Sarah Gooding

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Cactus Worldwide Ltd

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Follow in Hemingway's footsteps and experience this most iconic of Spanish festivals for yourself...

Spain is renowned for its extravagant fiestas, but there is perhaps none so wild and perilous as Pamplona’s running of the bulls. This historical and somewhat controversial event takes place in July as part of the Fiestas de San Fermin and, although the festival has religious roots and includes music, dancing, fireworks and street theatre, it is the running of the bulls that takes centre stage.

morning, between 7th to 14th July, a rocket is fired at 8am to signal the opening of the gates at Santo Domingo corral. Runners dressed in white with red neckerchiefs – some could doubt their sanity – pray to San Fermin and get ready to run the same route as the bulls, and then a second rocket is fired to show that the bulls have begun their stampede of the streets of Pamplona.

Although only 825m in distance and 3 minutes in time to the bull ring, where the bulls will fight that same day, the bull run is not surprisingly a highly dangerous activity. With narrow, walled streets impeding escape and a dead-end street part of the course, the runners are literally no match for the six fighting bulls and two herds of bullocks that they run alongside, teasing and tormenting along the way. Since 1924, 15 runners have died and over 200 have been seriously gored or trampled during the Bull Run. Even the bulls can suffer injury as their hooves slip on the cobbled street surfaces.

Such is its reputation that Ernest Hemingway wrote about the San Fermin festival in his books Death in the Afternoon and The Sun Also Rises.

If you fancy going to watch this most iconic of Spanish festivals, book early. Visitors from all over the world flock to Pamplona for this very event in July, and accommodation fills up far in advance. One way to get an insider’s view on the festival is to take a Spanish course in Pamplona and stay with a local family. There’s even a special General Course & Fiesta programme, running for 1 week from July 5th, which gives you the unique opportunity to enjoy San Fermin in all its glory, with guided festival activities organised by the school – all whilst learning Spanish!

Take your camera and join in the festivities, but whatever you do, steer clear of the bulls…