SAN FERMIN FESTIVAL, PAMPLONA, SPAIN

     Pamplona, a city of 300,000 is located in the northern Spanish province of Navarra, about 1 hour from the Pyrenees Mountains and the border with France, and is the capital city of Navarre, Spain. The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, held every year from July 6-14, during which Europe's most dangerous tradition - The running of the bulls - takes place.  The tradition dates back to medieval times when bulls were herded through Pamplona’s streets to the bullring by locals who helped drive the bulls. Over time running behind the bulls became running in front of the bulls.    
      Pamplona’s old city is transformed into a 24 hour fiesta. Streets are packed with revelers, music booms from nightclubs 24 hours a day, and brass bands play in the streets at all hours.  There is endless entertainment for festival goers of all ages, including children: a midway; rock concerts; traditional basque dancing; parades, processions; religious ceremonies; fireworks every night; outdoor cafes; and bullfights are a few. 
     Tourists and Spanish families alike dress head to toe in white with a red scarf and red sash. The scarf should only be worn after the festival’s opening ceremony, held every year at 12 p.m. July 6.  Like many things about the festival, there are differing opinions as to why the scarf and sash are part of the traditional costume.  Some say it is to mask the blood from gorings, yet another version is that the sash (worn around the waist) distracts the charging bulls from the runner. Either way the scarf and sash became a festival tradition in the 1960s.      
             More than a million people attend the festival each year and on any given day during the festival, an estimated 1500 to 3500 people (locals and tourists) run with the bulls.  The entire run lasts only 2 - 3 minutes, and is probably the longest 2 - 3 minutes of some runners lives!  The runs are held every morning at 8am from July 7-14.

The course of the bull run stretches for a 0.5 mile through the small cobblestone streets of Pamplona and it ends at the municipal bullring.  The path of the run, no wider than an alleyway, approximately 20-25 feet wide, is lined with apartment buildings or 8-foot high double security gates line the entire course making it impossible to watch it from street level. The best vantage point are the second floor balconies.  There is no cost to participate in the run and it is open to anyone sober over the age of 18, although it is extremely dangerous. 

      The native language spoken in Iruna, (which is Basque for Pamplona) is Spanish and Basque, though English is spoken in most hotels and restaurants.
Travel to Pamplona, Spain