Which square in Madrid is famous for Spain's televised New Year's Eve midnight chimes?

Madrid’s Puerta del Sol is famous for Spain’s televised New Year’s Eve midnight chimes.

The square contains the clock whose chimes accompany the traditional eating of twelve grapes. On December 31, people across Spain watch broadcasts from Puerta del Sol and try to eat one grape with each of the twelve main strokes at midnight. The ritual links a national celebration to a specific Madrid landmark.

Puerta del Sol is one of central Madrid’s best-known public spaces. It contains the famous Kilometer Zero plaque, used as the reference point for measuring distances on Spain’s radial roads, and the statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree, a symbol of Madrid.

The pre-midnight sequence can be confusing to viewers because the clock emits preliminary signals before the principal chimes. The grapes are eaten during the twelve main chimes, not during every sound heard on television. The square’s clock is therefore both a civic landmark and the timing center of a nationwide ritual.