Santander has a large number of festivals throughout the year with which to fill its neighbourhoods, streets and squares with joy, but none illuminates the whole city with magic like Christmas.
As every year Santander becomes a festival of joy, light and colour in which the streets are decorated with lights and garlands, the trees are illuminated filling the parks and promenades with brightness, in the squares we find huge trees with lights that make unique compositions of colours and drawings that undoubtedly attract attention, or large Christmas balls that we can cross as well as many boxes of gifts, as many as the gift of living Christmas in Santander. As a novelty, this Christmas, Santander is adding a set of lights made up of the three crowns of the Three Wise Men that everyone who walks along Juan de Herrera Street will be able to pass through.
The city is ready to experience unforgettable moments, from the evening of 1 December when Christmas is switched on in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, filling all the streets and neighbourhoods of Santander with light and colour, with the lighting of more than three million LED bulbs, complying with the strictest requirements of respect for the environment and energy efficiency.
One of the most important Christmas traditions in Spain is the Nativity Scene, and Santander has so many of them on display that there is a Route of Nativity Scenes throughout the city. On this route we can discover everything from traditional nativity scenes to others that include replicas of places in our city, such as the Piquío Gardens or the façade of the Mercado de la Esperanza. On this nativity scene walk we will be surprised by the variety of materials that can be used to make a Nativity Scene, as well as the different themes that can be used: Neapolitan, traditional, mountain, seafaring, regional...
Santander is a very active city, and among its Christmas plans, ice skating could not be missing, so in the Plaza Velarde, better known among the Santanderinos as Plaza Porticada, we will find a huge ice rink where, in addition to moving the polvorones and make room to warm up by eating a cone of roasted chestnuts, you can bring out your artistic side and enjoy this fun winter sport.
The main protagonists of this festive season are the children, and for this reason, PequeNavidad is located in the Plaza de Alfonso XIII, which will take us to a place full of attractions, including the great snow slide, which has become a classic of Santander's Christmas. This is complemented by the one installed in the Plaza Velarde which has the classic ice rink and attractions such as the Christmas train, the Ferris wheel or some fun trampolines and also the Jurassic Christmas proposal which will be on from 22 December to 7 January in the Exhibition and Conference Centre.
When we say that Santander is Christmas, it is because our city has everything that Christmas implies, and you can't miss the Christmas markets scattered throughout the city where smells, colours and flavours mix and even with our eyes closed we will not doubt that we are in the most magical time of the year, and not because we hear Christmas carols in the background, but because when we open them we will discover thousands of handmade articles, toys, collections of exclusive clothes and Christmas decorations. The most popular flea market is located in Plaza de Pombo.
If you want to discover the Christmas lights, you can get on the "Christmas Train" which, once night falls, starts to run through the most central streets of Santander, so that its passengers can comfortably enjoy the different luminous ornaments installed around the city.
Santander takes into consideration the family character of this festive season and, for this reason, the Palacio de Deportes will be filled with music and fun at the Magdalena Winter Festival, full of proposals designed for the enjoyment of both children and adults.
Another of the most eagerly awaited moments for the little ones takes place on the afternoon of 23 December, when Father Christmas will arrive in his sleigh pulled by his nine reindeer with the popular Rudolph at the helm. But Father Christmas does not come alone, he will be accompanied by some of his best friends, if after a whole year of making sure the children behave well, wrapping presents and training the reindeer, the elves will arrive in Santander to enjoy a short holiday to get their strength back for the next day's trip around the world.
This time of year, Santander offers a wide and varied shopping offer, where you can find the perfect Christmas gift among the shops of renowned brands, exclusive boutiques, beauty salons and several more alternative shops.
Strolling around the city you will discover plenty of bars, cafés, seafood taverns, places where you can eat a set menu or taste pinchos at reasonable prices, and restaurants with the most select menus.
Santander is a city with a great gastronomic tradition, which has three essential elements to deserve the title of Extraordinary Dining City, so you can't miss out on trying our most typical dishes.
But if you feel like partying, Santander is a city that offers a lot of leisure activities, so from midday on December 24th, we enjoy the "Tardebuena", which is a celebration that takes place before the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, where thousands of people gather to dance and toast to Christmas. But on any day of the week, you'll find a place to have fun, see a concert, toast to the holidays or terrace with your friends.
The crowning touch to these festivities is provided by the Three Wise Men, on the afternoon of 5th January, when they arrive in Santander with a spectacular parade along the main axis of the city, in which Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar close the parade with a procession of more than a thousand people and several fanciful floats. The parade ends in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, where their Majesties from the East will greet all the people of Santander and visitors from the main balcony.
Then it is time to go home quickly, to go to sleep early and wait with all the excitement to wake up the next morning and see what presents they have brought us.
What are you waiting for to enjoy Santander? You'll experience Christmas like never before.