Sanfermines is one of the most unique, renowned and celebrated festivals in the world today and is a combination of two major festivals held each year in Pamplona, the Fiesta de San Fermín, the celebration of Navarra's co-patron Saint, San Fermín, and the Feria del Toro de San Fermín, the Festival of the Bull. The legendary Running of the bulls, the encierro, was first introduced to the world in Hemingway's 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta), which each year continues to attract thousands of visitors from around the world. The encierro, the running of the bulls, could be one of the most adrenaline charged moments you may ever experience!
Join us in Pamplona for the Fiesta de Sanfermin when six magnificent fighting bulls, toros bravos, race along the narrow streets of the casco antiguo, the historic quarter, as the Sun Rises over city on the morning of July 7th, the first day the eight days of the encierro, the running of the bulls.
Sanfermines begins at noon on the 6th of July with the firing of the rockets, el chupinazo, over Pamplona's town hall square that will be filled with thousands of festival goers dressed in the traditional costume of white and red.
The festival fo the bulls is a unique part of Sanfermines with bullfights every afternoon in the Plaza de Toros de Pamplona beginning on July 6th when the three Rejoneadores, bullfighters on horseback, face six fighting bulls.
The more traditional bullfights are from the 7th through the 14th of July with three matadors face six brave bulls surrounded by nearly 20,000 cheering festival goers. Pamplona's Monumental bullring is the third largest in Spain.
El Encierro, the running of the bulls, happens each day at 08:00 beginning on the morning of July 7th, when six fighting bulls accompanied by six large steers race along Pamplona's narrow streets after beging released from their corral on Calle Santo Domingo.
The run can be over in as quick as 2:00 minutes, or could last longer, depending on what happens on the street, which is normally filled with several thousand runners, most there for the first time.
