San Fermín 2026

San Fermín 2026 runs from **July 6 to July 14** in Pamplona, Spain. It opens at **noon on July 6** with the Chupinazo rocket from the town hall balcony and closes on the night of **July 14** with the emotional 'Pobre de mí'. The official program spans nine days and 516 events. Sources: sanfermin.com, noticiasdenavarra.com.

The **running of the bulls** (encierro in Spanish) is a race in which runners sprint ahead of six fighting bulls, along with steers, through the old-town streets of Pamplona to the bullring. It is the festival's most famous and most dangerous event. The bulls that run in the morning are fought in the bullfight (corrida) that same afternoon. Sources: sanfermin.com.

The bull run starts at **8:00 in the morning**, every day from **July 7 to July 14**. The bulls cover roughly **875 metres** from the Santo Domingo corral to the Plaza de Toros, and the run usually lasts between two and four minutes. Sources: sanfermin.com, noticiasdenavarra.com.

In **Pamplona (Iruña)**, the capital of Navarre in northern Spain. The heart of the fiesta is the old town: the Plaza Consistorial (site of the Chupinazo), the Santo Domingo slope, Estafeta street and the bullring, which together form the route of the encierro. Sources: sanfermin.com.

The **Chupinazo** (txupinazo in Basque) is the rocket that officially opens San Fermín, fired at **noon on July 6** from the town hall balcony to a packed square. It is accompanied by the ritual cry '¡Pamploneses, Iruñatarrok, Viva San Fermín, Gora San Fermin!' and by thousands of people raising their red neckerchiefs. Sources: sanfermin.com.

Yes. The **first run (July 7)**, with **Fuente Ymbro** bulls, left five people hurt by falls and contusions, three taken to hospital, and **none gored**; it was very fast, at 2 minutes 16 seconds. The **second run (July 8)**, with **Cebada Gago** bulls, lasted 2 minutes 26 seconds and left three injured, including the **festival's first goring**, a horn wound to an arm. Sources: noticiasdenavarra.com, elespanol.com.

The traditional dress is a **white shirt and trousers with a red neckerchief (pañuelo) and a red sash (faja)**. The red recalls the martyrdom of Saint Fermín, co-patron of Navarre. The neckerchief is tied on when the Chupinazo opens the fiesta and taken off at the closing 'Pobre de mí'. Sources: sanfermin.com.

It carries **real risk**. Every year runners are hurt by falls, crushes and gorings, and deaths have occurred over the festival's history. Experts advise never running without experience, never touching the bulls, avoiding the pile-ups at the bullring entrance, and following the herders and stewards. Sources: sanfermin.com.

The festival ends on the **night of July 14** with the **'Pobre de mí'**, a candlelit closing ceremony in the Plaza Consistorial where the crowd sings '¡Pobre de mí, pobre de mí, que se han acabado las fiestas de San Fermín!' (Poor me, the San Fermín festival is over) and removes the red neckerchief. Sources: sanfermin.com.

San Fermín is known worldwide above all for the **running of the bulls** and for writer **Ernest Hemingway**, who depicted the fiesta in his 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises' (Fiesta). Since then, Pamplona has drawn visitors from around the world every July. Sources: sanfermin.com.