If you are planning Christmas dinner in Madrid on a British or American calendar, move everything one night earlier. In Spain the big family meal is Christmas Eve (Nochebuena), dinner on 24 December, and on the 25th most people eat at home, so few restaurants offer a Christmas Day menu at all. The menus already out for 2026 run from 70 euros a head at Purnima, an Indian restaurant on Calle de Goya, to 260 euros for New Year’s Eve at Maison Jaguar, where the party goes on until 4am.
Where can you have Christmas dinner in Madrid, and what does it cost? In 2026, Purnima serves a 70-euro Christmas Eve set menu with a bottle of wine for every two guests, and Maison Jaguar a 160-euro one with drinks, a DJ and a show, both on Calle de Goya. Christmas Day lunch is the scarce one: Casa Suecia charged 50 euros for it in 2025-26.
How Spain does Christmas, and why the 24th matters more than the 25th
Three dates matter, and each needs its own booking. The 24th is the main dinner. The 25th is a quiet lunch, often at home. The 31st is the expensive night, with the twelve grapes at midnight, party favours and, in some places, dancing into the early hours. Then come 1 January, a slow brunch day, and 6 January, Three Kings Day, when children get their presents.
What this means for a visitor: book the 24th or the 31st early, and treat Christmas Day lunch as the hard one to find. What else opens that day is in what is open in Madrid on Christmas Day.
What Christmas dinner costs for two
Prices are per person and include VAT. Doubled for a couple, the spread is wide.
- Cheapest Christmas Eve with wine: Purnima Indian Cuisine at Goya 110, 140 euros for two.
- Christmas Eve with a show: Maison Jaguar, a Mexican restaurant at Goya 39, 320 euros for two with a DJ, and 520 euros for two on New Year’s Eve.
- New Year’s Eve with drinks and grapes included: Puerto Noble at Don Ramón de la Cruz 94, 220 euros for two.
What a Spanish set menu includes
A Christmas menú is a fixed set of courses at a fixed price, and the drinks rule is what changes the bill. Purnima and Maison Jaguar let each pair choose one bottle of wine, one bottle of cava or three soft drinks per person. And Puerto Noble’s New Year’s Eve price covers the drinks for the whole dinner, dessert with coffee, the grapes and a cava toast at midnight.
Hotels price the party separately: Casa Suecia, at Calle del Marqués de Casa Riera 4, charged 230 euros for its 2025-26 New Year’s Eve dinner and 260 euros with party favours and three hours of open bar.
Booking, prepayment and cancelling
New Year’s Eve is booked and paid in advance. Using Puerto Noble’s rules as the example, the sequence runs like this:
- Book and pay in full. The whole dinner is charged when you book, by phone or at the restaurant.
- Cancel by 20 December if plans change. Up to then you get everything back; from the 21st, nothing.
- Choose the mains by 27 December. That is also the last day to book or add guests.
- Arrive for 9pm. It is a single sitting from 9pm, and the restaurant closes at 1am.
Spanish dinner times are late: arriving at 7pm is not an option on these nights. For the rest of your stay, sensible dinner choices are in where to have dinner in Madrid.
Children at the table
Puerto Noble has a 35-euro children’s New Year’s Eve menu. Casa Suecia knocked 50 percent off for under-12s on its New Year’s Day brunch and its Three Kings menus in 2025-26, and had an 18-euro children’s menu. More family options are in eating out with kids in Madrid.
After dinner
Three of these four restaurants are in the Salamanca district, a metro ride from the centre. On the 31st, the free party at Sol is a separate plan with its own rules, set out in New Year’s Eve at Puerta del Sol, and the wider season is in Christmas in Madrid.
Christmas dinner in Madrid, questions visitors ask
Are restaurants open on Christmas Day in Madrid?
Some are, but few offer a Christmas Day menu. Casa Suecia, inside the NH Collection Madrid Suecia hotel, served a Christmas Day lunch for 50 euros a head in 2025-26, VAT included; its 2026 menu is not out yet.
How much is Christmas Eve dinner in Madrid?
Published 2026 menus run from 70 euros a head at Purnima, with a bottle of wine for every two guests, to 160 euros at Maison Jaguar, with drinks, a DJ and a show. Both are on Calle de Goya.
Do I have to pay in advance for New Year’s Eve dinner in Madrid?
Usually yes. Puerto Noble charges its 110-euro New Year’s Eve menu in full when you book and refunds it in full if you cancel by 20 December; from the 21st there is no refund.
Is New Year’s Eve dinner more expensive than Christmas Eve in Madrid?
Yes. Maison Jaguar charges 160 euros a head on Christmas Eve and 260 on New Year’s Eve, and Casa Suecia went from 120 to 230 euros in 2025-26. Puerto Noble is the exception, at 110 euros with drinks included.
What time is Christmas dinner in Madrid?
Late by northern European standards. Puerto Noble’s New Year’s Eve dinner is a single sitting from 9pm that ends at 1am, and Maison Jaguar keeps its New Year’s Eve party going until 4am.
In Madrid, the table you need to book first is the one for the 24th.