ACHM Hotels by Marriott presents its gastronomic proposals for Christmas and New Year's Eve 2026 across selected properties, including Hotel Palacio del Retiro and JW Marriott Hotel Madrid in Madrid, and Palacio Tondón in La Rioja.
ACHM Hotels by Marriott has revealed its Christmas and New Year’s Eve dining experiences across hotels in Madrid and La Rioja, offering a variety of culinary proposals designed to celebrate the festive season.
The holidays are a special time to gather around the table: the company dinner that marks the end of a busy year, catching up with friends, or the family meal that welcomes the most magical time of the year. With this spirit in mind, ACHM Hotels by Marriott, the leading hotel management company in Southern Europe, has created a collection of gastronomic experiences that reflect the unique personality of each hotel and its destination.
The result is three very different experiences: the elegance of a palace in the heart of Madrid, the vibrant atmosphere of Puerta del Sol, and the tranquillity of a vineyard estate in La Rioja. What they all have in common is a commitment to quality ingredients, classic recipes with a contemporary touch, and attentive service designed to let guests focus solely on celebrating.
Hotel Palacio del Retiro: Madrid’s Christmas Tradition, Cocktail Style or Around the Table
The Christmas cocktail menu is an ideal choice for traditional corporate celebrations. It begins with a selection of Spanish cheeses served with nuts, artisanal jams and crisp breads, followed by bites such as anchovy brioche with salted French butter, dry-aged beef tartare on charcoal cracker and wild mushroom croquettes. Guests can also enjoy Russian salad with tuna belly, crispy pork crackling with shichimi, lime and fried corn, oxtail with cheese and pickled onion, and bluefin tuna with peanut and ponzu sauce. The savoury selection concludes with a truffle-infused version of the house favourite, the mixto nocturno. Dessert features Montagnolo cheese crisps with passito jam, petit fours and tiramisu cups.
Hotel Palacio del Retiro, Autograph Collection
For those who prefer a seated dinner, the hotel offers a menu built around shared starters. Highlights include roasted pumpkin cream soup with king prawns and festive spices, baked avocados with feta cheese and wildflower honey, artichokes with almond cream and cured beef, and a Mediterranean salad with burrata and smoked sardines.
Main courses showcase both seafood and meat, featuring hake in green sauce with prawns, confit cod loin on creamy cauliflower purée, dry-aged beef tenderloin with black butter, and braised oxtail roulade with truffled parmentier and Port wine toffee. Desserts include the hotel’s signature Retiro Tiramisu, pineapple in osmotic infusion with coconut broth, or sautéed strawberries with pink peppercorns.
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve at Botánicos Álvarez
Located in one of Madrid’s liveliest areas, Botánicos Álvarez at JW Marriott Hotel Madrid presents the festive season under the concept of “A Christmas Made for Sharing”: generous menus, long after-dinner conversations and an atmosphere designed for unhurried celebration.
The Christmas Eve dinner begins with a creamy oxtail croquette topped with cured beef veil, a marinated and smoked mackerel salad with pickles, and sweet potato cream with Idiazabal cheese pearls and black truffle. After a refreshing citrus sorbet, guests are served wild turbot with parsnip and apple, followed by confit suckling pig with carrot purée, coffee noisette butter and seasonal mushrooms. The sweet finale is a raspberry Sacher cake.
JW Marriott Hotel Madrid
New Year’s Eve begins at 8:30 p.m. with a clarified poultry consommé infused with Sherry and a lobster salad dressed with coral vinaigrette. It continues with a cream of charred leek topped with Imperial Oscietra caviar, mushrooms and almond, followed by wild sea bass with coastal vegetables and cava-shallot cream, and Galician blonde beef loin served with demi-glace and seasonal mushrooms. Dessert is a hazelnut Paris-Brest.
A distinctive feature of both celebrations is the availability of a vegetarian alternative, including avocado cream with tomato tartare, burrata salad with basil and strawberry vinaigrette, seasonal vegetable cream, mushroom faux risotto, and grilled osmotic watermelon with roasted tomato cream and cheese.
A New Year’s Eve Celebration with the Flavours of La Rioja
In Briñas, on the banks of the Ebro River and surrounded by vineyards, Gran Reserva, the signature restaurant of Palacio Tondón, Autograph Collection, welcomes 2026 with a menu that pays tribute to the finest produce and wines of La Rioja.
The evening begins with two welcome appetisers: a petit choux filled with smoked salmon, crème fraîche and caviar, and a canapé of red partridge pâté with caramelised pistachios and red berries, paired with Rioja cava Lumen and Rioja mead.
Palacio Tondón, Autograph Collection
Once seated, guests enjoy duck foie gras micuit with red grape jam “2026 vintage” and grilled Calahorra borage with lobster, paired with Noralba Organic White Wine. This is followed by grilled John Dory served over a rich onion reduction with pickled shallots, paired with Lindes de Remelluri.
After a lemon sorbet and Rioja vermouth, the main course arrives: a grilled venison loin medallion served with baby potatoes in smoked butter and Cumberland sauce, paired with Castillo de Mendoza Reserva.
Dessert consists of a nougat cream tart with fried almonds and fruit, accompanied by Vivanco Dulce de Invierno. The countdown to midnight is celebrated with a selection of traditional Rioja sweets, the customary grapes and a festive toast.
For younger guests, the hotel also offers a special children’s menu for the final dinner of the year, including assorted homemade croquettes (ham, mushroom and marinated rib), Iberian cold cuts, breaded hake or beef tenderloin with roasted Rioja peppers, a mini lemon sorbet with red grape must, and chocolate brownie with Rioja grape jam and traditional ice cream.
