Festivals in Spain: 2012
- Spain erupts with fiestas and celebrations throughout the year. Here's a list of the most important events in Spain for 2012. Semana Santa (Holy Week) fills the week before Easter with processions and festivities all over Iberia, but especially in Sevilla. To run with the bulls, be in Pamplona — with medical insurance — July 6–14.
- For more information on these and other festivals, see www.spain.info and www.whatsonwhen.com.
NOTE: Before planning a trip around a festival, make sure that you verify the festival dates at the festival or local TI's website.
| Jan 1 | New Year's Day | Spain |
| Jan 6 | Epiphany (Día de los Reyes — parades, closures) | Spain |
| Early Feb | La Candelaria (religious festival) | Madrid |
| Feb 24-March 10 | Festival de Jerez (flamenco and other dancing) | Jerez |
| Feb 28 | Day of Andalucía (some closures) | Andalucía |
| April 1-8 | Holy Week (Semana Santa — parades, closures) | Spain |
| April 8-9 | Easter Sunday and Monday (closures) | Spain |
| April 24-25 | April Fair (Feria de Abril — party tents in huge fairgrounds, traditional costumes, bullfights) | Sevilla |
| May | San Isidro (religious festival on May 15; also bullfights and zarzuelas all month long) | Madrid |
| May 1 | Labor Day (closures) | Spain |
| May 2 | Community Day (closures, music, dancing in Plaza Mayor) | Madrid |
| May 7-13 | Feria del Caballo (horse pageantry) | Jerez |
| May 25-27 | Pentecost Weekend | Spain |
| June 6-10 | La Patum (Moorish battles) | Barcelona |
| June 7 | Corpus Christi | Spain |
| June 23-24 | St. John the Baptist Day (Día de San Juan — bonfires, fireworks) | Barcelona |
| Late June–early July | International Festival of Music and Dance | Granada |
| July 6–14 | Running of the Bulls (Fiesta de San Fermín) | Pamplona |
| July 25 | Feast of St. James | Santiago de Compostela |
| Aug | Gràcia Festival (neighborhood festival) | Barcelona |
| Mid-Aug | Verbena de la Paloma (folk festival) | Madrid |
| Aug 15 | Assumption of Mary | Spain |
| Aug 24 | Festival of St. Batholomew | Sitges |
| Sept | Autumn Festival (flamenco, bullfights) | Jerez |
| Sept 23 | Festival of St. Tecla | Sitges |
| Sept 24 | La Mercé (parade with huge papier-mache figures) | Barcelona |
| Late Sept | Little San Fermin (Last weekend; concerts and parades) | Pamploma |
| Oct 12 | Spanish National Day (Día de la Hispanidad — commemorates Columbus' arrival in the New World, parades, some closures) | Spain |
| Late Oct–Nov | International Jazz Festival | Madrid |
| Nov 1 | All Saints' Day (closures) | Spain |
| Nov 9 | Virgen de la Almudena | Madrid |
| Dec 6 | Constitution Day (closures) | Spain |
| Dec 8 | Feast of the Immaculate Conception | Spain |
| Dec 13 | Feast of Santa Lucía | Spain |
| Dec 25 | Christmas | Spain |
| Dec 31 | New Year's Eve | Spain |
For up-to-date specifics, see the latest edition of the Rick Steves' Spain guidebook. We also offer free-spirited Spain tours.