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On the last Wednesday in August every year, Buñol – a sedate little town close to Valencia – throws caution to the wind for two hours between 11am and 1pm. This is the home of La Tomatina, another strange and wonderful Spanish festival which involves throwing food around. In the days before bucket lists and anyone over seventeen running with the bulls at Pamplona, La Tomatina was a relatively tame affair. Very popular with the locals, it seldom attracted much interest beyond the neighbouring villages and a visitor from Valencia was remarkable. In 2014, 50,000 people took part, putting La Tomatina right up there with San Fermin and Haro and forcing the town to issue tickets just to keep the crowds under a little bit of control. But, tickets or not, the spirit of La Tomatina is alive and well and just as rowdy, energetic and messy as it ever was. If you’re planning to pay your 10€, print your pass and join the fray for this year’s event, here are a few things you might find useful to know before you go.
HLegend has it that La Tomatina was born in 1945 out of a violent altercation between some local boys and a ‘Giant’ in Buñol’s annual, ‘Big Heads & Giants’ parade. The Giant was knocked over and went after the culprits. They retaliated by pelting him with tomatoes from a market stall. The next year a fight was picked just as an excuse to throw vegetables. And eventually, the impromptu event became the much loved and hugely popular La Tomatina we know today. It’s not a great story or even close to some of the more fabulous Spanish festival lore. But it says over-excited, young and ready for anything. And that’s exactly what hurling tomatoes around for hours until there’s nothing left but sauce is all about.
Considering how tiny Buñol is and how busy La Tomatina can get, there are very few rules and the ones they do have, make sense. No ticket, no tomatoes is the first thing to remember, so buy a pass online from the Buñol website or join one of the many La Tomatina Tours. Squash your tomatoes before you throw them. Don’t aim for heads or faces. And don’t tear other people’s clothes. La Tomatina isn’t aggressively policed, but you will get noticed if you don’t play nice.
A fight to the purée isn’t going to be clean. Truckloads of tomatoes are thrown during La Tomatina by thousands of people and the streets are awash with pulp, skin and juice. Wear things you don’t love, they’re going to get ruined. Take a change of clothes for the journey home – the town has showers for visitors, but they’re always busy so don’t rely on getting clean. Put on a swim cap unless you want to be picking seeds out of your hair and ears for weeks. Wear swimming goggles to protect your eyes. And arrive early to get a good spot - the tomato lorries turn up at 11am prompt, but you won’t get anywhere close to the action if you aren’t in Buñol by at least 8am.
It’s August. It’s South East Spain. And La Tomatina is another ridiculous Spanish festival which seems insane, but makes perfect sense at the time. If those aren’t reasons enough, Buñol is just half an hour from Valencia on the Mediterranean coast. This huge city is one of Europe’s largest ports, with a stunning historic centre balanced by brilliant beaches, great bars and restaurants and a young, lively atmosphere. There are regular ferries from Valencia to the beautiful Balearic Islands and the city’s just a short distance from Spain’s famous Costa Blanca resorts.