Palma's Christmas Market Is Significantly Smaller - City Calls for Re-Tendering of Stalls

Fewer booths, more control: Palma's Christmas Market in a new form

Palma this winter has some things at the Christmas market differently. The city administration has decided to significantly reduce the number of stalls: instead of just over 200 sales spaces in previous years, only 125 are planned for the coming season. This has surprised not only traders in the lanes but also sparked heated discussions in cafés and at market stalls.

Why the shrinkage?

The explanation from the city hall sounds familiar: complaints from residents about noise, garbage and the increasing occupation of public space. They also want to ease the pathways and squares in the historic center, the statement goes. In practice this means: food trucks will no longer be allowed and all providers — including long-standing ones — must reapply for a space.

The old system, under which regular traders automatically got their place again, is thus scrapped. For many stall operators this is a hard cut. I've been selling in the old town for ten years, and now everything starts over, says a market vendor who would prefer to remain unnamed. Whether that's fair remains to be seen. But we need planning security.

Reactions from the neighborhood

Among neighbors the mood is mixed. Some welcome the measure: less crowding, cleaner streets and more space for pedestrians. Others fear that market variety will suffer — especially the small, local providers could fall off the grid. Walkers strolling along Passeig del Born in the evenings already notice that the fairy lights and stalls look less crowded.

The administration announces that it intends to publish transparent allocation criteria and prefers concepts with local relevance and low resource consumption. Whether that is enough to dampen the anger remains open. Traders demand fair deadlines and clear information so they do not have to overhaul their annual planning.

What visitors can expect

For visitors that means: a more compact market, presumably concentrated on a few central squares of the city. Those hoping for food trucks will have to plan differently this year. At the same time, fewer stalls offer more space between the booths and a more relaxed stroll — provided the selection still works.

The deadlines for re-registration are set to be announced in the coming weeks. Then it will become clear which providers will return, who must give way, and whether Palma will thus find a new, more orderly handwriting for the Christmas season. And yes, it will probably be hotly debated again — in the bar on the corner, at the bakery around the corner and on the Plaza.