A Visitor's Guide to Attending La Tomatina in Spain (2018 UPDATE)

Updated: 8/14/2018 | August 14th, 2018

Everybody loves a good festival. They are a chance to let loose, have fun, and indulge in something crazy.

And the only thing more crazy than a giant festival?

A giant food fight.

And there’s nothing better than La Tomatina in Bunol, Spain for that!

What originated as an impromptu local food fight among friends in 1945 grew to become its own cultural event — and the world’s largest food fight. Since 1945, La Tomatina has became a yearly occurrence in Bunol, Spain (aside from a few years in the 1950’s when it was banned under Franco). It takes places every year on the last Wednesday of August, and upwards of 30,000 tourists some to take part in this massive food fight.

Starting early in the morning, people wearing clothes never to be worn again crowd trains heading from Valencia to Bunol. They get there and join the masses heading to the city center, stopping on the way for some food and (a lot of) drinks. Eventually, everyone reaches the city center and simply stops. There’s nowhere else to go. The crowd is simply too thick.

During the run-up to the 11 am kick-off, many participants compete in a pole climb, where they scramble up a greased pole to win a ham. Once the ham is captured, the party official “starts” (though I didn’t see anyone get the ham so you can be sure that the party is starting at 11 am no matter what).

Nothing I write will give justice to this ridiculous festival, which is why I brought my camera along when I attended! While I was fighting away, my friends at Travelyourself took my camera so I could bring you this:

The fight lasts for one hour after which the city is ankle-deep in a river of tomato juice. The fire department will come out shortly thereafter and hose down the city (which when combined with the citric acid in the tomatoes actually does a nice job of cleaning the place!). Partygoers tend to head down to the river to clean up and wash off (or you can get hosed down by one of the locals and their kids who love spraying everyone). The party continues the rest of in many of the plazas around the city. There’s music, dancing, copious amounts of sangria, and lots of good food. This goes until sunset when most crowds head back to Valencia.

It is one of the best times I’ve ever had. In the crush of the crowds, you’re just throwing tomatoes left and right at anything and everything – barely looking where you’re going. I watched people climb statues and doorways for better angles only to turn themselves into easy targets for those nearby. Afterwards, our friends jovially skipped to down and spent the rest of the day on a high partying and chatting with everyone.

Some Tips for Attending La Tomatina

Planning to attend this epic food fight? Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your trip:

• Wear clothing you’re ok with throwing out. Chances are it’s not going to recover (including your shoes!) Many clothes get torn, stained beyond repair, and just end up smelling for days after. Don’t bring anything nice.
• If you’re a woman, be on the lookout and wear a sports bra as many guys get grabby and often times try to snap bras off.
• Don’t bring any valuables like your wallet or passport as you might lose them. Plus, petty crime is rife here. It’s easy to get into people’s pockets. Wear a money belt or a ziplocked poach around your next.
• Only bring your camera or phone if is waterproof. Even then, make sure it has a protective case!
• Wear goggles. You don’t want to get tomato juice in your eyes.
• If you’re traveling with friends, agree on a place to meet afterward. There’s a good chance you might lose them in the crowd.
• Arrive early as there’s limited space!
• Don’t wear flip flops or sandals. The ground gets slippery fast, so you want good shoes to keep you upright. The right crowds also mean people will step on your feet all the time!
• Stay hydrated. It’s going to be super hot in August, and there will be people everywhere. Drink up before the fight so you can fling tomatoes without getting dehydrated.
• Watch for shirt rippers. There is a tendency for people (who may have had a bit too much to drink beforehand) to try and rip the shirt off your back. It’s against the rules of the festival, but people will still try to do it so be aware!

****

La Tomatina was certainly the most interesting festival I’ve been to. It’s quite dirty (obviously) and if you don’t like a mess or crowds, chances are you won’t like this! But I had an amazing, energetic time, and my time there connected me with some of the most important people in my life. There’s something that bonds people throwing vegetables with each other. So for those looking to spend a few hours throwing food, dancing in the streets, and drinking sangria, visit La Tomatina!

How to Get to La Tomatina

Bunol is located around 40km outside of Valencia. To get there from Valencia, you have 3 options:

• Drive – It’s about a 40-minute trip by car. If you don’t want to rent a car yourself, try using Blablacar (a ride-sharing app)
• Bus – The bus #265a, #265b, and #2 go from Valencia. The ride takes between 60-75 minutes. Round-trips tickets will cost just under 8 EUR.
• Train – Take the C3 from Valencia. Tickets will cost around 4 EUR each way and it takes slighlty over an hour.

As of 2013, foreigners wishing to take part have to pay 10 EUR for a ticket. If you want to attend La Tomatina you can purchase your official tickets here!

Book Your Trip to Valencia: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight to Valencia by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines. Start with Momondo.

Book Your Accommodation
My favorite hostel in Valencia is Red Nest. To book another hostel in Valencia, use Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. I never ever go on a trip without it. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. You should too.

