San Fermin Festival (Run with the Bulls)

At noon on July 6th, there is only one place in Spain to be - the Plaza Castillo in Pamplona. Hundreds of thousands of partiers from all over the world assemble to kickoff a week long party that never sleeps. Bring your white pants, white shirt, red sash, and red bandana, and get ready to drink. Even at 4am the streets are crowded with revelers. If you're there to actually run with the bulls, get a good night’s sleep and be on the street early. It fills up, and police walk through the crowd looking for people who aren't up for the challenge (falling down drunk). Outside of the festival, there's not much going in Pamplona, which can make for long days if you're not ready to relive your 20s.

Quick Tips:

Find a hotel in a suburb like Burlada. During the festival, they have 24-hour bus service into the festival zone. This way, when you're tired, you can withdraw to relative silence. Hotels in the square are more expensive, and the noise never dies down. We stayed at the Tryp Burlada, a reasonable ( per night) hotel. See my lodging entry.

Best Way To Get Around:

Taxis during the festival are few and far between. Learn the bus routes and use them. They're cheap (0.85€ per trip), frequent, and clean.

Fifty-one weeks out of the year, this place costs about 60 euros per night, in line with a small two-star hotel. During the festival, they raise their rates to 175 euros. The hotel is clean and relatively modern but has very shoddy construction. We had to jimmy-rig the light switch to keep it on. The soundproofing is horrendous! I could follow along with conversations going on in the hallway or in the next room. Convenient location for San Fermin festival. Two-minute walk to bus stop and five-minute bus ride to downtown Pamplona. Far enough away from the party to avoid the yelling crowds. Couldn't recommend this place any other week than San Fermin, but it's better than sleeping in the square (which most people apparently do).