Mercado de Navidad de la Plaza Mayor, Madrid: open from late November to 31 December 2026

For the 2026 season the city tourism portal esmadrid.com lists the market as open from late November until 31 December 2026; the exact opening day had not been published at the time of writing. The event is organised by the Asociación del Mercado Navideño de la Plaza Mayor and entry is free.

The square is lined with 104 stalls, known as casetas, run by the vendors of the Asociación del Mercado Tradicional Navideño de la Plaza Mayor. Their stock is mainly nativity scenes and figures (belenes), Christmas decorations, seasonal musical instruments, toys and joke and party items. The 2026 market also includes an exhibition of a handmade nativity scene, the Belén Artesanal.

The custom goes back to the seventeenth century, when a Christmas market in the nearby Plaza de Santa Cruz sold fruit and vegetables alongside decorations and gifts. In the nineteenth century the location was fixed and rules were issued to regulate sales: from then on Plaza Mayor was the market for turkeys, turrón and sweets, while Plaza de Santa Cruz kept the stalls selling nativity figures, zambombas, toys and joke items.

In the 1980s the awnings over the stalls gave way to the casetas still in use today. The vendors' association says its members have been trading in the Plaza Mayor for more than 100 years.

Opening hours run without a midday break: 10:00 to 21:00 from Sunday to Thursday, and 10:00 to 22:00 on Friday, Saturday and the eve of public holidays. The market closes on 31 December 2026. For reference, the 2025 edition was held from 27 November to 31 December 2025.

The Plaza Mayor is reached by metro from Ópera, Sol and Tirso de Molina stations, by Cercanías commuter rail from Madrid-Sol, and by several bus routes. BiciMAD bike-share stations stand on Calle Mayor and at Plaza de San Miguel and Plaza de la Provincia.