Five days of pyrotechnics, giant burning sculptures, and 24-hour street parties: Valencia's March festival is the loudest event on the European calendar.
Las Fallas is Valencia's patron saint festival, running annually from 12 to 19 March and culminating in the La Cremà: the simultaneous burning of over 700 elaborate papier-mâché sculptures (fallas) across every neighbourhood in the city at midnight on 19 March. The sculptures, some standing 10 metres tall and months in the making, are lit from the base by their neighbourhood groups (comisiones falleras) and reduced to ash within minutes. The Valencia city centre square sculptures are the largest and most elaborate, with prizes awarded by judges in the week before burning. The event draws an estimated 2–3 million visitors over the five-day peak period.
The mascleta deserves specific mention. Every day from 1 March to 19 March at exactly 2pm in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, a competitive pyrotechnic display (not fireworks: exclusively percussion charges) is detonated with the aim of creating the most sustained and rhythmically complex noise possible. It lasts approximately five minutes and is felt as much as heard. At close range the concussive force is significant. The 2pm daily mascleta is free and open to the public; the plaza fills to capacity by 1:30pm on peak days. The nightly castillo (fireworks display) over the Turia riverbed runs from 1 to 19 March at around 1am and is one of the finest fireworks displays in Europe.
Party hostels within reach of 's main celebrations. Ranked by guest rating.
Day-by-day breakdown
The neighbourhood fallas begin to appear in the streets from 12 March. These earlier days are calmer and ideal for walking the city to see the sculptures before the main crowds arrive. The 2pm mascleta in Plaza del Ayuntamiento is already running: attend at least one of these days when the square is less compressed. The Barrio Carmen bars are livelier in the evenings from this point on, with street music and outdoor bars setting up.
The Ofrenda de Flores (flower offering) to the Virgin on 17 and 18 March sees thousands of falleras in traditional dress carry flowers through the centre to construct a floral mantle on the statue in Plaza de la Virgen: the full mantle takes two days to complete and stands 4 metres high. The streets in the old city are impassable by vehicle from around noon. Nightly castillo fireworks run at 1am from the Turia riverbed near the Torres de Serranos.
The neighbourhood fallas burn between 10pm and midnight; the city centre fallas burn at midnight exactly. The streets around Plaza del Ayuntamiento and the Carmen barrio are closed to traffic from 8pm. Find a position near one of the neighbourhood sculptures for the burn: you will be closer and the experience is more intimate than the city centre main sculpture, which draws a crush of 40,000+ people. By 1am the city smells of smoke and the streets are full of ash and confetti. Bars stay open until 6am.
Valencia is largely silent on the morning after La Cremà. Most visitors depart on 20 March. The city is cleaned remarkably fast: by afternoon the streets are clear. Train tickets back to Barcelona or Madrid on 19–20 March sell out 3–4 weeks in advance: book before you book accommodation.
Pre-booked private transfers and shared shuttles for your arrival.
