San Fermín in Pamplona: Running of the Bulls Guide

The most famous street race on the planet lasts about three minutes and covers 848 meters. That is it. Every morning from July 7 to 14, at 8 a.m. sharp, a rocket goes off in Pamplona, six fighting bulls and a herd of steers leave a corral at the bottom of a hill, and a few thousand people dressed in white run ahead of them through the old town until everyone ends up in the bullring. It began as a chore (moving bulls from the edge of town to the plaza) and, with one Hemingway novel, became the reason a city of 200,000 hosts about a million visitors in nine days.

San Fermín 2027 runs from July 6 to July 14. Here is how it works, where to watch it and why to think twice before running.

The Chupinazo: July 6, 12 noon

The fiesta opens at 12:00 on July 6 with the chupinazo, a rocket fired from the balcony of the City Hall (Casa Consistorial) on Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The rocket goes up and thousands of people tie their red scarves around their necks at the same moment.

The square is small and fills up hours before. If you want to be inside, arrive by 9 or 10 a.m., and know that what you get in exchange is a crush of bodies and a shower of cheap sparkling wine. Many prefer a nearby bar with a screen. Leave valuables at the hotel.

The Encierro: 8 a.m., 848 Meters, About Three Minutes

The route starts at the Santo Domingo corrals, climbs Cuesta de Santo Domingo, crosses Plaza del Ayuntamiento, turns into Calle Mercaderes, takes the famous right-angle bend at La Curva, runs the long straight of Calle Estafeta, drops through the Telefónica stretch and the narrow callejón, and ends in the Plaza de Toros. Official measurements put it at about 848.6 meters.

A few minutes before 8, runners sing a short prayer to San Fermín three times in front of a small statue on Cuesta de Santo Domingo. At 8:00 a first rocket means the corral gate is open; a second one means all the bulls are out. Two more mark the herd entering the ring and the pens. A clean run takes two to three minutes. A bull separated from the herd makes it longer and far more dangerous.

Should You Run? The Honest Answer

If it is your first San Fermín, the honest answer is no, watch first. Around 16 people have died in the encierro since records began in 1910, the last in 2009, and every year dozens end up in hospital, mostly from falls and pile-ups rather than horns. First-timers get hurt because they do not know where to stand or that a fallen runner should stay down and cover their head.

If you still decide to do it, these are the rules the city enforces:

• Minimum age 18, and you must be sober and rested. Police remove anyone drunk.
• Enter the course early from Plaza del Ayuntamiento; access closes roughly half an hour before the run. Check the official city rules for the exact time, since it has been adjusted in recent years.
• No backpacks, no cameras, no selfies. Filming yourself while running is the fastest way to be pulled out by police and fined.
• Never touch or call the bulls, never stop in the middle, never run back toward the herd.
• Pick a short stretch. Nobody runs all 848 meters with the bulls.
• Avoid the weekend. Saturday and Sunday runs are the most crowded and the most chaotic.

Watch at least one morning from above first, and listen to the pastores, the men with long sticks who keep order.

How to Watch the Encierro Without Running

• Rent a balcony. It is the best view and the most expensive one. Prices vary wildly depending on the street, from a few dozen euros up to several hundred per person in prime spots on Estafeta or Mercaderes. Book months ahead.
• The fence (vallado). It is free but you need to be there by about 6 a.m. The public stands at the outer fence; the inner one is for medics and press.
• The bullring. You can buy a ticket for the Plaza de Toros and watch the herd arrive, followed by the vaquillas (young cows with padded horns) chasing the runners around the sand. Tickets are cheap, a few euros, and sold at the bullring box office. Get there before 7 a.m.
• Live TV. RTVE broadcasts every run live; half of Pamplona watches from a bar.

The Riau-Riau, the Rest of the Program and Pobre de Mí

• Riau-Riau (July 6, afternoon): a procession where the city council walks from City Hall to the San Lorenzo chapel while crowds sing the waltz "La Alegría de Pamplona" and slow them down. It has been suspended several times over crowd trouble, so check whether it is on the program for 2027.
• July 7 procession: the statue of San Fermín leaves San Lorenzo church in the morning with giants and big-heads (gigantes y cabezudos).
• Pobre de Mí (July 14, midnight): the closing. Thousands gather in Plaza del Ayuntamiento with candles, untie their red scarves and sing "Pobre de mí, pobre de mí, que se han acabado las fiestas de San Fermín".

What to Wear

White shirt, white trousers, a red scarf (pañuelo) and a red sash (faja). The scarf is worn on the wrist or held until the chupinazo; you only tie it around your neck after the rocket goes up. You can buy the whole outfit for about 15 to 25 euros in any shop in the old town. Wear closed shoes you do not care about.

Where to Stay

This is the hard part. Pamplona has few hotels for the number of visitors, and rooms for San Fermín are booked up to a year in advance, at prices several times higher than in any other week. If you are reading this in autumn, book now for 2027.

Alternatives that work:

• Sleep elsewhere and come in by bus or train. San Sebastián is about an hour away by bus, and Logroño and Bilbao are within reach. Buses run extra services during the fiesta.
• Apartments outside the old town (Iturrama, San Juan, Ensanche) are cheaper and quieter.
• Campsites around the city are the budget option.

Hemingway and the Bullfighting Debate

Ernest Hemingway first came to Pamplona in 1923 and put the fiesta on the world map with The Sun Also Rises (1926). His bronze bust stands next to the bullring, and the Café Iruña on Plaza del Castillo, where he drank, still keeps a corner with a life-size figure of him at the bar.

The other side of the fiesta deserves a straight answer. The bulls that run in the morning are killed in the bullfight that same evening, and that divides Spain itself. Animal rights groups protest in Pamplona every year, and many locals who love San Fermín never go to a bullfight. You can enjoy the music, the processions, the peñas and the street party without buying a bullfight ticket. Whether you attend one is your call.

Pamplona the Rest of the Year

Outside July, Pamplona is calm and walkable. The walls (murallas) are among the best-preserved Renaissance fortifications in Spain; walk them from the Portal de Francia to the Redín bastion for views over the Arga river. The Ciudadela is a star-shaped fortress turned park. The Gothic cathedral of Santa María hides one of the finest cloisters in Europe and the tomb of Navarre's kings.

Pamplona is also the first major city on the Camino de Santiago Francés. Pilgrims cross the Magdalena bridge and enter through the Portal de Francia; follow their shell markers across town.

Explore Pamplona with Trevurs

Before your first chupinazo, or on a quiet morning in October, download Trevurs and walk "Pamplona: How Herding Bulls to the Ring Became the World's Most Famous Fiesta". It follows the encierro route from the corrals to the bullring, stopping at the curve where the bulls slip, the walled-in stretch of Estafeta and Hemingway's square, and tells you why each corner matters. It is free, self-guided and works offline, so you can run it at your own pace with no bulls behind you.