1. La Tomatina

2. Las Fallas

3. Carnival

4. La Feria de Abril

5. San Fermín

6. Día de los Reyes Magos

7. Festa Major de Gràcia

8. Els Enfarinats

9. La Raima

10. Wine Battle of Haro

11. Holy Week (Semana Santa)

12. Córdoba Patios Festival

13. Feria del Caballo

14. Malaga August Fair

15. Noche de San Juan

La Tomatina has earned its title as one of the craziest Spanish festivals. Once a year at the end of August, thousands gather in the small Valencian town of Buñol to throw tomatoes at one another in the name of tradition and fun!

Visit the city of Valencia in mid-March to experience its biggest fiesta, Las Fallas. For four days, the city transforms into a carnival of huge paper-mâché figurines, performances, fireworks, and bonfires.

Parades and performances fill the air with the buzz of celebration in February or early March, when huge open-air Carnaval parties take over the streets.

Tenerife, Cadiz, and Sitges host the most famous carnivals in Spain. Make your way to one of these towns, get dressed up, and prepare to dance through the streets all night long.

One of the most popular festivals in Seville—and all of Spain—the Feria de Abril (April Fair) begins on a Monday night as thousands of light bulbs strung through the fairgrounds light up. This kicks off the weeklong celebration that includes dancing, singing, and delicious food and wine.

Many female attendants wear traditional Andalusian trajes de gitana (flamenco dresses), making the event even more authentic. This is one Spanish festival you truly can’t miss, so save the date (it kicks off two weeks after Easter) and experience it for yourself.

Memorialized for eternity in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Death in the Afternoon, San Fermín is perhaps the most famous Spanish festival known throughout the world. The famous running of the bulls makes this one of the craziest and most unforgettable of Spanish festivals. But if you head to Pamplona for the festivities, be sure to check out the other events, including live music, a parade of giants, and traditional dance performances.

Unlike in the United States, Spaniards exchange Christmas gifts on January 6. This celebrates and commemorates the arrival of the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem, bearing gifts for the baby Jesus.

This 8-day festival is held yearly in August throughout the streets of Barcelona’s Gràcia neighborhood. Over a million people descend on the area to enjoy free outdoor concerts and various family activities.

With the festival come beautiful decorations, with every street covered in colorful decorations and lined with little shops to buy your festival souvenirs.

As part of the Día de los Inocentes mischief on December 28, thousands of people gather in Ibi, Alicante for the pure joy of throwing eggs and flour at one another. Like the Tomatina festival, Els Enfarinats will leave you covered in food and bent over laughing. What could be more fun than tossing eggs and powder all over your fellow revelers?

The food-throwing fun doesn’t just end with La Tomatina and Els Enfarinats. Residents and visitors of Pobla del Duc, Valencia get together every year after the grape harvest has finished to reward their hard work… by throwing grapes at one another.

If you like to get your hands a little dirty, head to this famous Spanish festival and finish out your day with wine from the previous year’s harvest!

No list of crazy Spanish festivals would be complete without the infamous Haro wine battle. Haro is located in the region of La Rioja, home to the most famous wine in Spain, and every June the town erupts with wine drinking competitions and the Batalla de Vino (the wine battle).

At 9 a.m., everyone gathers for the procession and Mass that start the day. But the minute that Mass ends, get ready for an explosion of wine fighting fury!

You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the stunning processions that parade through the streets of Spain during the week leading up to Easter. Consisting of massive floats depicting Jesus and the Virgin Mary, dozens of hooded penitents, and a brass band or two, each Holy Week procession draws thousands of spectators that line the streets for hours as they pass by.

Springtime in Andalusia is unlike anywhere else in the world. If the multiple local ferias and Holy Week processions weren’t enough, you won’t want to miss the colorful patios festival that takes place in Córdoba in early May.

The inclusion of interior courtyards, or patios, in homes in Córdoba dates back centuries to the city’s Moorish days, but the first public celebration of them wasn’t until the early 20th century. During the festival, hundreds of people line up to step inside the elaborately decorated patios, with prizes awarded to the best and most beautiful.

Seville isn’t the only city with a springtime fair worth checking out. A few weeks later, Jerez de la Frontera hosts its annual Feria del Caballo—a lesser-known yet equally enjoyable Andalusian feria worth checking out.

As the name suggests, there are plenty of beautiful horses to be found at the Feria del Caballo as locals in traditional dress ride throughout the fairgrounds. Order a pitcher of rebujito (a cocktail made with manzanilla sherry and 7up) to share as you watch the colorful and authentic celebration come to life around you.

Yet another noteworthy Andalusian feria, Malaga’s local fair takes place several months after most of the others, in August. That gives it an inherent bonus: you can head to the beach to relax when you need a break from the fair!

What makes Malaga’s fair especially great is that much of it takes place in the city center during the daytime. At night, the festivities move to the fairgrounds, which are still easily accessible on public transportation.

s there any better way to kick off summer than with bonfires and fireworks on the beach?

That’s exactly how many coastal cities in Spain ring in the warmest months of the year. On the night of June 23—the eve of the feast of St. John the Baptist—locals in cities such as Barcelona, Alicante, Almeria and more head to the beach for an evening of celebrations.

The festivities look a bit different in each city, but in general, expect lots of fire, an abundance of food and drinks at nearby chiringuitos, and maybe even a midnight swim at one of the first Spanish festivals of the summer.