Spain Festivals

Each and every August in Buñol (a picturesque Spanish village just outside of Valencia) La Tomatina, the world's largest food fight is played out. The missiles, tomatoes, the targets, anyone crazed enough to turn up, the result, tomato-based carnage. Welcome to La Tomatina!

At noon on the seventh day of the seventh month (that's July 7th for those calendarily challenged) for a duration of seven days, the Spanish city of Pamplona plays host to the festival of San Fermin (known locally as Sanfermines and famously depicted in Hemingway's, The Sun Also Rises).

The event draws party-goers from near and far and although Sanfermines entails so much more to the locals, it's the Encierro - the daily running of the bulls - that the majority of the tourists are on hand to see. For a little over half a mile bull runners - clad in all white with red handkerchiefs tied around their necks - battle the cobbles of Santo Domingo en route to El Plaza del Toros whilst in pursuit are six, infuriated, agitated and totally disorientated toros. Injuries are numerous, since 1924 they've proven fatal for 13 protagonists.

San Fermin is a festival steeped in history, tradition and local culture but not without it's detractors as is seen in the annual Running of the Nudes - an event highlighting the animal cruelty aspects of San Fermin.