The Festival of San Fermin and Running of the Bulls
2024 UPDATE | The 2024 Running of the Bulls begins Friday, July 5 with opening ceremonies. The first bull run takes place on Sunday, July 7 at 8 a.m. followed by the procession of San Fermin. The first traditional bullfight is that evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Plaza de Toros. Daily bull runs and bullfights continue from Monday, July 8, through Sunday, July 14.
For an exclusive experience at the San Fermin festival including events, balcony spots for El Encierro (bull run), or an all-inclusive package which includes lodging, transportation, and dining, contact Maitane at ILIVESPAIN. Every moment of your trip will be planned down to the most specific detail. Our experience with ILIVESPAIN was exhilarating, and our time in Pamplona was truly a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket list experience.
It’s July, 2019.
Like clockwork, the San Fermin Festival takes places for nine days during the first of July in Pamplona, Spain. It's known throughout the world for the running of the bulls, but it's the festival that draws visitors and then takes on a life of its own. This festival celebrates the city's first bishop and patron saint, Saint Fermin. Thousands descend on Spain’s small northern city for a historically-rooted celebration.
Moved to Pamplona in 1592, San Fermin a week-long fiesta which begins with song and dance during the first day's opening ceremony, Txupinazo, in front of Town Hall. Once a rocket is launched from the balcony of Town Hall, roars and cheers rush through the crowds. And for nine days, 24/7, the party filled with parades, dancing and wine doesn't stop.
The festival has been around for centuries, but it was the suave American writer Ernest Hemingway on his round-the-world exploits - that many feel - introduced the world to Pamplona and man's quest to out-run beasts with lethal horns. It is a love affair that continued Hemingway's entire life as he journeyed to his beloved Pamplona some nine times before his death, more times than not, with a band of his closest friends. His first trip was in 1923. When his novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1929, the story of expats whose travels from Paris to Pamplona told stories of wine, song, bickering, and despair; it was fiction imitating the reality of Hemingway and his pack. He once wrote that he loved to watch animals run together - one on two legs, the other on four. Read this story of Hemingway and his Pamplona experience as well as see his 1923 passport photo in Vanity Fair.
“As long as the bull-fighter stays in his own terrain, he is comparatively safe.”
It's 5:30 a.m. on Friday, July 12, one of the three final days of the 2019 San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain. Ty, our son, my husband and I are walking from AC Hotel Cuidad de Pamplona to Calle de la Estafeta, the heart of the San Fermin festival and the heralded route of the running of the bulls. The distance, almost 2 km. It's not a bad walk with the morning breeze cutting through the what will assuredly be another scorcher in Spain. Pamplona is in Spain's northern region, so we anticipated more cool air than in Madrid, even Barcelona. During one of the hottest summers on record in Spain, our early morning walk provided a little respite from the heat.
Our solitary journey soon changes. Couples hand-in-hand, groups of men and women merge onto our street from side streets, all wearing the traditional red and white, and soon we are in a crowd. Several rambunctious revelers approach from the opposite direction, and it didn't take long to realize they are left-over revelers from the previous day's events. Their Thursday is still going strong. Most assuredly, that will not be us.
We arrive at the Plaza del Castilla, the central square. Everyone navigates in-and-out of the square at some point during the festival. Early, it's empty, but as the food vendors and craft sellers set up their tents, the people arrive. Here you will find Café Iruña, opened in 1888 on the first day that Pamplona received the electric light for the first time. Gas lights were turned off, and the electric switch was thrown. And when the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Ernest Hemingway made it their favorite drinking hole, Café Iruña became iconic for post-bull sangria. History begs us to fall in line.
Len and I discover the address to meet Maitane, our host for the event; it's a small black door almost unrecognizable tucked in-between businesses and restaurants on the square. She immediately greets us, and we take a lift upstairs. The doors open and it appears as though you are opening the front door of a friend's home. She introduces us to our hostess, ushers us into the dining room where the table is set with churros and pastries, and then, we move out onto the balcony. We are two stories above Calle de la Estafeta; It's almost 7 a.m., people are beginning to stir.
By 7:45 a.m., the balconies are full with onlookers—children in pajamas, mothers and fathers and friends—hanging over the intricate woven iron balconies, stretching to see the course. The runners (called mozos) are being held behind a police line until the start of the race. All those eager to join the race must decide which section they will join the six bulls, whether it be the beginning or the middle or the end. To our left, we see a sea of runners being held back by policemen. The pastores (bull shepherds) are ready to guard the bulls. The runners will run the Calle de la Estafeta, the longest and most famous leg of the 826 meter (.5 mile) course—the distance from the corral to the bullring. Their goal, to touch the bull. Just beyond the crowd, Dead Man's Corner. Wise choice starting past that corner, I think to myself. Now, it's only a matter of waiting until we hear the chupinazo rocket. The first signals the bulls are on the course; the last, they have entered the bullring. Alongside the six bulls will be pastores (bull shepherds) carrying a long stick, the bulls only protection.
We search for Ty who has decided at the last minute he will test fate on the course. We had gone our separate ways in the square; us to our post, and he toward the Town Hall with hundreds of other runners. Finally, we spot him. He eyes us, and he yells, “I have found the Americans,” quite obvious by the t-shirts emblazoned with the American flag. Loud and boisterous now, we, being older and wiser, realize their joyous attitude will shortly come to an end.
And exactly 8 a.m., we hear the rockets, see the crowd move as a wave down the street, and hear the hoofs battering the pavement as they charge. The action shifts beneath us for only a few seconds. Then, by 8:02 a.m., every thing and every one is gone.
Runners pray while families await the beginning of the run.
