What is La Tomatina?
La Tomatina is exactly what it looks like: an hour-long tomato fight in the streets of Buñol, a small town in the hills west of Valencia. Nobody is quite sure how it began. The most repeated story says that on the last Wednesday of August 1945, a scuffle broke out during the town's parade of giants and big-headed figures, and the young men involved grabbed tomatoes from a market stall. The next year they came back with their own.
The authorities were not amused. The fight was banned in the early 1950s, and people who kept throwing were arrested. In 1957 residents staged a mock "tomato funeral" in protest, and it worked: the fight became official that year. It was declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest in 2002, and the crowds grew so big that since 2013 Buñol has capped entry with paid tickets.
The scale is the point. In 2015 almost 145,000 kilos of tomatoes were thrown, delivered by trucks that inch through a street barely wider than they are, with crew on top hurling the first loads into the crowd. For an hour the town centre becomes a river of pulp, and then, as fast as it started, it stops.
What to expect
The Tomatina itself is one morning, but it is the high point of Buñol's week of patron-saint fiestas, with parades, music and a paella contest in the days before.
Saturday before
The children's Tomatina
A smaller, free tomato fight for local children in the Plaza del Pueblo, the same square the adults fill on Wednesday.
Wednesday morning
The ham on the pole
The streets fill from early morning. The traditional opening is the palo jabón: a ham tied to the top of a greased pole, which people try to reach by climbing on each other while the crowd hoses them down.
Wednesday, noon to 1pm
The battle
A shot signals the start, the trucks roll in, and the tomatoes start flying. After an hour a second shot ends it, and throwing has to stop.
Wednesday afternoon
The clean-up
Fire engines hose down the streets and house fronts. Locals turn their garden hoses on the crowd, and many people walk to the river pool at Los Peñones to rinse off.
The crowd waiting for the first truck in Buñol
Photo by MrT HK / flickr · CC BY 2.0
Planning your trip
Getting there
Buñol is about 40 kilometres west of Valencia. The Cercanías commuter line C-3 runs from Valencia to Buñol in roughly an hour, but trains are packed on the morning and engineering works have disrupted the line in some years, so check before you go. Many ticket packages include a coach from Valencia, and some run from Madrid or Barcelona.
Where to stay
Almost everyone stays in Valencia, which has the hotels, the beaches and a full city to enjoy before and after. Buñol itself has very few rooms, so plan on an early train or coach from Valencia on the day.
What it costs
Tickets cost 15 euros in 2026, for about 22,000 places. Coach-and-ticket packages from Valencia start at a few times that, and those from Madrid cost more. The town has also sold a small number of premium tickets for a place on the trucks. The rest of the fiesta week, including the children's Tomatina, is free.
Go like you know
- Squash each tomato before you throw it. It is one of the official rules, and it is the difference between a splat and a bruise.
- Wear clothes you are happy to throw away, and don't wear a white T-shirt if you want to keep it white. Tomato juice stains for good.
- Don't tear anyone's clothes, however common it looks: that is against the rules too.
- Make a week of it in eastern Spain: Pamplona's San Fermín is in July, and Valencia's Las Fallas is the city's own great fiesta, in March.
- If getting messy is the appeal, Korea's Boryeong Mud Festival and India's Holi make good companions to La Tomatina.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a ticket for La Tomatina?
Yes. Since 2013 the tomato fight has been limited to paying ticket holders, about 22,000 of them in 2026. Tickets go on sale in the spring through the town council's official channels and authorized operators, and they usually sell out. Without one, you can still enjoy the rest of Buñol's fiesta week.
Is La Tomatina safe?
Mostly, with sensible precautions. The danger is the crush rather than the tomatoes, so stay near a wall, move aside for the trucks, and keep your group together. Goggles protect your eyes from the acidic juice. Children take part in their own fight on the Saturday instead.
How long does the tomato fight last?
One hour, from a starting shot around noon to a second shot around 1pm. The morning before is taken up with the crowd arriving and the greased pole, and the clean-up afterwards takes a couple of hours, so plan on a full morning in Buñol.
