☃️ What's on in Madrid: December 5
The life of a former queen, Christmas markets galore and Les Mis is back!
Madrid | Issue #125
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
It’s Friday again!
Madrid is fully in its winter glow, and this week the city feels like it’s running on equal parts nostalgia, glitter, and emotional damage (courtesy of the national news cycle and the fact that we will not be participating in Eurovision next year).
Luckily, the cultural calendar is making up for it with one of the richest pre-holiday lineups we’ve had all season.
You’ve got a play bringing poetic heartbreak to the Teatro Español, Christmas markets taking over half the city, a deep-dive through the life of a former queen. Oh, and Les Mis is back!
So this week we have theatre, history, shopping, and options to simply wander through twinkly December streets. You’re welcome.
Happy weekend!
1.🎅🏻 Madrid Turns Into One Big Christmas Market
Madrid in December is basically a giant Christmas postcard, and nowhere is that more obvious than in its mercadillos navideños (Christmas markets), a tradition so deeply rooted that even the grinchiest madrileño ends up buying a wooden ornament they absolutely did not need.
The star, as always, is the Plaza Mayor Christmas Market, where 104 bright-red stalls take over the square until Dec. 31. It’s chaotic, loud, packed, and utterly irresistible — a place where you can buy everything from classic nativity scenes to absurd joke gifts, all while trying not to lose your friends in the crowd. If you want peak Madrid-at-Christmas energy, this is it.
But don’t stop there. The festive circuit continues across the city: the stalls by the Museo Reina Sofía (Plaza de Juan Goytisolo) for a more laid-back browse, the Christmas booths in Plaza de Isabel II, and the big winter fair at Plaza de España, home to La Navideña (market + ice rink that we mentioned last week), which basically turns the square into a holiday village.
🖥️ What: Madrid’s Christmas Markets (Plaza Mayor, Reina Sofía, Plaza de Isabel II, Plaza de España)
📍 Where: Various locations across central Madrid
📅 When: Throughout December (dates vary by market)
🎟 Tickets: Free
2.🎭 This Week’s Must-See Theatre: Duermen bajo las aguas
Madrid’s Christmas season is officially in sensory-overload mode (lights everywhere, endless queues for roscón, and the annual migration of people who come to see the lights and suddenly forget how sidewalks work, ugh). Which is exactly why Duermen bajos las aguas, now at Teatro Español, feels like a rare gift: a quiet, beautifully crafted pause button in the middle of the December chaos.
Adapted and directed by Sara Mérida from Carmen Kurtz’s novel, the play tells the story of Pilar, a young woman in early-20th-century Barcelona whose life is split in two by war.
What begins as a tale of first love and youthful certainty transforms into a portrait of survival, resilience, and the kind of accelerated emotional growing-up that history forces onto women long before they’re ready.
Rebeca Hernando and Ainara Orgaz hold the stage with a calm intensity, grounding Pilar’s journey in something painfully human — not melodrama, but quiet truth.
What really elevates the production is its subtlety. Instead of recreating a grand historical epic, it frames Pilar’s inner world: the memories that keep her going, the friendships that anchor her, the small flashes of hope that refuse to die even when everything else does.
The staging is intimate and the emotional build is slow and deliberate. It’s the kind of theatre that stays with you hours after you leave.
🖥️ What: Duermen bajo las aguas
📍 Where: Teatro Español, Calle del Príncipe 25, Madrid
📅 When: Through Dec. 14 (Thu–Sun)
🎟 Tickets: €10
3.🎨 A Queen Rediscovered: Victoria Eugenia at the Royal Collections Gallery
Madrid isn’t short on royal history, but every once in a while, an exhibition arrives that reframes a familiar dynasty through a completely new lens. That’s exactly what the Galería de las Colecciones Reales is doing with its major new show on Queen Victoria Eugenia, the British-born consort who helped modernize the Spanish monarchy and left a surprisingly progressive humanitarian legacy.
Spread across nearly 350 pieces (from photographs and letters to gowns, portraits, and rare documents) the exhibition traces the journey from her childhood at the British court (she was the youngest granddaughter of Queen Victoria), to her marriage to Alfonso XIII, to her reinvention in Spain as a modern queen who softened court protocol and professionalized social welfare.
Her work reorganizing the Spanish Red Cross, founding schools for nurses, and leading anti-tuberculosis and anti-cancer campaigns placed her decades ahead of her time.
For history lovers, the exhibition is a deep dive into a woman often overshadowed by the political storms and Civil War of early 20th-century Spain.
For everyone else, it’s simply a beautifully curated, humanizing look at a queen who shaped the country far beyond palace walls.
🖥️ What: Victoria Eugenia: Life, Legacy & Modernity
📍 Where: Galería de las Colecciones Reales, Calle de Bailén 8, Madrid
📅 When: Through April 5, 2026
🎟 Tickets: €14
4.🎭 Les Miserables is back in Madrid, and it’s bigger than ever
Attention theater nerds! Few musicals have the emotional power (or the global cult status) of Les Misérables, and now the phenomenon is returning to the very stage where it first conquered Spain back in 1992.
