San Fermín

At noon on 6 July the square in front of the Town Hall is so full of people in white and red that nobody can move, and the whole crowd is looking up at one balcony. When the rocket goes off, the chupinazo, the festival starts, and Pamplona belongs to it for nine days.

The part the world knows is the encierro, the bull run. Every morning from 7 to 14 July at 8 am the bulls run a route of 875 metres, from the Cuesta de Santo Domingo to the Plaza de Toros, with runners ahead of them. It is over in minutes and it is dangerous. Most visitors never run, and watching is a perfectly good way to take part, though the places along the route fill long before the start.

The rest of San Fermín is less famous and just as local. On 7 July the city holds the procession and the Mass of San Fermín, the most religious day of the festival, which also has its own bull run at 8 am. The days that follow are given to street life, music and long meals. At midnight on 14 July people gather in the Plaza Consistorial for the Pobre de mí, light candles and take off their red scarves, and the festival is over until next year.

How to go. The dates are fixed, 6 to 14 July, so you can plan far ahead. Wear white with a red sash and scarf, and sturdy shoes: mornings can be cool and afternoons hot. Pamplona is a small city, and the city council reports that the 2026 festival drew about 1.5 million people, so book a bed as early as you can, or stay in a nearby town and come in for the day. The programme and the rules for the encierro are published by the city council each year.