What is confirmed for 5 January 2027
Very little yet. When checked on 23 October 2026, the city's Christmas site still showed the Christmas 2025 programme and said it would be updated for the next season. 5 January 2027 is a Tuesday.
What the city has published is the full plan for the 2026 parade, and its parade page said that route repeated the previous year's. Everything below is the 2026 arrangement, labelled as such. Use it to pick a viewing area and plan transport, then confirm the 2027 times in late December.
The Kings' arrival by sea
The day starts at the waterfront at the bottom of La Rambla. The city's agenda entry for the 2025 arrival describes the Kings sailing in aboard the schooner Santa Eulàlia, the historic ship of the Museu Marítim moored at Moll de Bosch i Alsina, and coming ashore at Portal de la Pau. The mayor greets them with bread and salt and hands over the keys to the city so they can enter every home that night.
For 2026 the parade page gives the arrival as 16:30 at Portal de la Pau, with the mayor offering bread and salt and a "magic key". It does not mention the ship, so treat the sea arrival as the long-standing format rather than a confirmed 2027 detail. The 2025 agenda entry also shows both "16.30" and "4 pm" in different language versions; the 16:30 time is the one repeated in 2026.
Route and timetable (2026)
The 2026 parade ran from Avinguda del Marquès de l'Argentera, at the corner of Passeig de la Circumval·lació, to the Magic Fountain area of Montjuïc. The city published these passing times; the mobility notice gives the same list.
| Point on the route | Time (2026) |
|---|---|
| Parc de la Ciutadella (start) | 18:00 |
| Passeig de Colom at Via Laietana | 18:35 |
| Columbus Monument | 18:55 |
| Portal de Santa Madrona | 19:10 |
| Av. Paral·lel at Ronda de Sant Pau | 19:30 |
| Mercat de Sant Antoni | 19:45 |
| Sepúlveda at Comte Borrell | 20:10 |
| Sepúlveda at Entença | 20:30 |
| Av. Reina Maria Cristina | 20:50 |
| Av. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (end) | 21:10 |
The times are when the head of the parade passes. More than 1,300 people took part in 2026, according to the city's post-parade report, so the last floats reach each point well after the times shown.
Where to watch
Choose your spot by your group's bedtime and how much crowd you can handle. No tickets are needed and the city said no capacity limits were planned in 2026, but it also told people to move on if an area is full.
- Young children: pick an early point such as Passeig de Colom at Via Laietana (18:35) or the Columbus Monument (18:55). You can see the full parade and be on the metro home before the later sections even start.
- Combining it with the arrival: stay near Portal de la Pau after 16:30, then move a few minutes along to the Columbus Monument for the parade.
- Arriving after work or a late lunch: the Eixample stretch along Sepúlveda (20:10–20:30) and the final avenues below Montjuïc (20:50–21:10) give you up to three more hours to get into position.
The Kings' carriages come in sequence: a star-themed carriage, the Royal Mail postmen, then Melcior, Gaspar and finally Baltasar, followed by a section throwing sweets. The city reported up to six tonnes of sweets thrown in 2026.
Getting there and away
Surface transport stops working around the route. In 2026 every street on the route was closed to private cars and buses from 17:00 to 21:30, vehicles over 3,500 kg were restricted across the city from 16:00 to 22:00, and most bus lines ran altered routes from 16:00 to 23:00. The city's advice was to use the metro.
Everyone along a stretch of the route leaves at the same moment, so expect queues at the nearest stations. Walking a few blocks away from the route before looking for a train or taxi is a reasonable plan B. Our Montjuïc cable car and funicular guide covers the hill for a daytime visit, and the MNAC stands above the Magic Fountain near the end of the route.
Following the Kings live
In 2026 the city's parade page linked to a real-time map showing the Kings' position along the route, useful for timing your walk to a later viewing point. After the event it posted video of the arrival and the parade.
The Kings section of the Christmas site also listed the Fira de Reis, a gift and toy fair on Gran Via between Rocafort and Muntaner, open from 18 December to 6 January in the 2025–26 season. For the earlier Advent markets by the Cathedral and the Sagrada Família, see our Fira de Santa Llúcia guide.
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