San Fermín

The chupinazo

San Fermín lasts nine days, from 6 to 14 July, and it opens with a rocket. The chupinazo is fired from the second-floor balcony of the Casa Consistorial at noon on 6 July. In 2026 a team from Navarre's emergency services, chosen in a public vote, lit it. Entry to the Plaza Consistorial is free, but the square is about 2,500 square meters and fills well before noon, so festivalesdeespana.com advises arriving several hours early. The giant screens in the Plaza del Castillo and the Plaza de los Fueros are the less crowded way to watch, and in 2026 the city also put screens in the Parque de Antoniutti and the Plaza de Yamaguchi. Glass containers are banned from the Plaza Consistorial and the Plaza del Castillo during the chupinazo.

People wear white shirts and trousers with a red scarf. The scarf goes round the neck when the rocket goes off and stays on until the Pobre de mí, the closing act at midnight on 14 July in the Plaza Consistorial, where people hold candles.

The days between have a rhythm. The procession and Mass of San Fermín are at 10am on 7 July, and the city programmed 516 events in 2026, with a large children's strand and a Txupinazo Txiki for children on 10 July. After the chupinazo, charangas leave from the Parque de Antoniutti, the Plaza Consistorial and the Plaza de San Francisco. On the last day, the Octave Mass is at 10:45am. The city counted about 1.5 million participants across the 2026 programme.

The bull run

The running of the bulls, the encierro, is held at 8am on every morning from 7 to 14 July. The course runs 875 meters from the Santo Domingo corrals through Santo Domingo, the Plaza Consistorial, Mercaderes and Estafeta to the bullring, and sanfermin.com says a normal run lasts two to three minutes. Santo Domingo is the first stretch, about 280 meters of climb to the town hall, where the bulls leave their pen with no protective fence. The run through the Plaza Consistorial and Mercaderes is about 100 meters, and the fencing there is the longest of the course. At the end of Mercaderes the route turns sharply right into Estafeta.

The city's rulebook calls the run very dangerous and says it needs composure, sobriety and outstanding fitness. Nobody can run the whole course, so runners choose the section that suits them. In the bullring, run behind the fencing as fast as you can, to clear the ring for the cowherds.

Runners cannot enter the course after 7:30, or 7:15 on 7 July and on Saturdays and Sundays, according to the city's rulebook. The 2026 bando says runners must be in place by 7:15, after which only runners and authorized people may stay on the route. Stay in the cordoned areas and follow the Local Police. Do not wait in nooks, corners, blind bends or doorways, run in a straight line and plan your exit.

The space between the two fences is for authorized personnel only, and spectators must stay out of it. Under the city's ordinance, recording on the route without authorization is banned, with fines reported between 601 and 6,000 euros. Municipal police confiscated 54 recording glasses on the route in one recent fiesta.

Rules

The 2026 bando lists what is banned on the course: bags, bottles, cameras, microphones and mechanical devices, and heels, flip-flops, sandals and clogs. Being on the route drunk, drugged or otherwise unfit is prohibited, and so is touching or provoking the bulls except to avoid a goring. Officers remove people who break the rules, and the city says it penalizes breaches with the maximum rigor the law allows.

Elsewhere in the city the bando bans music systems aimed at public roads, and any music aimed at the encierro route after 7am. After the cleaners pass, no glass or trash may be taken onto the route. Bars close at 6am and discos at 7:30am, with some exceptions. Urinating on pavements is penalized. Caravans cannot park on public roads.

Getting there

The old town is pedestrian-only during the fiesta and vehicle access to the center is heavily restricted. Pamplona has a train station, a bus station and an airport at Noáin, about 6 km from the center. In 2026 Renfe ran a special operation from 3 to 14 July, adding more than 44,000 seats on trains to and from Pamplona, including extra Alvia and Intercity trains from Madrid and Barcelona timed for the chupinazo, according to the Noticias de Navarra report on Renfe's plan. The city's urban buses, the villavesas, ran 24 hours on most lines, and the Navarre government added bus services from the towns to cut the number of cars entering the city.

For the Basque coast before or after the fiesta, see San Sebastián or Bilbao and day trips from Bilbao.

Where to sleep

The old town sits on the bull run and the festival, so a room there means the fiesta is at the door at all hours. The Ensanche, the 19th-century district next to it, is a short walk from the Plaza del Castillo.

Our pick near the old townGran Hotel La Perla5-star hotel, $$$$

• 0.4 km from the centre of San Fermín
• Guest rating of 9.3/10 from 820 reviews

Check availabilityWe may earn a commission. It never decides our picks.

What to skip

Do not arrive at the course at 7:30 expecting to run. Access closes at 7:15 on 7 July and on Saturdays and Sundays, and at 7:30 on other days.

Do not treat the bull run as the whole festival. The chupinazo, the procession at 10am on the 7th and the midnight Pobre de mí are the other fixed points, and the city listed 516 events in 2026.