When: January 5
Where: Barcelona, Spain
Cost: Free

If you usually feel a bit flat after the Christmas and New Year celebrations, then banish the blues with an early January break in Barcelona to watch the Cabalgata los Reyes Magos, or Procession of the Three Kings.

Children eagerly await the arrival of the kings

According to Spanish tradition, gifts are exchanged on Epiphany rather than Christmas Day, and children eagerly await the arrival of the kings.

In Barcelona, crowds gather at the harbour steps of the Moll de Fusta to witness the glorious arrival of the regal trio at around 5.30 p.m.

The first sightings of the kings’ boat are met with fireworks and a riotous cacophony of fog horns from a flotilla gathered in the port, while a 21-gun salute welcomes them to dry land.

Then the colourful procession, led by the mayor and the metropolitan guard, heads towards the city centre past some of the city’s major monuments, culminating at the floodlit fountain of Montjuïc.

Fly to Barcelona with Air Malta or Ryanair (Girona).

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