The bulls end up in the Plaza del Toros where they will fight that evening. Papa Hemingway at the entrance gate.
Once the run is over, people gather in the bars and restaurants to watch the replay of the run. Café Iruña is the favorite.
Dating back to 1860, it's the Procession of Giants and Cabezudos - known to many as BIG HEADS - that draw crowds during the festival, especially the children. Representing the four parts of the world Europe, Africa, Asia, and America - a pair (king and queen) roam through the crowd, accompanied by pipe and txistu players, in their elegant dress and towering heads dancing their way through the narrow streets. And yes, they do have foam batons. They will chase and taunt you and will nip you on the head should that be the correct action to take.
The Local Experience with I Live Spain
For the team at I Live Spain, their mission is simple: to provide the best local and unique luxury experiences in Spain. They want all who visit to experience, feel and live Spain as the locals do. The company began in 2014 in Dallas, Texas, when Maitane Onrubia, co-founder of I Live Spain, moved to Dallas. As a native of Spain, she has spent most of her professional life working for companies in the luxury travel market. Her passions of Spain and tourism grew into her company to aid people in discovering Spain from a Spaniard's point of view.
I Live Spain caters to the baby boomer traveler, luxury travelers and to those who are looking for an authentic cultural experience. "Our goal," states Maitane, "is to exceed the expectations of our clients, making their trip memorable and being sure when they return to their homes, they remember the experience as one of the best vacations of their lives."
What experiences do you offer your clients?
We offer experiences in the whole Iberian Peninsula, focusing on gastronomy, culture, sports and traditions. We can create whatever our clients desire. From a unique breakfast in a local home to watch the bull run or the opening ceremony in Pamplona during The Running of the Bulls Festival; a private tour to discover the masterpieces of Gaudí with a professional architect in Barcelona; a gourmet stroll in San Sebastian to taste the finest pintxos (tapas) in town; a different beach day sailing Ibiza, Menorca, Mallorca or La Costa Brava; shopping in Madrid and Barcelona with our professional personal shopper to access to the ateliers of local designers; to play a soccer match at FC Barcelona Stadium with your friends or work team or even to discover a market with a 3 Michelin star chef who will buy the products and cook for you privately.
Why is it important to invite travelers into locals' homes? What does that add to the experience?
In my opinion, that is the only way to watch El Encierro properly. If you visit Pamplona during the running of the bulls, to watch the bull run is a must, and watch it from the street or from the bullring doesn’t make the experience so nice.
As you know bulls run in a very narrow streets of Pamplona’s Old Town (Santo Domingo, Mercaderes and Estafeta). Along the itinerary there are not many barriers, so to get a spot there is almost impossible. You have to wake up very early in the morning and go to your tiny spot and be sure no one take you out of there. As first barrier is reserved for runners, medical staff and police probably minutes before El Encierro starts. You will have many people in front of you and you will not see anything. If you are lucky and you can watch it, you will see thousands of people running and jumping over the barrier when the bulls come, so finally as much as you will see, probably is a horn in the distance.
From the comfort of a private home, you will assure your first line spot. You will have breakfast with your group or other travelers and you will have access to our local staff who will be with you to explain you everything about the bull run and, of course, about the festival. Besides, as you are not in a ground floor, you will have a perfect bulls view when they are approaching to your balcony and after they pass you can watch the replay on TV.
Note: Immediately after the run, everyone gathers in front of the TV and they replay the entire run. Over and over, analyzing the participants, the onlookers and the bulls. July 12, 2019 stream.
And about those churros . . .
As we always want to offer the best to our guest, we want to show them how could be a local breakfast in Spain. For that reason, every morning at 5:30 a.m., we go to La Estafeta Street to buy churros at one of the most well known churrerias in town and bring them to your balcony where you will enjoy them without long lines.
Churros are not the official food of the festival, but definitely churros are a very popular part of a holiday breakfast in Spain. Usually served with with hot chocolate, and even though it seems very easy to cook and an inexpensive snack, to get good churros during the festival is not so easy.
How do you make this travel experience one-of-a-kind?
We don’t want that travelers just visit Spain, we want them to live it! For that reason, we work very hard to make any experience unique, always taking care of every single detail to be sure they have the best time with us.
We always give them flexibility, and since they arrive to Spain, all our guests will have access to their private concierge who will be their contact during their time with us. We love to know about our guest before they arrive to Spain, to be sure we design a unique experience for them.
Why should people visit Spain?
Spain is an small country that has all you may need. Besides amazing food, more than 30 UNESCO world heritage monuments, beautiful beaches, breath-taking natural parks, vibrant modern cities, unique and ancient villages and one of the best festivals worldwide. In Spain you will have the opportunity to feel the Ibiza's Sunset with your loved ones without having to worry about anything, you will feel the emotion of a local singer that sings a “Saeta” during the Sevilla's Holy Week, you will live the tension and and will celebrate a Messi's goal with more than 100 thousand people, you will enjoy the smells in the markets, connecting with local people and taste delicious products with your friends.
This was our first San Fermin Festival, and truly, it was an experience we will never forget. Tell me about your first.
I don’t really remember my first San Fermín Festival because the first time I enjoyed it was when I was 7 months old. I was born in Pamplona and my parents decided to celebrate my baptism on July 6th at noon. At the same time that the opening ceremony of the festival takes place. So I was there, dressed all in white and with my mini red Pañuelo (scarf) that after 36 years old, I still wear every July 6th (on my wrist). I suppose that after my baptism, the whole family went to have lunch together. I'm sure after that day I have an special connection with this little town and its festival!, For that reason, I didn’t miss any San Fermin Festival in my whole life. Doesn’t matter where I was living, on July 6th you will always can find me in Pamplona!
