December in Valencia is sunny, busy and slightly cold indoors. It opens with the marathon, the biggest sporting day of the year, runs through a long holiday weekend, the Christmas lights and the national lottery, and ends with the whole city in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament eating grapes at midnight. The admin year, meanwhile, stops around the 20th and does not restart until Reis.
This is the December entry in our month-by-month series. It sits between November and January, and if you want the other end of the year, August is the month everything shuts.
The weather in December
AEMET's climate normals for the Valencia city station give December an average temperature of 12.6C, with typical highs of 17.0C and lows of 8.1C. It rains on about five days, around 48mm (about 1.9 in) in total, and it is the least sunny month of the year at roughly 155 hours, which still works out at five hours a day. Lunch outside in the sun is normal; the flat is the cold part.
The sea is around 16C, and the year-round swimmers at the Malvarrosa have the beach to themselves. Frost in the city is rare enough to make the news. The full year is in our Valencia climate guide, and the figures above come from AEMET's published normals.
The marathon: the first Sunday of December
Photo: Carlesmari, CC BY 3.0
The Valencia marathon runs on the first Sunday of December, starting a little after eight in the morning and finishing on the blue carpet over the water at the City of Arts and Sciences. It is one of the fastest courses in the world, the field is capped in the tens of thousands and sells out the year before, and the whole centre closes to traffic for the morning. If you live inside the old riverbed, plan to walk that day.
Watching is free and genuinely good: the finish at the City of Arts and Sciences and the long avenues through the centre are the classic spots, and the organisers publish the street-by-street route each autumn. The route, where to stay and which streets close get their own guide in our calendar; for the rest of the sporting year, see our guide to watching sport in Valencia.
The Belén, the lottery and the twelve grapes
Photo: Francesc Fort, CC BY-SA 4.0
From the switch-on in late November the Plaça de l'Ajuntament holds the city's Christmas: the tree of lights, the life-size Belén (), the Saturday evening piromusicals and a market of stalls. The 6th and the 8th are public holidays, the Constitution and the Inmaculada, and when they line up with a weekend they make the first big puente of the winter. Christmas itself is Nochebuena () on the 24th, the family dinner, and a quiet public holiday on the 25th.
On the morning of 22 December the country stops for the Sorteo de Navidad, the Christmas lottery, with the schoolchildren of San Ildefonso singing the numbers on every radio and screen for hours. Everyone has a share, usually a décimo bought through work, a bar or a falla, and the top prize is simply el Gordo (), the fat one. Nochevieja (), the 31st, ends in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament: the bells at midnight, las doce uvas (), one grape per chime, and fireworks fired from the town hall roof and three other points across the city. There is a children's version at noon the same day.
What to eat in December
This is the best month of the year for oranges: the huerta's Navelinas are at their peak and the mandarins are sweet rather than sharp. Artichokes are in, the chufa has just been lifted, and the winter greens fill the stalls. The Christmas table here leans on seafood, roast lamb and the local puchero, a slow stew that is the traditional 25 December lunch.
The sweets are shared with the rest of Spain, turrón and polvorones, with a Valencian accent: Xixona and Alacant make the two classic turrons, and the sugared almonds from Casinos are the local speciality. Our guide to the huerta and its seasons has the month-by-month table, and our guide to traditional Valencian dishes covers the puchero.
What changes for residents
The schools break up around 22 December and do not go back until after Reis on 6 January, so the holiday is two full weeks; the school year calendar has the exact dates. Public offices work normally until about the 20th and then run on skeleton staff, so anything with a deadline in the first week of January is better done before Christmas. The regional government publishes the official holiday calendar for the year ahead.
Tax has a year-end too. 31 December is the reference date for the Modelo 720 foreign assets declaration that opens on 1 January, and several non-resident filings have year-end deadlines. Heating is the household cost of the month, and our guide to electricity costs explains the winter bill.
If you are moving this month
December works if you arrive in the first fortnight. The offices are open, the flat market is quiet because nobody moves at Christmas, and the weather is kind. From about the 20th the city is on holiday in all but name until 7 January, so an arrival in the second half means two weeks of waiting with the lights on.
Our moving to Valencia guide sets out the order of the paperwork, and our admin support service can hold the appointments for you across the shutdown.
December is Valencia doing winter its own way: a marathon in shirtsleeves, oranges at their best, and a square full of people counting to twelve. Get the admin done by the 20th, buy a décimo from someone you like, and be in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament at midnight. January brings the Kings, the sales and the coldest nights of the year, which is the next entry.
Arriving in December?
We help you get the essential appointments done before the Christmas shutdown, and find a flat that will be warm in January.
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About the author
Michael Bastin
Founder, ValenciaMove - Valencia since 2016
Michael has lived in Valencia since 2016 and helps people move here.
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