas and New Year’s

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Solomillo al whisky, pork tenderloin in brandy sauce with fries, on a wooden table at Mamá Carmen in Seville

*Updated as of October 10, 2026*

Dan and I spent New Year’s Eve 2025 in Seville, Spain. We absolutely LOVED Seville, especially at New Year’s, and you can read about the whole trip in our New Year’s Eve in Seville itinerary. While there, of course we had to take a Seville food tour, and we opted for one of our favorite food tour companies, Eating Europe. We took the Eating Seville: Tapas, Drinks & Local Flavors Tour on our first full morning, which took us through Santa Cruz, City Hall, El Salvador, and Alfalfa quarters, stopping in four tapas bars and an ice cream shop. This post details our food tour, which is absolutely worth it if you want a fast, guided crash course in Seville tapas.  This post is not sponsored.

Giralda bell tower of Seville Cathedral against a blue sky in late December

Seville on December 29, 2025.

Our tour began at 11:00 AM (although as of October 2026, that time is no longer offered; tours now leave at 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM and last about three hours) in the Santa Cruz neighborhood. We learned a bit about the neighborhood, which is historically the Old Jewish Quarter, before landing at our first stop. For those in Seville, Santa Cruz is a beautiful neighborhood filled with loads of history and adorable streets. Very European. 

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