Gay Iberia - Gay Guide to Spain Home
Spain's Top Events
 Spain's Top Events 2012
 For Sitges events, see GaySitges.com
 For Barcelona events, see GayBarcelona.com
 For Madrid events, see GayMadrid.com
 SPAIN'S GAY EVENTS
 Tamborrada de San Sebastián 
Tamborrada de San Sebastián Tamborrada de San Sebastián
January 20th 00:00 (Same date every year)
A mass participation drum festival. Huge parades take to the streets bashing drums throughout the night and for most of the following day.
There are two sides to this festival - the organized processions and the free-for-all drum bashing that anyone can be a part of. 

The beats begin at 00:00 hours, January 20th. (Night of the 19th) 

 
 Carnival, Tenerife/Sitges/Madrid/Cadiz
Carnival, Tenerife/Sitges/Madrid/Cadiz
February/March. (Dates vary every year)
Carnival (Carnaval in Spanish) is celebrated between the months of February and March, according to the liturgical calendar.

There are 4 carnivals that stand out in Spain.
1. Tenerife. This one most resembles the Rio de Jeneiro carnival and because its off the coast of Africa, has the warmest weather.
2. Sitges. Acknowledged by the straight and gay press as Spain's wildest party. You'd better believe it!
3. Madrid. Most of the fun is concentrated around Chueca, Madrid's gay village.
4. Cadiz. 
 Fallas, Valencia.
Falles, Valencia Las Fallas de Valencia. 
March 15th to 19th. (Same date every year)
Fallas (in Spanish) Falles (in Valencian) are a Valencian tradition which celebrates Saint Joseph's Day (19 March) in Valencia, Spain. The term Fallas refers to both the celebration and the monuments created during the celebration.
Each neighbourhood of the city has an organized group of people, the Casal faller, that works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous speciality paella. Each casal faller produces a construction known as a falla which is eventually burnt. 

Web site

 
 Semana Santa, Seville
Semana Santa, Seville Semana Santa, Seville
March/April. (Dates vary every year)
Holy Week (Semana Santa) in Seville is one of the most important traditional events of the city. It is celebrated in the week leading up to Easter, one to two weeks before the city's other great celebration, the Feria, and is amongst the largest religious event in Spain, internationally renowned for its drama. The week features the procession of pasos, floats of lifelike wooden sculptures of individual scenes of the events of the Passion, or images of the Virgin Mary showing restrained grief for the torture and killing of her son. Some of the sculptures are of great antiquity and are considered artistic masterpieces.
Approximately 60 processions are scheduled for the week, from Palm Sunday through to Easter Sunday morning. The climax of the week is the night of Maundy Thursday, when the most popular processions set out to arrive at the Cathedral on the dawn of Good Friday, known as the madrugá.
 Seville Spring Fair, Seville
Seville Spring Fair
April/May. (Dates vary every year)
The Seville Spring Fair, Feria de abril de Sevilla, is held in the Andalusian capital of Seville. The fair begins two weeks after Semana Santa. (Holy Week). The fair officially begins at midnight on Tuesday, and runs six days, ending on the following Sunday. During past fairs, however, many activities have begun on the Saturday prior to the official opening. Each day the fiesta begins with the parade of carriages and riders, at midday, carrying Seville's leading citizens which make their way to the bullring, the La Real Maestranza, where the bullfighters and breeders meet.

Web site

 
 San Juan, Barcelona
San Juan, Barcelona San Juan
June 23rd. (Same date every year)
Midsummer is celebrated with a big bang throughout Spain, as fireworks fill the sky in a prelude to the national holiday of the Feast of John the Baptist. Each neighbourhood stages fireworks and all night bonfires are fueled by collections of old furniture, but the biggest celebration is at Monjuice in Barcelona, with a fabulous firework display and a colossal bonfire. It's well worth a trip to Barcelona for this one, to watch the fireworks, then go on to the biggest gay beach party of the year!
 San Fermin, Pamplona (Pamplona Bull Run)
San Fermin, Pamplona San Fermin
July 6th to 14th. (Same dates every year)
The festival of San Fermín in the city of Pamplona, is a deeply-rooted celebration held annually from noon 6 July, when the opening of the fiesta is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic txupinazo accompanied by music, to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí. While its most famous event is the encierro, the running of the bulls, the week-long celebration involves many other traditional and folkloric events. It is known locally as Sanfermines and is held in honor of Saint Fermin, the patron saint of Pamplona and co-patron of Navarra. Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, which brought it to the general attention of English-speaking people. It has become probably the most internationally renowned fiesta in Spain.

Web site

 
 Tarragona International Fireworks Display Competition (Castells de focs artificiales, Ciutat de Tarragona)
International Fireworks Display Tarragona
Tarragona International Fireworks Display Competition
July. (See web site for date)
One of the world's 5 biggest firework events. Tarragona International Fireworks Display Competition is the most important fireworks contest in the Mediterranean area and is held every July in Tarragona, in a wonderful bay, Punta del Miracle, a place praised by the famous architect Antoni Gaudí.
Time: 10:30pm every night.
Place: Punta del Miracle, Tarragona.
Web site
 Fiesta Mayor, Sitges, Barcelona
Fiesta Mayor, Sitges Fiesta Mayor
August 21st to 27th. Fireworks 23rd. (Same dates every year)
This carnival is worth seeing! 'Fiesta Mayor' means 'Main Carnival', and it really is! The total disrespect for safety is what makes it so exciting. Fire crackers are being lit left, right and center and aimed in every direction. The dragons which have fire crackers in their mouths even chase you! You'll see most people are wearing straw hats, that's to make sure their eyes don't get burned out!

See photos at GaySitges.com
 La Tomatina, Buñol, Valencia
La Tomatina La Tomatina
August. (Last Wednesday of August every year)
La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. Tens of thousands of participants come from all over the world to fight in a brutal battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.
The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks. On the night before the tomato fight, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest.
Approximately 20,000–40,000 tourists come to the tomato fight, multiplying by several times Buñol's normal population of 9,000. There is limited accommodation for people who come to La Tomatina, and thus many participants stay in Valencia and travel by bus or train to Buñol, about 38 km outside the city. In preparation for the dirty mess that will ensue.
 SPAIN'S GAY EVENTS
 
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