Fiesta calendar

The night before Epiphany, the Three Kings ride through every Spanish town throwing sweets to the crowds. For Spanish children this, not Ch…

For 24 hours, companies of drummers dressed as Napoleonic soldiers and cooks march through San Sebastián playing the same marches over and …

One of the largest carnivals in the world, with Brazilian-style costumes, a Carnival Queen gala, street parties lasting all night and warm …

Spain’s funniest carnival: the city fills with costumed groups singing sharp, satirical songs about politics, celebrities and everyday life.

Valencia builds hundreds of giant satirical sculptures, fires off daily firework barrages at 2 pm, and then burns everything on the night o…

Brotherhoods carry ornate floats of Christ and the Virgin through the streets day and night, accompanied by penitents in pointed hoods and …

A week-long city of more than 1,000 striped tents (casetas) where Sevillanos dance sevillanas, drink rebujito and ride in horse carriages i…

Three days of parades re-enacting the battles between Moors and Christians, with spectacular costumes, gunpowder and a mock siege of a wood…

Residents open their flower-filled private courtyards to the public for free, competing for prizes.

Madrid’s own fiesta: picnics in San Isidro meadow, chulapos and chulapas in traditional dress, chotis dancing and free concerts.

Up to a million pilgrims travel on foot, on horseback and in decorated wagons across the Doñana marshes to the village of El Rocío.

Toledo’s streets are shaded with awnings, hung with tapestries and scattered with herbs for a solemn procession of a 16th-century gold mons…

Alicante’s version of Valencia’s Fallas: giant sculptures (fogueres), daily mascletàs, and a night when everything burns and firefighters s…

Midsummer night: bonfires on the beaches, jumping waves and flames for luck, and fireworks along the Mediterranean and Galician coasts.

Thousands of people in white climb to the Riscos de Bilibio and soak each other with red wine from buckets, bottles, water pistols and back…

Wild horses are rounded up from the Galician hills, and in a packed ring men wrestle them by hand to trim their manes and check their healt…

Nine days of non-stop fiesta in white and red, famous for the morning running of the bulls (encierro) through the old town.

Galicia’s national day: a huge fireworks and light show on the cathedral façade, concerts, and pilgrims arriving in their thousands.

A day fair in the city centre with flamenco, fino and sweet wine in the streets, and a night fair at the fairground with casetas and rides.

Bilbao’s big week: free concerts, nightly fireworks competitions, Basque rural sports and dozens of txosnas (bar tents) run by local groups.

An hour-long tomato fight in the streets of a small town near Valencia. Tickets are required and numbers are capped.

Logroño celebrates the grape harvest with the first must pressed in front of the cathedral, wine tastings, parades and fiesta in the tapas …

Barcelona’s main festival: human towers, giants, fire-runs (correfoc), free concerts across the city and fireworks to close.

Zaragoza’s week of fiestas, best known for the Flower Offering: hundreds of thousands of people in regional dress bring flowers to build a …