Spain’s festive travel season is shaping up to be busy again, led by short city breaks, family visits, and a strong winter-sun pull to the Canary Islands.
Jetcost survey data suggests 71% of Spaniards plan at least one Christmas-season trip, with an average spend of around €803 per person. Most December–January bookings are already locked in, and domestic travel dominates.
Key Christmas dates and crowd patterns
Peak demand clusters around Spanish public holidays. 6th December (Constitution Day), 8th December (Immaculate Conception), Christmas to New Year, and 6th January (Epiphany).
Private car remains the top transport mode, so expect heavier road traffic around major cities and resort corridors over long weekends. Early booking has been linked with notable savings in price-led analyses, which helps explain the high share of pre-booked trips this year.
Where do people go in Spain during Christmas?
The Region of Madrid usually ranks first nationwide once purely intra‑regional trips are stripped out, with 2.7 million visitors in December–January 2023, according to INE’s FRONTUR data from that year.
The Canary Islands came second overall and first for international tourists, accounting for close to 30% of foreign arrivals during the period. Inland regions gain ground at Christmas versus summer. Extremadura even recorded more tourists in December–January than in the summer months.
Madrid: the Christmas city-break leader
Madrid is a top Christmas destination in Spain, attracting more festive travel than any other city. The capital drew the largest municipal total during Christmas 2023, surpassing 2.5 million visitors, with roughly 62% of the region’s tourists staying in the city.
Domestic travel to the capital approached two million, far ahead of other cities. Visiting family and friends is a top motive at this time of year, and Madrid is one of the few provinces where December–January spending outpaces the rest‑of‑year average.
Canary Islands: Tenerife and Gran Canaria for winter sun
The archipelago is the top international draw in Spain at Christmas, capturing around a quarter to nearly a third of foreign arrivals in the period. It’s certainly one of the most popular Spanish destinations for winter sun.
Resort municipalities dominate the rankings. Adeje and Arona (Tenerife) and San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) draw hundreds of thousands of visitors over the last Christmas season.
December daytime highs around 21°C underpin steady occupancy for winter-sun breaks.
Barcelona: international magnet in December
Barcelona is also a popular Christmas destination for international visitors, recording just under 1.5 million total visitors over December–January 2023. The city usually accounts for just over half of its province’s tourists during the season, with short, culture-led breaks and family visits the main drivers.
Typical December highs around 14–15°C support outdoor programming and Christmas markets without peak-summer crowds.
Trip length, group type and spend: what this means in practice
Trips within Spain tend to be short, with 43% planning up to three days away, and just 27% opting for three to five days. These domestic trips take place particularly over long weekends. That translates into high turnover for hotels and short-term lets in city centres and for resort stays in the Canary Islands.
Families lead at 48% when it comes to who is travelling over Christmas in Spain, followed by couples (27%), then friends (16%) and solo travellers (9%).
Getting there: UK–Spain connectivity and domestic movement
Air travel and airport capacity support Christmas mobility. Spain’s network carried record passenger volumes in the most recent full year, with the UK remaining the leading source market for international visitors to Spain.
London remains among the top European picks for Spaniards in the festive period, reinforcing two-way traffic on UK–Spain routes. For British expats in Spain, that can translate into more flight options around key dates, but also tighter pricing on peak days.
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