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Without a doubt, one of the most eagerly anticipated celebrations of the year is that of New Year’s Eve, known as ‘Nochevieja’ in Spanish. In spite of the fact that Barcelona might not be as well-known for its celebrations as, for example New York’s Times Square, London’s Big Ben, Paris’s Avenue de Champs Elysées or Madrid’s Plaza del Sol, this has changed as recently as 2013, when Montjuïc’s Magic Fountain started to host the city’s official New Year’s festivities.
More information about New Year’s Eve in Barcelona
If you’re going to be spending New Year in Barcelona, we’re sure that you would be interested in knowing a bit more about the traditions and customs of the city, as well as those of the rest of Spain, so that you can make this most of the festival.
How and where do people celebrate New Year’s Eve in Barcelona?
If you’re on holiday in Barcelona for New Year’s we hope that you’ll find this up to date information useful. It touches upon how best to enjoy New Year’s in Barcelona, with the full details on the official party to welcome the arrival of the New Year, as well as some recommendations and advice on how to make the most of all that the city has to offer on this special night.
1. Going to the official event 2018 / 2019
Taking place next to Montjuïc’s Magic Fountain, Barcelona’s official New Year’s Eve celebrations were first organised in 2013. The party starts at 11pm and is free of charge; you’ll be able to enjoy performing arts and the Magic Fountain’s ‘son et lumière’ show, a chance for everyone to get together and to forget about the cold! At midnight the 12 bells chime, at which point everyone, the majority of whom live in Barcelona but also tourists from all over the world, celebrates the arrival of the New Year. The pyrotechnic display then starts, lasting for several minutes. This usually finishes just before half past midnight, at which point those people who have partied enough start to return home, and those who want to continue their celebrations go to a local bar or nightclub, if they have already bought tickets.
Map and how to get there
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MAGIC FOUNTAIN SHOW: From 21:30.
SHOW: From 23:30 to 0:45 (approximately).
METRO: ESPANYA (lines 1 and 3). The Metro runs all night on New Year’s Eve.
DAY BUSES: lines 9, 13, 37, 48, 55, D20, H12 (which all usually run until around 22:30-23:00), and the tourist bus.
NIGHT BUSES: N0, N1, N2, N13, N14, N15, N16, N17 (these buses usually run from 23:00, throughout the night).
ON FOOT: if you’re already in the Poble Sec or Sants-Montjuïc area, the best way to get there is on foot.
After watching the fireworks, if you were planning to catch the Metro straight away we’d recommend waiting a bit, as there are often queues due to the sheer amount of people travelling at the same time. Another option, if you’re catching Line 3 of the Metro, is to walk up to the nearby stop of Tarragona, where the queue won’t be anything like as long. Another option is to walk until Tarragona metro stop (Line 3) or Hostafrancs (Line 1), where there will be less of a queue, these won’t be as busy as the nearby stop Espanya (Lines 1 and 3).
2. At a hotel or other Accommodation
The night of December 31, most hotel restaurants organise a New Year’s Eve dinner and sometimes a party so that all their guests can celebrate this special night. Sometimes they even include a small show or a place to dance to keep the party going into the New Year after the 12 bells ring out. It’s certainly an excellent idea, given the convenience of staying in the hotel and enjoying the celebrations all under the same roof. Although every hotel will have a different way of organising and charging for their events, they will all charge you extra if you’d like to join in their celebrations.
3. New Year’s dinner and celebration in bars and restaurants
After the 12 bells chime, most of these bars and Barcelona’s restaurants play good music and sometimes a place to dance to carry on partying well into the night. If not, you can choose to end the night at one of the many clubs or music venues as almost all of them have an event on to celebrate into the early morning.
Recommended bars, restaurants and venues
GATSBY c/ Tuset 19-21 Dinner and party (optional) info@gatsbybarcelona.com (0034) 937 00 44 53
D’DIVINE c/ Balmes, 24 Dinner and Drag Queen show — (0034) 933 17 22 48
TABLAO DE CARMEN Inside Poble Espanyol Dinner and Flamenco show info@tablaodecarmen.com (0034) 933 25 68 95
HARD ROCK CAFE pl. Catalunya, 21 Dinner and New Year’s Eve party barcelona_events@hardrock.com (0034) 932 70 23 05
WAVE RESTAURANTE pl. Rosa dels Vents Dinner and party (W Lounge) wave.wbarcelona@whotels.com (0034) 932 95 26 37
TORRE DE ALTA MAR Passeig Joan de Borbó, 88 Luxury dinner reserves@torredealtamar.com (0034) 932 21 00 07
SHÔKO Passeig Marítim, 36 Dinner and New Year’s Eve party shoko@shoko.biz (0034) 932 25 92 00
ELEPHANT c/ Pau Clarís, 92 Dinner and New Year’s Eve party info@elephantbcn.com (0034) 933 34 02 58
MERBEYÉ pl. Doctor Andreu Cocktail dinner and party merbeye@merbeye.net (0034) 934 17 92 79
4. Night venues, clubs and New Year’s Eve Parties
Most clubs organise a New Year’s Eve party (usually from 0:30/01:00 onwards). We recommend you buy the tickets in advance to avoid being without a ticket and you can also get a discount for most venues. It is also common to celebrate parties in some of the most iconic public places in the city, such as Poble Espanyol. Sometimes, and depending on the year, a big fiesta will be organised in different spaces around the city that have enough room for a big crowd of people. In any case, we recommend you to buy the ticket in advance.