To mark the 40th anniversary of its London debut, Cameron Mackintosh’s legendary production lands at Teatro Apolo with the full force of its sweeping score, revolutionary fervor, and unapologetic melodrama.
This is the blockbuster version: the one that has broken every record imaginable (180+ international awards, 130 million viewers worldwide, more than 15,000 performances in London alone).
If you’ve never seen it live, the experience is a punch to the chest. Jean Valjean’s redemption arc, Javert’s obsession, Cosette and Marius’ doomed romance, the barricades, the heartbreak, the swelling chorus of Do You Hear the People Sing? If you have seen it… Well, you’ll probably see it again.
Madrid is lucky. Productions of this scale don’t come around often. It’s a chance to revisit a classic that still feels urgent, a story of injustice, sacrifice, survival, and hope told through one of the greatest scores in musical theatre history.
🖥️ What: Les Misérables (40th Anniversary Production)
📍 Where: Teatro Apolo, Plaza de Tirso de Molina 1, Madrid
📅 When: Through March 8 (Tue–Sun).
🎟 Tickets start at €34.90
5.🏺 A charming, non-Christmas Market in Recoletos for those of you who love arts and crafts
Every December, the Paseo de Recoletos quietly becomes one of the most magical spots in the city. Forget the plastic wigs and fake snow in Plaza Mayor, the real Christmas market for grown-ups is the Feria de Artesanía de la Comunidad de Madrid, a beautifully curated showcase of over 130 artisan workshops from Madrid and beyond.
Now in its 38th edition, the fair has become the national reference for handmade gifts: ceramics crafted by local potters, leather goods made the old-fashioned way, delicate jewelry and metalwork, handwoven textiles, glasswork, toys, calligraphy… basically, everything you wish Amazon could do but can’t.
FYI, these aren’t resellers. Every stall is run by the makers themselves, which also means you leave with a story behind whatever you buy.
It’s the perfect antidote to chaotic holiday shopping. A slow, thoughtful space where you can browse, touch, talk to artisans, and find gifts that don’t feel like last-minute panic purchases.
Even if you’re not buying, the stroll alone, between Colón and Cibeles, under the December lights, is worth the trip.
🖥️ What: Feria de Artesanía de la Comunidad de Madrid
📍 Where: Paseo de Recoletos (between Colón and Cibeles)
📅 When: Through Dec. 30, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
🎟 Free admission
📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…
🖥️ What: Pubertat (Puberty)| Miniseries | 2025
📍Where to watch: HBO
❓What’s it about: An alleged sexual assault among teenagers, which sheds light on the sexual taboos of the adults in charge of them.
🤩 Why you should watch: It’s Spain’s answer to Netflix’s Adolescence. Also, it forces us to reflect on being a teenager, justice, and ourselves. This isn’t escapist entertainment. Pubertat asks difficult questions about childhood, guilt, accountability, and healing. It challenges social taboos, breaks silence, and, perhaps most importantly, refuses to offer easy answers. That’s rare.
💬 English Subtitles: Yes.
💃🏻 Something to try this weekend…
Fifteen years of Flamenco: A heritage and a future
Last week marked 15 years since flamenco was recognised as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. To honour the anniversary, the December issue of Vogue España creates a sweeping homage to flamenco by assembling 28 influential women spanning multiple generations, from celebrated figures such as Manuela Carrasco, Remedios Amaya, and Cristina Hoyos to emerging voices like Claudia “La Debla” and Rocío Luna.
Through interviews and striking imagery, the magazine highlights flamenco’s expressive intensity, the economic fragility that often accompanies a life dedicated to it, and the sense of community among these women committed to preserving, evolving, and celebrating the art form.
According to UNESCO, flamenco is “an artistic expression fusing song (cante), dance (baile) and musicianship (toque).” This triad forms the backbone of an art deeply rooted in Andalusia, with strong ties to other regions such as Murcia and Extremadura. It is a tradition passed down through families, peñas and neighbourhoods—shared not as performance alone but as community, memory and experience.
UNESCO recognition has given flamenco global visibility and structural support. Yet the celebration has not unfolded without debate. Some argue that such widespread preservation risks overexposure and commercialisation.
Others note that international popularity can blur the line between celebration and commodification, turning the art into a marketable symbol of “Spanishness” rather than respecting its complex origins — including the profound influence of Roma communities.
Is flamenco something greater than a dance alone? Undoubtedly. Its status as cultural heritage safeguards its history, but the real task ahead is ensuring that this legacy continues and thrives in the years to come.
With that in mind, here are some unmissable flamenco performances taking place in Madrid this month:
Flamenco Real — Teatro Real Opera: Dec. 17-19.
Tablao Flamenco 1911 — Plaza de Santa Ana 15: Mon – Sun: 4 performances per day: (6 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 9 p.m., 10:30 p.m.)
Sala Temple — Cuestade San Vicente, 40: See website for shows
👨🏻💻 Viral Meme of the Week
🤴 The (other) king’s speech
🌆 If you live here, you know it’s true
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