Navidad in Madrid — lights, markets and Cortylandia

The Christmas lights go on in late November and stay until 6 January.

What to actually do: the Plaza Mayor market (mostly tat and nativity figures, go anyway), Cortylandia on Calle Preciados — a mechanical puppet show on the side of a department store that madrileños of every age turn up for — and the light displays on Gran Vía and Calle Alcalá.

The centre is extremely crowded from mid-December. Weeknight evenings are more bearable than weekends.