Lisbon in December: weather, Christmas markets, lights and New Year's Eve

Lisbon in December at a glance

Lisbon in December is a city of short afternoons and long evenings. The sun drops behind the hills a little after five, the lights come on along the Baixa, and the smell of roasting chestnuts drifts across the squares. It is cooler and wetter than the postcard, but it is rarely cold in the way northern Europe is cold, and for most of the month the streets belong to the people who live here. These are the numbers worth knowing before you book.

• Daytime high: about 15.4°C in the city centre.
• Night low: about 9.4°C, with no frost on an average December night.
• Rain: around 108 millimetres over 10 days with at least a millimetre, but only three or four of those days bring heavy rain.
• Daylight: about nine and a half hours, with sunset between 17:14 and 17:24 all month.
• Christmas lights: switched on 22 November in the last edition, on every evening from 17:30 until 6 January.
• Biggest Christmas market: Wonderland Lisboa in Parque Eduardo VII, free to enter, from late November to the first days of January.
• New Year's Eve: a free concert and 10 minutes of fireworks over the river at Praça do Comércio, and a second show over the Tagus in Parque das Nações.
• Public holidays: 1 December, 8 December, 25 December and 1 January.

The climate figures are the IPMA normals for 1991 to 2020, measured at the Lisboa Geofísico station in the centre of the city. The event dates and hours come from the 2025 to 2026 edition of each programme, because as of October 2026 most of the next ones are not yet published; I mark them as last year's and say what to check. What follows takes the month in order: the weather, the markets, the lights, the Christmas table, New Year's Eve and how to get home from it, what stays open on the days the city stops, and a few days out.

Lisbon weather in December

December in Lisbon feels like a fresh autumn day that never quite turns into winter. On a clear afternoon you walk in a light jacket and sit outside for a coffee in the sun; after dark the temperature falls towards 9 or 10°C and the damp from the river makes it feel colder than the number. The extremes are mild: the highest December maximum in the 1991 to 2020 series at the city station is 21.5°C, the lowest minimum 2.1°C.

The rain comes in bursts

December is one of the wetter months of the Lisbon year, with 108.5 millimetres in the normals, though November is wetter still. What matters for a visitor is how it falls. Of the 10 rainy days in an average December, only 3.7 bring 10 millimetres or more; the rest are showers that pass in an hour and leave the calçada shining. A rainy day is usually a half day lost, not a whole one, so keep an indoor plan in your pocket rather than a cancelled trip in your head.

Short days, cold evenings

The shortest day of the year, 21 December, has 9 hours and 27 minutes of daylight, with the sun rising at 7:50 and setting at 17:18. That rhythm shapes the month. Mornings start late and slow, the best light for the miradouros arrives in the hour before five, and by six it is properly night. Many older Lisbon buildings are poorly heated, so the evenings feel cooler indoors than the forecast suggests; pack something warm to wear at home, not only outside.

Is it warm enough for the beach?

Warm enough to walk on it, not to swim in it. The sea off Lisbon sits around 16°C in December, and the Atlantic beaches west of the city, the ones in our Cascais guide, are at their most beautiful in winter light and their emptiest. Go for the walk and the sunset, and leave the swimsuit unless you have a wetsuit and a surfboard.

Lisbon Christmas markets

Lisbon's Christmas markets are younger and less formal than the ones in Germany or Austria. They are wooden huts, lights, food and a carousel or two, scattered across squares and parks, and the best of them are free to walk into. They change from year to year, so the dates below are the last edition's and the pattern to expect.

Wonderland Lisboa in Parque Eduardo VII

Wonderland Lisboa is the big one: a Christmas village laid along the slope of Parque Eduardo VII, with a giant tree, a Ferris wheel, an ice rink, rides, a Santa's house and rows of food and craft stalls looking down towards the river. Its tenth edition ran from 28 November 2025 to 4 January 2026, with free entry and paid rides; in the 2024 edition the Ferris wheel cost €6 and most other rides €5.

I went in December 2023, and the one thing I would tell you is about the hour. Avoid the late afternoon at the weekend, when the whole city seems to arrive at once and every path becomes a queue. A visit on a weekday, or earlier in the day, changes the experience completely.

• Where: Parque Eduardo VII, metro Parque or Marquês de Pombal.
• When (2025 edition): 28 November to 4 January.
• Hours (2025 edition): weekdays from 16:00, from 15:00 from 15 December; weekends and the 1 and 8 December holidays from 10:00; 24 and 31 December 10:00 to 16:00.
• Cost: free entry, rides paid separately.
• Best time: a weekday at dusk.

