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Popular festival · Buñol
A tomato battle that takes over the streets of Buñol, an inland town in the province of Valencia, on the last Wednesday of August: for about an hour, thousands of participants from several countries throw ripe tomatoes at one another, with access controlled by ticket.
In the photo: Buñol
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
La Tomatina — Buñol
On the last Wednesday of August, during Buñol’s week of patron saint festivities.
August
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
La Tomatina is the festival that made Buñol famous worldwide. On the last Wednesday of August, during the town’s week of patron saint festivities, the streets of the center become a battlefield where participants throw ripe tomatoes at each other for about an hour, until the ground, the walls and the people are stained red. Since 2002 it has been declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest.
Its origin dates to 1945. On the last Wednesday of August that year, during the parade of giants and big-headed figures for the feast of San Luis Beltrán, a fall provoked a fight in the Plaza del Pueblo, and young people grabbed tomatoes from a nearby produce stall to throw. The following year they returned to the square with tomatoes brought from home. The event was banned in the early 1950s, with fines and arrests, until 1957 when locals staged the Burial of the Tomato, a mock funeral procession with a coffin and funeral march. Soon after the festival was authorized and added to the official program. A Spanish television report in 1983 made La Tomatina known across Spain and, over time, abroad.
The day starts early. Participants arrive in Buñol in the morning to collect their access wristband, and the center is already full of music and people wearing old clothes, often white T-shirts that show stains more clearly. Mid-morning features the palo jabón: a greased pole with a ham on top that the most agile try to climb while the crowd cheers. Near late morning, trucks loaded with tomatoes enter the streets, and a rocket signals the start of the battle. The tomatoes, of a variety not really suited for eating fresh, are grown for the festival. For about an hour everyone throws at everyone else, with no teams or targets, until a second rocket signals that it’s over.
After the battle, the whole town washes off. The town hall sets up public showers, and residents open hoses from their doorways to help people remove the tomato before leaving. Since 2013, the town limits the number of participants and requires a ticket; part of the spots are reserved for Buñol residents, and there is a separate area for participants with disabilities. On the preceding Saturday there is a Children’s Tomatina for kids aged 4 to 14 accompanied by family members.
Buñol is about 40 km from Valencia, in a hilly area cut by the Buñol river, with an old town around a castle of Islamic origin. The Molino de Galán, an old mill next to the tourist office, houses the Tomatina museum, with an immersive room, photo panels and a virtual reality area. Nearby there are hiking trails and the Cueva del Turche natural area. For those visiting the region in August, the festival is a different way to experience the Valencian hinterland and a local tradition that has lasted for decades.
The morning atmosphere in Buñol’s center, with music and participants from different countries arriving before the battle. The palo jabón, the contest for the ham atop the greased pole, mid-morning. Trucks loaded with tomatoes entering the streets just before the first rocket. The hour of the battle, from the first to the second rocket, when the streets are covered in red pulp. The collective washing afterward, with residents’ hoses and the town hall showers. For families with children, the Children’s Tomatina on the preceding Saturday. On a quieter day, the Castillo de Buñol, with the neighborhood of houses inside the walls, and the Tomatina museum at the Molino de Galán, visited by appointment at the tourist office.
Most visitors arrive from Valencia on the same day. The commuter train, line C3, connects Valencia to Buñol and fills up early on that day; there are also organized buses leaving from Valencia. Driving is not recommended: access roads to Buñol close early in the morning and parking is far from the center. Arrive early in the morning to pick up your wristband and enter calmly. Organization rules ask that you: squeeze the tomato with your hand before throwing it, do not bring bottles or hard objects, do not tear or throw T-shirts, keep distance from the trucks, stop throwing when you hear the second rocket, and always follow staff instructions. Large backpacks, bags and selfie sticks are not allowed. Wear old clothes you can discard, closed shoes with good grip, and swimwear underneath; swim or diving goggles without glass protect your eyes from the tomato’s acidity. Take your phone and ID in a waterproof pouch attached to your body and a change of clothes for the return trip. On exit, the train back to Valencia also gets crowded; wait calmly or stay a bit longer in town.
