From the tiniest mountain village, to the main streets of Madrid, Spain is home to hundreds of exuberant festivals and holidays throughout the year. In Spain holidays are celebrated with a passion and dedication unique the world over. Events in Spain are driven by religious and cultural festivals, with each village and city having its own personal fiesta in addition to nationally recognized holidays. With so many Spain holidays dotting the calendar, travelers can crowd into Madrid’s Puerta del Sol with the New Years’ masses and eat a single grape for each stroke of midnight, or engage in the world’s biggest food fight—an epic (and messy) tomato battle in the town of Bunol.
In Spain cheap holidays are harder to find in the summer months, but travelers who avoid the crowded costal regions can plan their itineraries around a few choice summer arts’ festivals in Spain. These include the summer-long Classical Theatre Festival of Greek and Roman dramas in Merida’s 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, or the International Music and Ballet Festival in the resort town of Santander.
Though spectacular events in Spain are a year-round
affair, some of the biggest and most well-known holidays
of Spain begin in the spring. From March 12-19 in Valencia,
giant papier mache effigies or fallas are constructed
by each neighborhood for the Fiestas de Las Fallas.
These fallas are then paraded around town, judged,
and finally set afire. During the week, the streets of
Valencia are a wonderfully chaotic mix of paella eating,
afternoon bullfighting, and free nightly firework displays.
Holidays
in Spain are relatively easy to find, and Las
Fallas is no exception; just make sure to book a
hotel room in advance, or be prepared to sleep in the
city parks with other die-hard revelers.
Travelers looking to combine two festivals of Spain in one trip, should head to Seville for seven days of feasting and religious processions that mark Semana Santa, or holy week, during the Easter Holiday. Stick around for another week, and you can see the horseback parades that make Seville’s Feria de Abril a photographer’s delight.
As spring gives way to summer, head to the cooler northern mountain region for the Fiesta de San Fermin (July 6-14). More popularly known as the running of the Bulls, and made famous in Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises, San Fermin is the most thrilling of all current events in Spain.
From September to November, most holidays of Spain revolve around harvest time, and are known as Feistas de Otono or Autumn Festivals. Though on the whole quieter affairs, these fall festivals in Spain are no less interesting. One of the best is the Fiestas de Otono in the southwestern city of Jerez de la Frontera. Jerez is birthplace of sherry, and fall is the perfect time to sample the year’s vintage and take a tour of the sherry and brandy process.
The shear number of festivals spread throughout Spain during the entire year means that whichever season and destination you chose, you will find festivals in Spain to amaze and entertain you during your trip.