The Rossio Christmas market

In the heart of the Baixa, Rossio square fills with wooden houses, a Santa's house and a free little Christmas train that loops through the old streets. The Rossio Christmas market opens earlier and closes earlier than Wonderland: in 2025 it ran from 14 November to 21 December, free, with a parade every day at 17:00. It is the easiest market to fold into a walk, and the best for a hot drink on the way to the lights.

The smaller markets

The rest are worth knowing about if they fall on your route. In 2025 the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara in Bairro Alto held a small market with its own tree from 1 to 26 December, with the castle lit up across the valley, and Praça da Figueira hosted a gourmet market with cooking demonstrations on Fridays and Saturdays until 21 December. The design market at Campo Pequeno ran over two long weekends only, and Campo de Santa Clara, home of the Feira da Ladra flea market, had a few days of local crafts just before Christmas. If you are staying east of the centre, know that Parque das Nações has no big open-air Christmas market; the FIL exhibition centre hosts Diverlândia, an indoor Christmas funfair (12 December 2025 to 4 January 2026 in the last edition), and the rest of the neighbourhood does Christmas in its own quieter way, which I come to below.

Christmas lights in Lisbon and the tree in Praça do Comércio

The city's lights are the real December spectacle, and they cost nothing. In the last edition the council switched them on in Praça do Comércio on 22 November 2025, with a concert and fireworks, and kept them on every evening from 17:30 until 6 January. Across 46 streets, squares and avenues there were 182 kilometres of LED light. The centrepiece is the tree in Praça do Comércio, 30 metres tall, standing between the arcades with the river behind it.

I walked through the square and past the tree in December 2025. It stands between the yellow arcades, with the arch of Rua Augusta at one end of the square and the river at the other. In the last edition the lights stayed on until midnight from Sunday to Thursday, until one in the morning on Friday and Saturday, and until two on Christmas night and New Year's Eve.

A walk from Chiado down to the Baixa

The best way to see the lights is on foot, and downhill. Start in Chiado at the end of the afternoon, while there is still a little blue in the sky, and walk down through Rua Garrett and Rua do Carmo to Rossio as the darkness settles. Then follow Rua Augusta to the arch and come out into Praça do Comércio under the tree. I saw the lights of the Baixa, Chiado and Avenida da Liberdade in December 2024, and starting in Chiado and going down on foot is far better than trying to see everything from a car: much of the route is pedestrian, and from a car you miss the moment the streets light up. In 2025 the Armazéns do Chiado also ran a short light show on its façade every half hour in the evening, a good place to begin.

Christmas in Lisbon: traditions and the table

Christmas in Portugal is a family feast, and most of it happens at home. That is worth understanding before you arrive, because it explains why the city goes quiet on the evening of the 24th and most of the 25th, and why the bakeries are so busy in the days before.

Bolo-rei and bolo-rainha

The cake of the season is the bolo-rei, a ring of sweet bread crowned with candied fruit and nuts, eaten from the start of December until Epiphany on 6 January. Its sister, the bolo-rainha, carries nuts and dried fruit instead of the candied kind. The recipe came from France, and Confeitaria Nacional, on Praça da Figueira since 1829, credits itself with bringing it to Portugal, in 1875; its old shop is still the most atmospheric place to buy one. Expect to pay roughly €22 to €30 a kilo in the city's bakeries, and buy it whole: a slice is a taste, a whole cake is the tradition.

The Consoada on Christmas Eve

The Consoada is the dinner of 24 December, and in Lisbon the dish is boiled bacalhau, salt cod, served "com todos", with potatoes, cabbage, eggs and chickpeas, followed by rabanadas, aletria and filhós. Octopus belongs to the Christmas table in the north of Portugal, not here. Most families eat at home, which is why many restaurants close that night.

Nativity scenes and the Missa do Galo

The presépio, the nativity scene, is a Portuguese art form. The most celebrated in Lisbon is the eighteenth-century presépio by Machado de Castro in the Basílica da Estrela, with more than four hundred figures, most of them terracotta, set on a wood and cork structure; the church is free to enter and the nativity room asks a small fee. At midnight on 24 December the Sé de Lisboa holds the Missa do Galo, the midnight Mass. Arrive early and go as a guest rather than a sightseer.

Roasted chestnuts

From the autumn the chestnut sellers set up their smoking carts at Restauradores, Rossio, Chiado and Cais do Sodré. A dozen cost €3.50 to €4 in the 2025 season, 50 cents more than the year before, served in a paper cone that warms your hands while you walk the lights.

New Year's Eve in Lisbon

I spent New Year's Eve in Lisbon on the night from 2024 to 2025, and the advice I give everyone since is to decide in advance where you will watch and how you will get home. There are two official ways to see the fireworks, one in the centre and one in the east, and a handful of viewpoints for those who would rather watch from above. The 2026 programmes are announced in December; the details below are from the last edition.

