Visit the wild tomato party La Tomatina in Buñol, near Valencia:
Event: La Tomatina Festival, Buñol, Spain.
Venue: Streets of the town of Buñol, near the Town Hall.
Price: various packages.
La Tomatina Tomato Festival is held on the last Wednesday of August each year, in Buñol, near the city of Valencia, Spain. This is puree Spain – quintessential, quixotic, and quite demented. La Tomatina has become one of Spain’s top 3 radical street parties. It’s tart, it’s red, and it’s a must. Tomatoes get in your eyes, your hair, and everywhere else.
The truth is, many participants in La Tomatina are still finding bits of tomato residue in orifices months later! But you can be sure that however much citric goo you find lodged in your culo at Christmas, there will always be enoughSan Miguel around for a good wash and rinse to send you belching happily back to Valencia.
Groups are now flocking from all over the world to get some tomato action – and this popularity has led the good townspeople of Buñol to slap on a local tax (well, charge for entry with tomatina tickets really). The great thing is… the event is now a gigantic and quite unique street party for all-comers, with tens of thousands of people attending.
There are concerts on the streets , dance performances and fireworks… as well as the world’s biggest food fight. With this surge in popularity, Tomatina tickets are now getting hard to obtain, so booking a package with a local agency is a must.
Tons of tomatoes will fly during the festival, as local farmers dump their excess capacity (on your head). You can almost feel like swimming in a tomato soup. If your name is Heinz or Campbell’s (or Safeway’s) you’ll feel right at home. Yes, YOU CAN! The festival is not just confined to the tomato battle.
You will also want to up the culinary ante by sampling Valencia’s famous paella dish at some stage: a delightful risotto usually using seafood, beans and often rabbit, chicken and snails. Paella originated in Valencia, which means that whatever rubbish you have been offered under this guise in other parts of Spain, or the rest of the world, will pale in comparison.