Holy Week in Gijón: processions, 2027 dates, weather and what's open

In Gijón almost every Holy Week procession leaves the church of San Pedro and winds through Cimadevilla: Tuesday to Friday at 20:00, and Saturday and Sunday in the morning. In 2027 Holy Week runs from 21 to 28 March, with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as holidays in Asturias.

Holy Week in Gijón is small, neighbourly and shaped by the sea. Almost every procession leaves the church of San Pedro, beside the beach, and disappears up the slopes of Cimadevilla. In 2027 it falls early, in March, which changes the weather and a plan or two.

2027 dates and public holidays

In 2027 Holy Week runs from Sunday 21 March, Palm Sunday, to Sunday 28 March, Easter Sunday. According to the list of 2027 public holidays published in the BOE on 13 October 2026, Maundy Thursday, 25 March, and Good Friday, 26 March, are holidays in Asturias.

Easter Monday, 29 March, is not a holiday in Asturias according to the same table, so the city runs as on any other Monday.

A seafaring Holy Week

Processions returned to the streets of Gijón about thirty years ago: in March 2025 the Archdiocese of Oviedo marked thirty years since that revival with a talk by Ignacio Alvargonzález, president of the Junta de Hermandades y Cofradías de la Semana Santa en Gijón.

As he told it, the oldest brotherhood is the Hermandad de la Vera Cruz, from the 16th century, which ran the processions until almost the end of the 18th century; then the Hermandad de la Misericordia took over, until the church of San Pedro was destroyed in the Civil War. Cimadevilla, the original core of the town, and San Pedro have always been the centre. In the 16th century Gijón had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, many of them fishermen, and devotions such as the Virgen de la Soledad, on Holy Saturday, come from that past.

One detail says a lot about the city: on Palm Sunday, according to the Archdiocese, the young members of the Cofradía del Niño del Remedio carry the Niño Jesús del Remedio on their shoulders in the procession of La Borriquilla. The image is usually kept in the Capilla de los Remedios in Cimadevilla.

The processions, day by day

The pattern, according to the Junta's president, repeats every year: processions from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, none on Holy Monday, Tuesday to Friday always at eight in the evening, and Saturday and Sunday in the morning. The 2027 programme is published in the preceding weeks; as a reference, this was the 2025 one according to Turismo Asturias.

Holy Tuesday: the Procession of Silence from San Pedro at 20:00, cancelled if it rains. Holy Wednesday: the Procession of the Encounter; at 20:15 the Nazareno and the Verónica leave the church of San José, at 20:45 the Dolorosa and San Juan Evangelista, and at 21:15 they meet in the Plaza Mayor, with a sermon.

Maundy Thursday: the Way of the Cross of the Santo Cristo de la Misericordia y de los Mártires from San Pedro at 20:00, held inside the church if it rains. Good Friday: the Holy Burial from San Pedro at 20:00, with San Juan Evangelista and Nuestra Señora de la Soledad.

Holy Saturday: at 9:00 the procession of the Soledad leaves San Pedro, the earliest of all. Easter Sunday: at 11:45 the float of San Pedro Apóstol sets off; at 12:00 the Resurrection leaves the Iglesiona and the Virgen de la Alegría the chapel of La Soledad, and at 12:30 they meet in front of the old municipal fish market.

Where to watch

There is no need to stake out a spot hours ahead: the processions wind through the old quarter of Cimadevilla and its surroundings, according to the Archdiocese, and almost all of them start at San Pedro, so the area around the church and the streets climbing into the quarter are the best places. For Wednesday's Encounter, the Plaza Mayor. The story of the church is in the San Pedro church guide.

The weather in late March

AEMET does not publish climate normals for Gijón; the nearest station that has them is Asturias Airport. There, over the 1981-2010 period, March has a mean of 10.7 ºC, with highs of 14.6 ºC and lows of 6.8 ºC, 82 litres per square metre spread over about 10.8 rainy days, and 142 hours of sunshine.

In plain terms: a jacket, an umbrella and the odd clear afternoon. The evening processions start at eight and the Silence is cancelled if it rains, so check the AEMET forecast on the day.

What's open and what to do between processions

The Gijón Museum Network includes, among others, the Roman Baths Museum at Campo Valdés, a stone's throw from San Pedro, the Jovellanos Birthplace Museum, the Muséu del Pueblu d'Asturies and the Asturias Railway Museum. Check holiday opening hours on its website before going. The Railway Museum held a steam day during Holy Week 2025; how these work is in the Steam Days guide.

The beach is there, but without lifeguards: in 2026 the council's supervised bathing season began on 1 May. In March, San Lorenzo beach is for walking on the sand, not for swimming.

If you are coming from Madrid, the train journey is covered in the Madrid–Gijón train guide.

Checked

Facts checked in October 2026 in: the Resolution of 8 October 2026 of the Directorate-General for Labour listing the 2027 public holidays (BOE), the Turismo Asturias events listing (Holy Week in Gijón, 2025 programme), Archdiocese of Oviedo news items from April 2022 and March 2025 on Holy Week in Gijón, AEMET climate normals (Asturias Airport, 1981-2010), and Gijón City Council's Museum Network page and 2026 bathing season calendar.