Pamplona, Spain · July 7, 2026

San Fermín (the Running of the Bulls)

July 6–14 in Pamplona — a nine-day festival for Saint Fermín, opened by a rocket at noon.

What happened

The festival opens on 6 July with the chupinazo, a rocket fired from the town hall balcony, and everyone in white with a red neckerchief. The encierro — the run — happens each morning at eight, when bulls are driven through 875 meters of old streets to the bullring. It grew out of the practical business of moving bulls into town, and it became famous far beyond Spain after Ernest Hemingway wrote about it in 1926.

Why it stuck

It is genuinely dangerous and people are hurt most years, so it is one to explain rather than to imitate. The interesting part for a child is the rest of it: the giants and big-heads parading through the streets, the music, and a whole city wearing the same two colors for nine days.

What a family can do

White shirt, red scarf, and the parade of the gigantes — eight painted giants, four meters tall, that dance. That is the part children in Pamplona actually wait for.

Questions to work through

1. Find Pamplona on a map of Spain. How far is it from the sea?
2. The run is 875 meters and takes a little over two minutes. How fast is that, in a pace you know?
3. The giants are four meters tall. Measure four meters in your house. What would fit?
4. Why does a festival need a starting signal everybody can hear?