Running of the Bulls: Preparing for the Ultimate Week of Your Life

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Clearly the most famous of Spain’s outrageous celebrations, Los Sanfermines (the Running of the Bulls), is a weeklong alcohol and danger binge intended to honor the patron saint of Pamplona, San Fermín. The festival kicks off midday on July 6th every year and goes until nightfall on July 14th in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. OTP brings you a crash course on how to enjoy the Running with the Bulls without breaking your balls.

Step 1: Find a Place to Crash

First and foremost, hostels and hotels book up MONTHS in advance for this crazy week and prices shoot up accordingly. Sleeping can be an issue if you don’t know any locals and don’t want to rely on your good looks to find a place to stay. Plan ahead! Find a youth hostel with a weeklong deal or look into renting an apartment with fellow backpackers as many locals vacate their city (having seen the bulls run before) in search of a more relaxing summer week. If you’re feeling brave—wing it. The city’s parks are full of kids that come for a few days, sleep when they can on a sunny patch of green and pay a couple euro to use the public showers once every few days. Consider bringing a tent, finding a patch of grass and honoring Saint Fermín in your own rustic getaway. Let’s face it: At a party like this, you’re not going to sleep much anyway (especially since the bullrun activities start at 7AM).

Step 2: Look the Part

For both sexes, the traditional festival attire is a white shirt and white pants, with a red pañuelo (handkerchief) around your neck and a red scarf around your waist. You could buy the red before you get there, but souvenir pañuelos and scarves are hawked all over the city at reasonable prices. Even if you feel like a bloodstained snowman, chances are that the locals will be more willing to buy you a drink if you play their game. Most important of all: don’t forget COMFORTABLE, CLOSED-TOE SHOES. The Spanish have yet to make laws about glass bottles in the streets, so things can get painful if you aren’t prepared and the crowds are so dense, you won’t be able to see where you step. Interrupting the party with a trip to the clinic, not fun.

Step 3: Know the Schedule

While getting completely shit faced and touchy feely with random strangers are definitely main attractions of the festival, don’t be lame and get so carried away that you miss its most iconic event. Crowds converge on the route of the encierro (bull run) around 6AM to get a good spot. Keep your eye out for an elevated location; if you’re street level all you’ll see is a red and white blur for about one minute; the whole run lasts no more than ten minutes. Be careful though: police are VERY strict about where you can and can’t stand. The bulls run an 830-meter fenced-in course that extends from their pen into the bullring. The bulls that run every morning are the contenders in the bullfights that take place in the afternoon. Like hostels, seats at the bullfight go fast, so get tickets in advance. *Read below for you PETA-ers.

Step 4: Bond with the Locals and Be Open-Minded

With so many men pumped up on testosterone from spending the day playing with the bulls, ladies are hot and bothered to say the least. Add some booze and music into the mix and the city becomes one massive wild, drunken, horny festival full of culture and lust. Take a chance and wedge yourself up to the bar to buy the good-looking girl or guy you’re sitting next to a glass of sangria, and see where it takes you. Locals always know the best places to get cheap drinks and good eats… and who knows? You may even get an invite to someone’s third floor balcony with a terrific view of the encierro.

Step 5: Run at Your Own Risk

OTP does NOT recommend actually running in the encierro, unless you have undergone some training and you are SOBER the day you plan to run (you don’t want to end up like that guy in the picture).  It may be a rite of passage for young men in Pamplona to run, but these bulls are no joke. We’re talking about running in front of six to ten full-grown, pissed-off bulls. It’s not an exaggeration that getting gored, trampled, suffocated or crushed is possible. If you are looking for that serious surge of adrenaline, abstain from drinking the night before, actually get some sleep, and try to keep ahead of the crowd so you can make it into the bullring safely. Most importantly, when you’re running and everyone around you starts jumping over fences, take a hint and get the hell out. We’ll still think you’re badass.

Step 6: Take a Break to Explore the Region

The population of quaint Pamplona explodes from an estimated 200,000 to a cool 1,000,000 for the festival. The opening and closing ceremonies are definitely a sight to behold, but seven days of non-stop drinking in between can get repetitive (and painful) if you don’t pace yourself. Need a breather from the crowds? Hop on a bus to one of the many wine towns in the Navarre region. If it’s the booze you’re trying to ditch, take a day trip to one of the gorgeous beaches in southern France (only an hour and a half away). You can return to the city refreshed, relaxed and ready to party it up all over again.

*For PETA-ers

For those staunchly opposed to bullfighting, keep in mind that the run itself is cruelty-free (minus the ripped testicles some runners may suffer). During the day, the streets are bursting at the seams with crafts, music, dancing, booze and food. Every day there’s a costume parade, and at 11PM every evening fireworks usher in a typically wild Spanish night. Attempting to do everything in one day is admirable, but don’t kid yourself. Take your time and go with the flow—you have a whole week! Pick up a schedule of events at the tourist center or at the ayuntamiento (town hall). The building’s architecture is worth checking out anyway.

Like Hemingway wrote, “No one lives their life all the way up except bullfighters.” It’s your turn to get it up, even if you’re only watching. Angry at us for even writing an article about the Running of the Bulls? Be part of the change at the annual Running of the Nudes and tell us to fuck off the productive way.

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