For most travelers, summer in Spain means lazy days on Mediterranean beaches, late-night tapas and sangria in sunny plazas. Summer is also Spain’s festival season – with two events famous the world over headlining a heady, heated frenzy of cultural celebrations. And only in Spain would they treat death-defying dares - and a food fight - equally seriously! 

I Call “Bull” 

Every July 6, the northern city of Pamplona erupts with the 9-day San Fermín Festival. Literary lovers will recall that Ernest Hemingway made the Running of the Bulls world-famous in The Sun Also Rises. But the morning encierro is only one event in a much larger festival filled with parades, music, dancing, giant puppets, fireworks and Basque traditions. 

Each morning at 8 a.m., hundreds of runners dressed in white with red scarves sprint just under half a mile alongside six bulls through the city's narrow streets toward the bullring. The run lasts only two to four minutes—but has become one of the world's most recognizable festival traditions. 

Many visitors wisely choose to watch from balconies or behind protective barriers rather than participate. 

Should Tourists Run—or Watch? 

The encierro is not a recreational race or an organized tourist activity – and not for the faint of heart! Are you physically fit, completely sober and fully aware of the risks? Even if you answer ‘yes’ to all those questions, watching is still strongly advised. Even though it’s forbidden to touch or provoke the bulls, participants can be trampled, gored or caught in dangerous crowd pileups, and injuries occur every year. 

Tomato Time

Just seven weeks later, when the tomatoes are at their ripest, the time is ripe for another small Spanish town to dominate global travel and social media headlines. But not for its cuisine. 

On the last Wednesday of August, Buñol, near Valencia, hosts La Tomatina, the world's largest food fight. Thousands of participants - wearing old clothes and, in a sensible twist in recent years, swimming goggles - gather as truckloads of overripe tomatoes are delivered to the town square.

And just like that, over a quarter of a million pounds of tomatoes become ammunition. Like the messiest snowball fight you can imagine, everyone in the square is fair game. 

As iconic as La Tomatina is, the tradition dates only to 1945, reportedly after an argument escalated into a spontaneous tomato fight using produce from a nearby market stall. 

Today it's a carefully organized event with attendance capped by advance ticket sales. And it’s a bit more vegetarian-friendly than the Running of the Bulls!

Wind up your throwing arm… or watch? 

Unlike the dangers of the Running of the Bulls, La Tomatina is tame by comparison! And visitors account for a large share of the crowd prepared to risk tomato stains on your clothing to say you’ve participated in the food fight to end all food fights. 

In fact, even if you’re hoping to only watch, if you’re in the neighborhood, you’re still likely to end up part of the mess! 

Worth Planning a Trip Around

Summer in Spain has no shortage of sunshine and beaches. But if you want to have stories you’ll be telling long after your tan fades, it's hard to beat a country where you can dodge bulls and vegetables in organized festivals every summer. 

START YOUR TRIP!

Images: Getty

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