Access to the battle requires a ticket, sold in limited quantity on the official website; buy in advance, because spots can sell out before the festival. Those needing accessibility can find information and a dedicated wristband on the official site. Buñol has limited lodging, and most visitors stay in Valencia; book early, since August is high season in the region. August is usually hot and dry in the Valencian inland. Confirm the year’s date, rules and wristband collection on the official website.
In the city
Flavors of Spain
August
AugustIn August, for about a week, with exact dates set each year and traditionally including the 19th.
Málaga’s big summer party on the Andalusian coast: by day, the Feria del Centro fills Marqués de Larios street and the squares of the historic center with music, verdiales and flamenco; at night, the celebration moves to the Cortijo de Torres fairground, with casetas, horses and lights.
AugustFrom August 15 to 21, starting on the day of the Assumption; the proclamation is read the evening before, on August 14.
For one week in August, the streets of the Gràcia neighborhood in Barcelona are decorated by hand by the residents, who compete in a contest; there are concerts, castellers (human towers), gegants (giant figures) and correfoc in the squares of an old village now part of the city.
Your questions
Every year on the last Wednesday of August, during the town’s week of festivities. The battle itself lasts about an hour in late morning. Confirm the specific date for the year on the official website.
Yes. To control capacity, Buñol town hall sells a limited number of tickets on the official website. On the day, each ticket is exchanged for an access wristband in the morning.
Clothes and sneakers that can get ruined, swimwear, goggles without lenses and a waterproof cover for your phone. Bottles, hard objects, large backpacks and selfie sticks are not allowed.
From Valencia, by the C3 commuter train, which fills up early that day, or on organized buses. Driving is not recommended because access roads to the town close early in the morning.
With a fight between young men in Buñol’s main square in 1945, when tomatoes from a vegetable stall became ammunition. The scene repeated in following years, was at one point banned by authorities, and returned after the satirical procession called the Burial of the Tomato in 1957.
Festivals and events in Spain
JanuaryOn January 20, the feast day of Saint Sebastian, the city's patron: the celebration begins at midnight between January 19 and 20 and ends at the following midnight.
For 24 hours on January 20, San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, honors its patron saint to the sound of drums and barrels: uniformed companies parade through the city playing the marches of Raimundo Sarriegi, from the raising of the flag in Plaza de la Constitución until the lowering in the same square.
February/MarchAt the end of winter, between February and March, following the movable Carnival calendar: the contests and the queen’s gala take place in the preceding weeks, and the streets celebrate from the opening cavalcade until the weekend after Ash Wednesday.
The capital of Tenerife’s Carnival, in the Canary Islands, with a monumental fantasy queen, murgas, comparsas and rondallas, the big Coso parade on Carnival Tuesday and balls that fill the squares and avenues of the center until dawn.
MarchFrom March 1 to 19, with the main days from March 15 to 19; the official opening, the Crida, is on the last Sunday of February.
Valencia’s festival, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in which hundreds of satirical monuments of wood, cardboard and cork are erected in the streets, visited for days and burned on the night of March 19 amid fireworks, music and flowers.
March/AprilIn the week before Easter, from Palm Sunday to Resurrection, in March or April.
During Málaga’s Holy Week on the Costa del Sol, the brotherhoods carry enormous floats through the city center, borne on the shoulders of hundreds of porters, accompanied by marching bands, daytime and nighttime processions, and moments unique to the city, such as the Legion’s landing at the port on Holy Thursday.
March/AprilFrom Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, in March or April depending on the date of Easter; smaller processions begin on the previous Friday, Friday of Sorrows.
During Holy Week, the brotherhoods of Seville, the capital of Andalusia, carry images of Christ and the Virgin through the streets on gilded floats carried by costaleros and followed by long lines of penitents, on routes that pass by the cathedral day and night, until the early hours of Good Friday.
April/MayIn April or May, one or two weeks after Holy Week, depending on the date of Easter; it lasts about a week, from the night of the pescaíto and the alumbrao until the fireworks on the last night.
A weeklong party in Seville’s fairground, between Los Remedios and the Guadalquivir: streets of decorated casetas with lanterns, a noon parade of horses and carriages, flamenco-style dresses, sevillanas danced until the early hours, and the amusement park on the Calle del Infierno.
