Semana Santa, Holy Week in Toledo, Spain
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is one of the two main religious festivals of Toledo, together with Corpus Christi. For a week before Easter Sunday, brotherhoods carry their images through the narrow streets of the old town, mostly at night and in near silence. This post explains what the week is like, the main processions day by day, and how to plan a visit.
What makes Toledo’s Holy Week different
Holy Week in Toledo is austere. The city’s tourist office describes it through candlelight, silence, prayer and the sound of drums, rattles and cornets. It has held the title of Festival of International Tourist Interest since 2014. Spain’s official tourism website notes the solemn character of the processions and the skill of the brotherhoods in moving their statues through very narrow streets, and singles out the processions of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
The setting matters as much as the images. Processions pass under the covered passages (cobertizos) of the convent quarter, cross the Plaza del Ayuntamiento at the foot of the cathedral tower and stop in front of enclosed convents, where the nuns pray or sing from behind the walls. Many brotherhoods start and end their route in Toledo Cathedral, so visitors to the cathedral during the week can see the images waiting in a side aisle.
When it takes place
Holy Week moves with Easter, so it falls in March or April. The next edition listed by Spain’s tourism website runs from 21 to 28 March 2027. In Toledo the processions start before Palm Sunday: the first ones take place on the Friday and Saturday of the week before, and the last one on Easter Sunday morning.
The main processions
The city publishes the full programme with routes each year. The days and times below are those of the programme published for 2026 and change little from year to year.
- Palm Sunday: the procession known as the Borriquita, which shows Christ entering Jerusalem, leaves at 18:00.
- Holy Monday: the Cristo de la Vega is taken to the cathedral at 19:00. At 21:00 the Cristo Nazareno Cautivo sets out, and the two images meet in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The Cristo de la Esperanza leaves at 23:30.
- Holy Tuesday: the Cristo del Amor leaves at 22:00 and makes seven stops at convents, churches and small squares, where the Sermon of the Seven Words is prayed. The Santa Caridad brotherhood, with the Cristo de la Misericordia, follows at 22:45 and the Cristo de los Ángeles at 23:00.
- Holy Wednesday: the Cristo de la Humildad leaves the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes at 21:00. At 23:30 the Cristo Redentor leaves the convent of Santo Domingo el Real in the form of a Way of the Cross with 14 stations under the covered passages.
- Maundy Thursday: the Virgen del Amparo leaves at 20:30. At midnight, as Good Friday begins, the procession of the Cristo de la Vega sets out.
- Good Friday: at 03:00 the Procession of Silence leaves the convent of Santo Domingo el Antiguo with the Cristo de la Expiración, and a Miserere is sung to it under the portico of Santo Domingo el Real. In the evening, at 20:00, the Santo Entierro procession takes place. The recumbent Christ is escorted by 27 knights in armour, known as the Armados.
- Easter Sunday: at 10:00 the Procession of Joy brings the risen Christ and the Virgen de la Alegría together in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The Virgin’s black mantle is removed to show a white embroidered one.
A recent change: since 2025 the Virgen de los Dolores, which goes out on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at 19:00, is carried only by women, the first float in the city to be so.
Churches and convents open at night
In the early hours between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, some of Toledo’s enclosed convents and churches open their doors to the public, which does not happen during the rest of the year. Several images can also be seen in the daytime in buildings open to visitors: the cathedral, San Juan de los Reyes, the Iglesia del Salvador and the convent of Santo Domingo el Antiguo.
Practical tips
- Getting there: Renfe Avant trains link Madrid and Toledo in about 30 minutes, and the station is a 15-minute walk from the centre. Several processions start late at night, so check the time of the last train back or stay overnight.
- Where to watch: the streets are narrow and fill quickly. Arrive early at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento for the meetings of images on Holy Monday and Easter Sunday.
- Behaviour: these are acts of penance. Stay quiet during the silent processions and do not cross the lines of penitents.
- Programme: the Toledo tourist office publishes each brotherhood’s route and time.
Students who spend the spring term in central Spain often combine a night in Toledo with classes in Madrid. More about the city is in the post on the city of Toledo and on the Toledo city page.
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