Need Some Gear?
Check out our resource page for the best companies to use!

Want More Information on Valencia?
Be sure to visit our robust destination guide on Valencia for even more planning tips!

 

Backpacking Through Europe? Get My Guide!

Nomadic Matt’s Backpacking Europe
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Also look at my other Europe guides:

Amsterdam | Iceland | Paris | Stockholm

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The Saturday City: Girona

I had the pleasure of visiting Girona, located in the Costa Brava region of Spain just north of Barcelona, when it acted as host city for this year’s European travel blogger conference.

This region of Spain is not as popular as Costa del Sol or islands like Ibiza, which is good and bad. Good because there aren’t that many tourists here and it’s relatively quiet. Bad because this region is beautiful, picturesque, and filled with gorgeous coastlines that I wish they did advertise more so I would have visited sooner. I can’t believe I’ve been coming to Spain for six years and never made it here! Costa Brava has become one of my favorite spots in Spain and Girona one of my favorite cities.

The city of Girona has been inhabited since before the Romans. After the Roman Empire collapsed, the city was ruled by an endless stream of kings and princes over the centuries. Girona has undergone 25 sieges and been captured seven times in its history.

One of the most famous of these sieges began in May 1809 when the city was besieged by 35,000 French Napoleonic troops until disease and famine compelled it to surrender that December. I actually got to see a reenactment of one of the battles from this siege while I was there. It was a quite a spectacle seeing everyone dressed up, and unlike reenactments in the United States, you got “on the battlefield” with everyone else. Tons of people intermingled with the reenactors and took photos on the field. It also meant that the cannons and guns got scarily close to me.

Modern-day Girona is filled with abundant food, cheap bars, and winding cobblestone streets that I could spend hours getting lost in. During my amazing stay here, I found a number of activities to enjoy:

Ice cream at Rocambolesc — The three Roca brothers are considered some of the top chefs in the world and run the second-best restaurant in the world (see further down this list). In Girona, Jordi Roca, the youngest brother, runs this ice cream shop with a sort of Willy Wonka decor. You can enjoy interesting flavors, various sherbets that can be topped with berries, cotton candy, popping candy, fruits, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, fudge, and so much more. I went there two days in a row, and I regret not going more.

Monastery Sant Pere de Rodes — One of the oldest in Europe, this grand monastery is outside the city but easy to get to by bus or car. The church is a great example of Romanesque architecture.

The Girona Cathedral — A spectacular cathedral, the interior includes the widest Gothic nave in the world and the second widest overall after St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Construction was first started in the 11th century and wasn’t completed until the 18th century. It’s right in the center of town. While it’s not as amazing as the Sant Pere, if you can’t make it there, visit this cathedral.

Walk the wall — Girona used to be surrounded by a vast medieval wall meant to keep out unfriendly armies. That wall was destroyed centuries ago, but you can walk around a reconstructed version that surrounds the historic center of the city and see all the main points of interest.

The City History Museum — Are you a history buff? Good, me too! I try to visit every history museum I come across. After all, you can’t know where people are if you don’t know where they have been. Girona’s history museum does a good job of explaining the city’s complex and often turbulent history.

Day trip to Figueres to see Dalí — A short trip from Girona (around an hour by train) is the Dalí museum in Figueres. Dalí is an important figure in this region, having been born in Figueres, though he lived in the coastal town of Cadaques most of his life (you can visit that house too). Some of Dalí’s most famous surrealist art and statues can be found in the Figueres museum. Be prepared for the crowds; at times, you are moving at a snail’s pace to see some of the more famous works — it’s always rush hour here.

The Jewish Quarter — The 12th century saw the birth of a flourishing Jewish community that was ended in 1492 when the Jews were expelled from Spain. Today, the Jewish Quarter is one of the best preserved historic sites in Europe, with centuries-old houses and façades still in wonderful condition. There is also a museum to visit, though I didn’t make it there. However, this writer did and had some interesting comments.

El Celler de Can Roca — Owned by the famous Roca brothers and considered the second best in the world, a meal here will cost mucho dinero (a lot of money), but if you have the money to spend, why not eat at one of the top restaurants in the world? The brothers catered our blogger conference (crazy, huh?) and the food was heavenly. I am sure the restaurant is just as mouth watering.

Gorge on the food — OK, this activity isn’t limited to this city. Eating is one of the greatest activities in all of Spain, but in Girona, eating is truly an art form. I went overboard on the tapas, cured ham, and ice cream. For tapas, check out Txalaka.

Girona offers a place to experience the Catalonian region without the hordes in nearby Barcelona. It also makes for a good gateway city into the regions of Costa Brava, with its villages, famous coastline, and access to the Pyrenees.

