New Year's Eve in Seville: twelve grapes at Plaza Nueva and what comes after
- Published
- 27 October 2026
- Reading
- 5 min read
- Where
- Seville, Spain
- Prices checked
- 28. Oct 2026.
Seville greets the new year with twelve grapes and twelve chimes in Plaza Nueva. This page covers where to stand, how to get across the city when the buses thin out, and what to book if the square is too much.
New Year's Eve in Seville is built around a single minute. Crowds gather in front of the City Hall, watch its clock and swallow one grape with each chime, on a night the Spanish call Nochevieja. Plan the night backwards from that minute: where to eat first, when the last daytime bus leaves, and what is shut when you wake up on 1 January. The programme for 2026/27 has not been published, and the city releases its schedule close to the night, so everything below describes the 2025/26 edition.
Plaza Nueva at midnight
The 2025/26 edition: 2025/26: Plaza Nueva, countdown by the clock on the City Hall, twelve grapes with twelve chimes. Locals call the twelve strokes the campanadas, so it helps to have the grapes ready before the first chime. A glass of manzanilla or sherry is the usual toast afterwards. The sources describe a loud, packed square with decorations, and say nothing about a start time, a capacity or a stage programme, so none of that can be promised for this year. What they do give is the ritual itself, and the ritual needs only a clear view of the City Hall clock and a few minutes of patience.
Getting there and back
Buses are the part that catches people out, because the city's night routes do not follow the daytime pattern. The 2025/26 night plan: 2025/26: daytime lines stop around 10pm (last departures from the termini 9–9.30pm), night lines start at 10pm from Prado de San Sebastián, last departure 5am. On the morning of 1 January the service starts later: 2025/26: from 9am. Metro hours for the night are published by the operator close to the date, so treat the bus times above as last year's pattern and not a promise.
- Walk if you are staying in the old centre, since Plaza Nueva sits in the middle of it and the daytime buses have stopped by the time you want to leave.
- Head for Prado de San Sebastián when you need a night route, as that is where the Tussam night lines start.
- Take a taxi or an Uber in the small hours, when the buses are no longer an option.
If Plaza Nueva is too much: galas, dinners, flamenco
Hotels sell their own evenings. The Hotel Alfonso XIII serves a seated dinner followed by a cocktail party with dancing, while the EME Catedral Mercer lays on a terrace dinner and then a party on the roof, with the cathedral and the Giralda in view. The Eurostars Torre Sevilla also runs a gala, and the restaurant Abantal, which holds a Michelin star, is another gala address. Prices change from year to year and the hotels sell directly, so look at their own sites.
For flamenco, the dinner-and-show formula is offered by Casa de la Memoria, El Palacio Andaluz and Tablao El Arenal. Across the river, Abades Triana looks over the water, and ConTenedor is another table to book through ElTenedor. Whatever you choose, leave time to stroll along the Guadalquivir to the Torre del Oro before midnight; the tower and its reflection are quietest while everyone else is still eating. After the chimes, bars in the centre stay open through the night, and the other option is simply walking back to bed.
New Year's Day
Plan a slow morning, because the main sight is closed. The Real Alcázar does not open on 1 January: 1 and 6 January, Good Friday and 25 December. Book the Alcázar for 2 January or for 30 December instead, and treat the first day of the year as a walk through quiet streets and a late coffee. Buses start again at nine, as noted above, so the centre is easiest on foot.
Official ticket
- Closed
- 1 and 6 January
Through a partner
- options with a guide or audio guide
- usually costs more than the official ticket
Check the same room on both sites: price and cancellation terms can differ.
Spain, in brief
What now
If this sounds like your trip, start here.
Seville
→Five centuries under the mosque, nearly eight under the cathedral
Seville in 2 days
→An order that follows the opening hours: the Alcázar while the cathedral is shut, Triana while the stalls trade, the Setas once the heat eases.
Day trips from Seville
→Córdoba and Cádiz by train, Jerez on the way, Ronda by bus and Itálica for half a day, with what each trip asks of the day.
Where to stay in Seville
→Six neighbourhoods, from Santa Cruz beside the Alcázar to Nervión by the station, with what each gives and what it asks in return.
Seville outside the triangle: courtyards and a Roman basement
→Courtyards, ceramics and a Roman basement under a timber canopy: seven places that are not on the list.
What to eat in Seville
→Spinach with chickpeas and pavía in the old bars, pringá in a montadito, solomillo al whisky in the evening, all in small portions.
The best time to visit Seville
→The daytime high, the night and the rainy days for all twelve months, with the dates of two spring weeks in 2027.
Getting around Seville
→From the airport by the EA bus to Plaza de Armas, on foot through the old town, and to Santa Justa station by bus or an hour's walk.
Spain
→A country where dinner is at ten and the city wakes up as everywhere else turns the lights off
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