The party in Praça do Comércio

The city's own party, organised by the council and EGEAC, fills Praça do Comércio. On 31 December 2025 it was free, the square opened at 19:30, a DJ started at 21:30 and the rapper Plutonio played from 22:30. At 23:55 a show of 250 drones led into 10 minutes of fireworks fired from the river at midnight, and the music went on until one. In 2025 the police searched everyone at the six entry points and dangerous objects, champagne bottles included, were not allowed in; the council asked people to arrive by 21:00.

The fireworks in Parque das Nações

The second show is in Parque das Nações, on the eastern riverside. For the last New Year the parish council staged its own display of light, music and fireworks over the Tagus at midnight, between the Vasco da Gama tower and the Pavilhão Atlântico. It is a neighbourhood show, and the promenade is wide, the river is broad and open, and if you are staying in the neighbourhood you can walk to it and walk home.

The viewpoints

The miradouros on the hills give you the Baixa fireworks from above: Graça, Senhora do Monte and São Pedro de Alcântara all look over the centre and the river. They are also where half of Lisbon has the same idea, so they fill early, and they sit at the top of steep streets that are hard to reach once the Baixa closes to traffic in the afternoon.

New Year's Eve dinner

On 31 December many restaurants serve fixed menus rather than their usual card. In 2025 the menus Time Out listed ran from about €130 to €450 a person, with good restaurants between €160 and €250, and several of them did not include drinks. Early seatings let you eat and still reach the fireworks; a restaurant with a view lets you watch them without joining the crowd.

Getting through 31 December: dinner, transport and the way home

The two mistakes our guests make most often in December are about time. The first is leaving the dinner of the 24th or the 31st to book at the last minute: many restaurants close for the Consoada, and the best places for New Year's Eve fill early. The second is planning the way home on the 31st as if it were a normal night. Expect changes, closed streets and many more people, and decide before you go out how you will get back.

• Roads: in 2025 traffic was cut in the Baixa, Rossio and Cais do Sodré from 16:00, and shared bikes and scooters were switched off from 13:00.
• Metro: ran until 01:00 and restarted at 06:30 on 1 January; the year before it had run later on two lines, so check the new timetable.
• Terreiro do Paço station: closed from 17:00; use Baixa-Chiado, Cais do Sodré or Santa Apolónia instead.
• Night buses and trains: Carris night lines ran in full and CP added late trains to Sintra and Cascais.
• Taxis: hard to find in the hour after midnight; walk a few streets out of the centre before you call one.

If the last metro matters to you, leave the square before the final set: the music ends at one, and so does the metro. Christmas Eve has its own version of this, with the metro until 01:00 in 2025, Carris Metropolitana buses stopping at 22:00 and the late trains to Sintra and Cascais cancelled.

What is open on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January

The rhythm of the holidays is simple once you know it. On the 24th the city is open until the late afternoon and then empties. The 25th is the quietest day of the year. The 31st runs normally until the evening, and 1 January is a slow day of late breakfasts. In 2026 Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on a Friday.

• National museums and monuments: the Jerónimos Monastery, the Belém Tower and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga close on 25 December and 1 January, and in 2025 they also closed on 24 and 31 December.
• Castelo de São Jorge: closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January.
• Gulbenkian: closed on 24 and 25 December, 1 January and every Tuesday, which in 2026 includes the holidays of 1 and 8 December; open on 31 December.
• Oceanário: open every day of the year, from 10:00 to 19:00 on 24 and 31 December and from 11:00 to 20:00 on 25 December and 1 January.
• Shopping centres: in 2025 Centro Vasco da Gama closed at 18:00 on the 24th and 19:00 on the 31st, and stayed shut on 25 December and 1 January.
• Supermarkets: most close early on the 24th and stay closed on the 25th; buy what you need for Christmas Day by mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve.
• Restaurants: many close on the evening of the 24th and on the 25th; hotel restaurants and the bigger places in the tourist areas are the ones that stay open.

On 1 January the Oceanário, the zoo and the MAC/CCB in Belém are among the few places open. It is the morning to sleep late, walk by the river, and start the year slowly.

A quieter December in Parque das Nações

Parque das Nações, the modern district built for Expo 98 on the eastern riverside, does December in a lower voice than the Baixa. I spent part of December 2025 there, and it is the place to go when you want Christmas without the crowds: the riverside promenade, the big tree inside the Centro Vasco da Gama, and the fireworks over the Tagus on New Year's Eve.

