How To Survive La Tomatina Festival, Buñol Spain
Starting back in 1945 when a few young boys instigated an impromptu food fight sourced from a nearby tomato stand, La Tomatina festival has had an interesting history. Banned off an on throughout the 50s, locals protested in favor of the festival by holding a ‘tomato burial’ where they carried a giant tomato in a coffin through the town while a band played funeral marches. The demonstration was successful, and La Tomatina has been held the last Wednesday of August ever since.
In 2002 the festival was recognized as a Festivity of International Tourist Interest due to its overwhelming success, and for good reason! The festival was one of the craziest events I’ve ever participated in, loving every squishy, tomato-y moment. I’ve made a guide so that you can prepare and make the most of your time for this amazing experience!
How to Get There
There are several tour companies that provide bus transportation from major cities around Spain for one-day and multi-day excursions. We got tickets from the official Tomatina website, and our tour bus and guide were associated with Tic Tac Events. We had already arrived in Valencia earlier in the week, so we decided on a day trip with bus service. There are several days worth of festivities surrounding the actual tomato fight, so it is worth considering a multi-day trip if you want to get the full experience. We thought about it, but most of the events seemed a bit more crazy partying than our style which is why we opted for the day.
Some of the pros of using a tour company is they handle all of the logistics of travel, entrance tickets, food, an official event t-shirt as well as a guide that can give you some history of the event as well as tips for where to go for prime tomato chucking nonsense. However if you’re a more independent traveler (or just don’t want to adhere to a bus timetable!) it is totally possible to skip the tour company and plan the trip yourself.
If it fits into your plans, I’d absolutely recommend staying at least a few days in Valencia as well! Most of our favorite experiences during the trip were in Valencia, and it has that amazing old world charm that we didn’t quite feel in Barcelona. We stayed at Hotel Mediterraneo which was in a prime location and a great home base for the week.
What to Bring
-Clothes that you don’t mind tossing or getting stained for life. Almost everyone (us included) wore white to really show off the gore from the day. Keep the stains in mind when picking shoes as well. I wore water shoes which unfortunately were so saturated in tomato by the end I wound up chucking them. A lot of people had plastic flip flops, but you’ll be walking through ankle deep tomato goop by the end so keep that in mind with exposed feet.
-Goggles! Very helpful for keeping the tomato acid and chunks out of the eyeballs :)
-Keep your cash, ID, phone and any other necessary items in a plastic baggie in your pocket or a fanny pack. Anything to keep it dry and close to your body.
-GoPro and/or waterproof phone cover! If you bring a GoPro keep in mind that they are strict with anything that can be considered a weapon, so any sort of selfie sticks will not be allowed in. I had a floater handle for my GoPro (not extendable like a selfie stick, just a small hand grip) and was turned away. Since I wasn’t planning on going in without the GoPro and had no other grip option aside from keeping it in my hand, I *may have* put the grip in the back of my shorts and snuck it in. But if you’re not in the smuggling mood, there are lockers available for hire to store your things.
What to Expect
A and I had no idea what to really expect once we got to Buñol, only that La Tomatina has a small handful of rules- squish the tomatoes before throwing, keep your distance from the tomato trucks, no ripping clothing and when the ending blast rings everything stops. When our bus arrived in Buñol we had to wait quite a while for our guide to collect our entrance bands, everyone started getting antsy to enter the festival and get going. Once were were in there were several food and drink stands offering sangria and snacks. The tomato fight starts at 11am, and before the official start there is an event, Palojabon, where entrants try to climb a two story greased pole with a Spanish ham on top. Whoever manages to get to the top first gets to keep the ham! It was pretty crowded by the time we arrived, but we did manage to see some people attempting to climb (and definitely sliding right back down) the pole from a distance. To keep the crowd from overheating in the summer sun they also have people manning huge water hoses spraying into the crowd.
At 11am on the dot, the starting blast rang and we were off! We were a bit down route of the tomato lorries, so the first tomatoes actually came from locals on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. As everyone was starting to gather tomatoes and start chucking, the sirens rang out and the first truck was on its way. They have people clearing the crowd as it comes through, and there are people in the back of the trucks ready and waiting to lob thousands of pounds of tomatoes at the crowds. The next hour is absolute chaos as everyone is tossing tomatoes and reveling in the gore and debris. Finally the ending blast rings, everyone drops their tomatoes and peace is restored.
When the adrenaline dies down and everyone is shuffling out of the main square, I truly realized how completely saturated in tomatoes we were. We actually joked with another guy in the crowd about ordering gazpacho, as we were walking through bright red sludge that was ankle deep! People around us were snapping their post-Tomatina selfies (us included obviously!) and all around just enjoying the ‘fruits’ of our labor. See what I did there?
Once we passed the boundaries of the fight, there were many locals waiting outside their houses with garden hoses to help clean everyone off. The water was absolutely freezing, but it was so cool to see everyone lined up at peoples houses and public fountains to try and rinse clean. We learned that the acid in the tomatoes will actually help clean the buildings and the streets when it gets rinsed off as well! There were several dumpsters overflowing with dirty discarded clothes and shoes, and there were also many local residents walking around with trash bags collecting items that they would later donate or re-purpose.
At this point we hung out, drank more sangria and enjoyed Buñol, passing the time before we had to head back to the bus for Valencia. As soon as we got back to our hotel we immediately took a long, hot shower and were ready for a relaxed evening. A relaxed evening of continuing to find tomato chunks in our hair and ears and all over despite those long hot showers!
Check out the video of our experience below, and I hope this guide helps you make the most of your Tomatina adventure!
