Running of the Bulls (San Fermin)

Every July 6 at noon, a rocket called the chupinazo fires from Pamplona's town hall balcony and the city detonates into nine days of San Fermin: white clothes, red scarves, brass bands, all-night street parties, and, each morning at 8am from July 7 through 14, the encierro, the running of the bulls that Hemingway made world-famous in The Sun Also Rises.

The run itself is brief and deadly serious: six fighting bulls and a handful of steers cover roughly 875 meters of barricaded medieval streets to the bullring in around two and a half to four minutes, with hundreds of runners scrambling ahead of and around them. People are injured every year, mostly in falls and pile-ups, and there have been fatalities across the festival's history. This is the rare famous event that genuinely can hurt you.

You do not have to run to do San Fermin, and most attendees never do. Watching from a balcony or the fence line, then living inside the festival's parades, giants, fireworks, and round-the-clock music, is the complete experience. Be aware, too, that the bulls that run each morning fight and die in the bullring that evening; some travelers decide the event is not for them on those grounds, and that is worth settling before you book.