It is also the most practical part of Lisbon for a winter stay. The Oceanário de Lisboa is the best rainy-day plan in the city and stays open on Christmas Day, and its last time slot, from 16:00, is the cheapest, from €25.50 for an adult. The Telecabine Lisboa runs along the river from 11:00 to 18:00 through the holidays, €7.50 one way or €9.50 return; ride it in the middle of the afternoon, because the sun is gone by half past five. The red metro line reaches the airport in about ten minutes and the Baixa in about half an hour with one change. If you want an apartment in Parque das Nações close to all of it, ours is a short walk from the river.

Day trips in December: Óbidos and Sintra

December is a good month to leave the city for a day, as long as you are back before the holiday timetables thin out in the evening.

Óbidos Vila Natal

The walled town of Óbidos, about an hour north of Lisbon, turns into a Christmas village every winter. The 2026 edition of Óbidos Vila Natal is announced for 27 November 2026 to 3 January 2027; last year the ticket cost €10 for an adult and €8 for a child, with an ice rink, a carousel and ginjinha served in a chocolate cup, and the village was closed on 25 December and 1 January. Express buses leave from Campo Grande, and some coaches from Gare do Oriente run towards Caldas da Rainha, so check that yours stops in Óbidos; go on a weekday morning, because the weekends are busy.

Sintra in winter

Sintra is beautiful in December and often wrapped in fog in the morning, so plan the hilltop palaces for the afternoon and bring a layer. In the last season the town's Christmas programme lit up the Pena Palace from 1 December and projected images onto the National Palace in the evenings. Our Sintra day trip guide covers the train, the tickets and which palaces to choose; on 24 December take an earlier train back, because the late ones were cancelled last year.

Four days in Lisbon in December

This plan fits any four days in the first three weeks of December, when the markets and the lights are all running and the city is not yet on holiday. Swap a day for Óbidos or Sintra if the weather is kind.

Day 1: the lights on foot

Spend the afternoon in Alfama and the castle while there is light, then walk to Chiado for the last of the dusk and down through Rossio and Rua Augusta to the tree in Praça do Comércio as the city switches on. A cone of chestnuts on the way, dinner in the Baixa.

Day 2: Belém and Wonderland

Belém in the morning, the monastery and the tower before the groups (both close on Mondays), a pastel de nata, then the slope of Parque Eduardo VII for Wonderland Lisboa from the weekday opening, before the evening crowd. Our things to do in Lisbon guide has the hours and tickets for Belém.

Day 3: the east and the river

The Oceanário in the afternoon slot, the cable car along the river, and a walk on the promenade of Parque das Nações as the sun sets over the Tagus. On a rainy day, swap the cable car for the Gulbenkian, unless it is a Tuesday.

Day 4: a slow day and the presépio

The Basílica da Estrela and its nativity scene, the garden opposite, then Campo de Ourique or Príncipe Real for lunch and a bakery stop for a bolo-rei to take home. End the trip at a miradouro at five, watching the light go.

What to pack for Lisbon in December

Pack for a mild day, a cold evening and at least one shower.

• A warm layer: a sweater or fleece for the evenings, indoors as well as out.
• A waterproof jacket: lighter and more useful than an umbrella on the windy squares by the river.
• Shoes with grip: the calçada, the white limestone paving, is slippery when wet, and the hills are steep.
• A scarf: for the river wind on New Year's Eve and the cable car.
• A transport card: a single Carris and metro ticket costs €1.90 and a 24-hour pass €7.25 in 2026, both on a Navegante card.
• Cash in small notes: for chestnuts and market stalls.

Lisbon also charges a tourist tax of €4 a night for each guest aged 13 and over, up to seven nights.

Frequently asked questions about Lisbon in December

Is Lisbon worth visiting in December?

Yes, especially in the first three weeks, when the lights and markets are on and the city is calmer than in summer. Expect about 15°C by day, shorter days and a few rainy ones.

What is the weather like in Lisbon in December?

Mild and changeable: about 15.4°C by day and 9.4°C at night, with around 10 rainy days in the IPMA normals, most of them short showers rather than all-day rain.

When does the Lisbon Christmas market open?

Wonderland Lisboa usually opens at the end of November and runs into the first days of January; the Rossio market opens in mid-November and closes just before Christmas. Check the 2026 dates when they are announced in the autumn.

Is everything closed in Lisbon on Christmas Day?

Most shops, supermarkets and many restaurants are, along with the national museums and the castle. The Oceanário, the zoo and the Christmas lights are not.

Are there fireworks in Lisbon on New Year's Eve?

Yes, at midnight over the river at Praça do Comércio, with a free concert, and in a second show over the Tagus in Parque das Nações. In the last edition the main show lasted 10 minutes.

Does the metro run all night on New Year's Eve?

No. In 2025 it ran until 01:00 and restarted at 06:30 on 1 January, and Terreiro do Paço station closed from 17:00. The timetable changes from year to year, so check it in late December.