Recommended nightclubs, parties and night-time venues
MIRABLAU pl. Doctor Andreu New Year’s Eve party mirabe@mirabe.com (0034) 934 18 58 79
EL MOLINO c/ de Vila i Vilà, 99 Burlesque Show info@sala-apolo.com (0034) 932 05 51 11
CATWALK c/ Ramón Trias Fargas, 2-4 House with international DJ info@clubcatwalk.net (0034) 932 24 07 40
TERRAZA ALAIRE Passeig de Gràcia, 73 Music and quiet atmosphere info@condesdebarcelona.com (0034) 934 45 32 26
JAMBOREE DANCE CLUB pl. Reial, 17 Party and music with DJs dance-jamboree@masimas.com (0034) 933 04 12 10
OPIUM MAR Passeig Marítim, 34 Party (and optional dinner) info@opiummar.com (0034) 655 57 69 98
PACHA BARCELONA Passeig Barceloneta, 38 Party (and optional dinner) info@pachabarcelona.es (0034) 648 81 59 85
OTTO ZUTZ c/ Lincoln, 15 New Year’s Eve party yonay@ottozutz.com (0034) 626 95 18 23
CITY HALL Rambla Catalunya, 2-4 New Year’s Eve party info@cityhallbarcelona.com (0034) 932 38 07 22
SUTTON CLUB c/ Tuset, 13 Party with DJs raul@thesuttonclub.com (0034) 667 43 27 59
It’s always best to book your New Year’s Eve entertainment in advance, whether it’s dinner in a restaurant, a party in a bar or nightclub, or an organised event. This means you’ll be sure to celebrate New Year’s Eve the way you want to, and by doing so you might also save money. Now the opportunity to spend a fantastic New Year’s Eve in Barcelona just depends on you, so don’t hesitate any more and get planning – we’re waiting for you!
Save on your holiday with tourist and / or transport cards
So that you can enjoy the tourist and cultural attractions of Barcelona over the Christmas period as well as saving some money, it’s useful to get one of the tourist and / or public transport cards. Depending on what type of trip and which places you want to visit, the most suitable card for you will be one or the other. Those that offer just public transport (such as Hola BCN!), those that offer free visits to some of the museums and places of interest in the city as well as transport (Barcelona Card), those that include a visit to 2 of the most important sights in Barcelona, such as the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, as well as transport from the airport and travel on the tourist bus (Online City Pass), or those just for museums and Art Foundations (ArticketBCN). If you buy any of these tourist cards online you get an automatic discount of between 5 and 10%.
New year’s eve party video
Photo gallery
Five tradition and customs
If we were to compare the traditions of celebrating New Year’s Eve in Barcelona and the rest of Spain with those of various cities across Europe and the rest of the world, we’d find that although there are a few similarities, there are also many differences.
1. New Year’s Eve Dinner
There’s no traditional meal as such for New Year’s Eve in Spain, but it’s normal for the people of Barcelona to dine with family and friends, and it’s the time of year when people decide to treat themselves to something a little more elaborate or expensive, with good seafood featuring wherever the budget permits.
2. The chimes and the twelve grapes
The Spanish tradition of accompanying the midnight chimes by eating twelve grapes appears to have started towards the end of the 19th century, quite possibly in Madrid in 1896, when a group of people decided to go to the Plaza del Sol to re-enact, with a little irony, the custom which was observed by the bourgeoisie – that of accompanying their New Year’s Eve meal with grapes and Champagne. It gradually turned into a tradition in itself, partly due to the coverage in the press, and became an annual event in 1909 when the farmers of Levante, Murcia and Alicante decided to popularize the tradition in order to meet an overproduction of grapes that year, bringing it across Spain, including to Barcelona.
Now it’s said that whoever manages to eat the twelve grapes at the sound of the twelve chimes at midnight without choking will have good luck throughout the forthcoming year.
3. Red lingerie!
Wearing red lingerie on New Year’s Eve is more of a superstition than a tradition. It’s becoming more common, and as the colour red is seen to be synonymous with prosperity, especially in relation to love, it’s seen to bring luck in the year that lies ahead.
4. A ring in a glass of Cava
Another tradition is that of toasting the New Year with a ring inside a glass of Cava. It’s said to bring wealth and prosperity in the coming year.
5. New Year’s Resolutions
Making a wish list of things to achieve or experience in the year ahead is almost an obligation, in order to approach the New Year with enthusiasm and good intentions. Of course making a list isn’t good enough in itself – it comes with the promise to make an effort to ensure that the resolutions become reality.
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