Spain Fiestas Calendar

To understand Spain is to love a festival. All facets of life come to screeching halt when there is a fiesta, whether national, regional or local. Smaller towns may take more pride in their local celebration than the national fiestas, because it reminds them of who they are and allows them to celebrate where they are from.

One of the best surprises about touring in Spain is when you come upon a fiesta that you weren't expecting. Toss your schedule out the window, because everyone will be in the streets enjoying themselves -- and that's where you should be too!.

Take special care to either plan ahead (months ahead even) or to completely avoid the largest festivals -- you'll be unable to find a decent hotel room if you don't have one previously reserved.

Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
Fería de Sevilla.
Semana Santa, around Easter in Sevilla.
Carnival in Cádiz..

Festivals in Spain: 2008

Jan 1	New Year's Day	Spain
Jan 5	Procession of the Three Wise Men ("Los Tres Reyes Magos," gifts for children, parades and fireworks in big cities)	Spain
Jan 6	Epiphany ("Día de los Reyes," religious festival)	Spain
Feb 2-3	La Candelaria (religious festival)	Madrid
Feb 22- March 8	Festival de Jerez (flamenco and other dancing; www.festivaldejerez.es)	Jerez
Feb 28	Day of Andalucía (some closures)	Andalucía
March 15-19	Las Fallas (burning hundreds of colorful papier-mâché statues, www.fallas.com)	Valencia
March 16-23	Holy Week (week before Easter)	Spain
March 14 - 23	Semana Santa (Pageant of The Passion, solemn religious processions)	Sevilla
March 23	Easter Sunday	Spain
April 23	St. George's Day (celebration of Catalunya's patron saint, "Sant Jordi"; book and flower stalls everywhere — men give roses to women, women give books to men)	Barcelona
April 29	April Fair ("Feria de Abril," party tents in huge fairgrounds, traditional costumes, bullfights)	Sevilla
May 1	Labor Day (closures)	Spain
May 2	Day of the Autonomous Community (closures, music, dancing in Plaza Mayor)	Madrid
May 3	Day of the Cross ("Día de la Cruz," neighborhood squares filled with decorated crosses, dancing, and merriment)	Granada
May 3-13	Patio Festival ("Concurso Popular de Patios Cordobeses," shows off traditional patios)	Córdoba
May 6-13	Jerez Horse Fair ("Feria del Caballo," equestrian pageantry, bullfighting, flamenco dancing; www.jerez2020.com/aFeria.htm)	Jerez
May 15	Fiesta de San Isidro (religious festival for Madrid's patron saint); celebrations — including bullfights and zarzuelas — take place throughout May	Madrid
May 17	Ascension Day (religious festival)	Spain
June 15	Corpus Christi (religious festival)	Spain
June 24	St. John the Baptist Day ("San Juan"; bonfires, fireworks)	Barcelona
late June	La Patum (Moorish battles)	Barcelona
June 22-July 8	International Festival of Music and Dance (www.granadafestival.org)	Granada
July 6-14	Running of the Bulls (Fiesta de San Fermín)	Pamplona
July 15-21	Music festival in the Cave of Nerja (third week of July)	Nerja
July 25	Feast of St. James (Santiago)	Spain
Aug 12-19	Festa Major de Gràcia (neighborhood festival; www.festamajordegracia.org)	Barcelona
Aug 15	Feast of the Assumption (religious festival)	Spain
mid-Aug	Verbena de la Paloma (folk festival)	Madrid
Aug 19-27	Aste Nagusia (annual fiesta)	Bilbao
Aug 29	La Tomatina (huge tomato fight)	Buñol (near Valencia)
mid-Sept	Autumn Festival (grape harvest, flamenco, bullfights)	Jerez
late Sept	La Mercé (fireworks, dance, street theater, parade with huge papier-mache figures)	Barcelona
Oct 12	Spanish National Day ("Día de la Hispanidad" commemorating Columbus' arrival in the New World, parades, some closures)	Spain
Nov 1	All Saints' Day (religious festival, closures)	Spain
Nov 9	Virgen de la Almudena (religious festival)	Madrid
Dec 6	Constitution Day (closures)	Spain
Dec 8	Feast of the Immaculate Conception (religious festival)	Spain
Dec 13	Feast of Santa Lucía (religious festival)	Spain
Dec 25	Christmas	Spain
Dec 31	New Year's Eve	Spain