Madrid hosts Spain’s best-known New Year’s Eve countdown at Puerta del Sol.
The square is the traditional setting for Spain’s midnight celebration, which is broadcast nationally from the clock at the former post office building. At midnight, people try to eat twelve grapes, one with each chime of the clock. The grapes symbolize the twelve months of the coming year, and successfully eating them is associated with good fortune.
The custom became especially famous through television coverage, making the Puerta del Sol clock a recognizable national symbol of New Year’s Eve. Celebrations also take place throughout Madrid, but the square remains the central public focus.
Puerta del Sol is in central Madrid, near landmarks including the Kilometer Zero plaque, which marks the conventional center of Spain’s radial road network. The grape tradition is Spanish rather than a universal European custom, although related countdown foods appear elsewhere.