Something to brighten up your day

Christmas is just around the corner, which can only mean one thing: Christmas lights! Madrid’s Christmas lights will be turned on this Friday, 30th November and will stay switched on until the 6th January, leaving plenty of time to get out and enjoy the different displays.

Here’s some info regarding the best places to go and see the lights as well as when they’ll actually be switched on.

Timetable:

30th November- 23rd December: 

18.00-20.00 Mondays and Wednesdays
18.00-23.00 Thursday and Sundays 

18.00-24.00 Fridays and Saturdays 

5th, 6th, 7th and 8th December: 18.00-00.00

24th December and 5th January: 18.00-03.00

25th December and 1st January: 18:00-23.00

31st December: 18:00-06:00

Where to go:

Each set of lights have been designed by various well-known designers, so it’s worth going to see all of them in action:

- Ángel Schlesser en Princesa
- Hanníbal Laguna en Ortega y Gasset
- Purificación García en Goya
- Juanjo Oliva en Jorge Juan
- Ana Locking en Fuencarral y Montera
- Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada en Sol
- Juan Duyos en Bravo Murillo
- Amaya Arzuaga en General Ricardos
- Sergio Sebastián en Chueca
- Teresa Sapey en Serrano y Hortaleza
- Ben Busche en Gran Vía y Centro
- Roberto Turégano en Velázquez

There is also a Navibus which provides a great tour of the city in lights for a very reasonable price. There is unfortunately only one pick-up and drop-off point -Calle Serano, 30- which is on the strip between Goya and Jorge Juan but buses come every 5-7 minutes. The bus covers all of the vehicle-accessible areas in Madrid and last year cost only €1.50 for adults, so I imagine this year will see a similar price.

photo via: http://www.esapartments.com/en/blog/2012/10/02/christmas-2012-madrid/