Las Fallas

How the festival runs

Las Fallas is Valencia's March festival of giant papier-mâché monuments, the fallas, built by neighborhood groups, put up in the streets and burned on the last night. The core is 15 to 19 March, and the programme starts earlier: La Crida, the opening call, falls on the last Sunday of February (22 February at 7:30pm in 2026, at the Torres de Serranos), and the mascletà fires from 1 March.

The times below are the city's 2026 programme, the latest published. What Valencia has announced for 2027 is in the box further down.

The plantà is the day the monuments are finished and the streets stop being a building site. In 2026 the children's fallas were due by 9am on Sunday 15 March and all the large fallas by 8am on Monday 16 March.

The mascletà

The mascletà is a daytime firework, a display of powder and colored explosions that builds from soft to maximum intensity, then ends with applause. It fires at 2pm every day from 1 to 19 March on Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and lasts about 5 to 7 minutes. A different pyrotechnic company fires each day, and bands from the city's neighborhoods play before it starts.

You can stand in the square, where thousands gather, or pay for a balcony. visitvalencia.com lists several: Atenea Sky on the 8th floor of the Ateneo Mercantil (open 11am to 1:30am), a Plaza del Ayuntamiento 16 balcony (access from 12:30pm), the Hard Rock Cafe Valencia (often sold out well ahead), and the El Centenari rooftop at €100 Monday to Thursday and €140 on weekends and from 16 to 19 March, 12:30pm to 2:30pm.

For visitors with reduced mobility, an accessible area opens from 12:45 to 1:45pm via Calle de la Sangre, at the corner of Calle San Vicente. Groups of up to 20 can reserve by emailing [email protected] at least five days ahead. The square is reached by metro lines L3, L5 and L9, or buses 4, 7, 8, 19, 35, 60, 62 and 63.

The ofrenda

The flower offering is held on two afternoons. In 2026 it began at 3:30pm on 17 and 18 March along Calle La Paz and Calle San Vicente, and ran past midnight.

The Nit del Foc

The Nit del Foc is the big fireworks castle, held on the night of 18 March. In 2026 it began at 11:59pm at the Puente de Monteolivete. The same bridge hosted smaller castles at 11:59pm on 16 and 17 March, but only the 18 March show carries the name.

La Cremà

On the last night the fallas burn, starting with the smallest. The falleras mayores of each commission light the fuse. In 2026 the order was 8pm for the children's fallas, 8:30pm for the children's falla that won first prize in the Special Section, 9pm for the children's falla in the City Hall Square, 10pm for all the large fallas, 10:30pm for the large first-prize falla and 11pm for the City Hall falla. The Cabalgata del Fuego, a cavalcade of fire, ran from Calle de la Paz to Porta de la Mar at 7pm on 19 March.

You can watch the City Hall falla from street level or from a balcony with a good view. The 10pm burning is the one where every neighborhood is alight at once, so pick a neighborhood falla near your hotel for that hour and walk to the City Hall falla for 11pm.

Getting around

Large parts of the centre are closed to vehicles in festival week, and in 2027 the closure starts at 8:30am on 16 March in the first two rounds, except for authorized vehicles and essential services. The EMT city buses ran round the clock in the 2025 festival week, from 15 March until after the Cremà, and 24 night lines doubled their services.

Where to sleep

Ciutat Vella, the old town, puts you on foot to Plaza del Ayuntamiento and inside the traffic closure, so the walk back after the 11pm burning is short. Ruzafa sits next to it. Cabanyal is by the sea. See where to stay in Valencia for five bases compared by metro time, and Valencia in 3 days if you are adding days either side of the festival.