Photo credits: 1

Grape, Olive, Pig: Inside Spain’s Food Culture with Matt Goulding

Many moons ago, a friend emailed me and said “Hey, my buddy is starting a website. Can you give him some advice?” I hate those emails, but as a favor to my friend, I said yes. That guy, Nathan Thornburgh, turned out to be really cool, and we became good friends. But this article isn’t about Nathan; it’s about his partner, Matt Goulding. Together they started one of my favorite travel websites, Roads and Kingdoms. It’s one of the few websites I read daily. Last year, they partnered with Anthony Bourdain (they introduced me to him at an event last year and I babbled incoherently for a bit — it was highly embarrassing), and as part of their partnership, they created a book, Rice, Noodle, Fish, about Japan. Now they have a new book called Grape, Olive, Pig about food in Spain.

In a long overdue interview, I sat down and talked to Matt about the intersection between food and travel, and where to find the best food in Spain (disclaimer: I did this for selfish reasons, as I wanted to know for an upcoming trip I’m taking!)

Nomadic Matt: How did you become a traveling food writer?
Matt G.: Wanderlust was emblazoned in my DNA from the onset. My mom was a travel agent, and my parents would take me and my three older brothers on some pretty staggering trips in our younger years: New Zealand, Fiji, Barbados, the Yucatán. Later, I thought cooking was going to be my ticket to see the world, so I studied and worked in the kitchen and wrote short stories on the side. I cooked wherever they’d have me: at an oyster house in North Carolina, fancy cafés in Los Angeles, on a fishing boat in Patagonia. But I saw pretty quickly that cooking required more patience and discipline than I had. I was writing bad fiction and cooking average food, which felt doubly frustrating. So I took off the toque and put away tortured prose and started to write about what I knew most: food and travel. It just so happens that the two go hand and hand, and that food became both the bridge and decoder ring for understanding the world at large.

I found out what a million writers before me already discovered: that writing about something I knew so intimately made a huge difference in the quality of my prose and the depth of my reporting. I started publishing longer, food-focused travel pieces in magazines and eventually landed a job as the food editor at Men’s Health.

Then something new came along when I met Nathan Thornburgh. We connected in Mexico City at a sprawling temple of smoked meat and pulque on the outskirts of the DF [Mexico City] and hatched a plan to leave behind our cushy jobs and try something new. He wanted more food and culture in his life as a writer and editor; I wanted more politics and foreign correspondence.

We toiled in relative obscurity for the first year or two, but it turned out that one of our early readers was Anthony Bourdain. I’m still not entirely sure how he found us or what he saw in R&K, but when we approached him in 2013 with the idea of a book series dedicated to the great food cultures of the world, he gave us his full support. Eventually, that support grew into a formal partnership, which, to put it lightly, changed the trajectory of Roads & Kingdoms substantially.

Your last book was about Japan. Why did you pick Spain this time?
I was passing through Barcelona six years ago, met a lovely Catalan girl in a bar, and never left. (At least, that’s the Cliff Notes version.) Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time eating my way across the country, falling deeper and deeper in love with Spain’s food culture. This book follows the same format and design as Rice, Noodle, Fish, but whereas the Japan book was about a newcomer experiencing the awesome power of Japanese food culture for the first time, Spain is more intimate, personal book, told from the perspective of someone with one foot inside and the other foot outside of the country.

What do you want people to get out of this book?
At the very minimum, I want to arouse in the reader an uncontrollable desire to travel to Spain. If someone reads the book and buys a plane ticket, then I am happy. But the easiest part of a travel writer’s job is to evoke wanderlust, just as the easiest part of a food writer’s job is to stir hunger. The more challenging part is to write a book that goes beyond food or travel — to give the reader a deeper understanding of Spain, its people, its ebbs and flows. I’m less interested in telling you where to go and what to eat than I am in giving you the tools and the context to understand what you see once you get here and begin to make your own discoveries.

That means not just telling you where to eat a good cocido, Madrid’s famous garbanzo-and-meat stew, but explaining where it comes from and what it says about Spanish history and culture. I dedicate 8,000 words in the book to three sisters who hunt gooseneck barnacles along the coast of Galicia — not because you need to stop everything you’re doing and travel to northwest Spain to eat barnacles but because theirs is a beautiful story that says a lot about Galicia and Spain in general. In the end, food is simply the lens through which I try to examine the DNA of this extraordinary country.

What makes Spanish cuisine so special?
Spanish cuisine has a certain split personality that I find deeply attractive: On one hand, you have modernist (what some people call “molecular” cuisine, to the annoyance of every Spanish chef I know), that highly technical, whimsical, sophisticated style of cooking popularized at El Bulli in the 1990s and 2000s and carried on to this day by many ambitious, deeply talented practitioners. It was this type of cooking that made Spain a serious food destination over the past decade. But really, it represents the tiniest fraction of Spain’s culinary greatness. At the heart of Spanish cuisine is an infallible formula: great ingredients + solid technique = good eating. The best Spanish food — a melting wedge of tortilla, a rosy slice of acorn-fed ham, a plate of sweet red shrimp bathed in garlic oil — is at its core very simple. But simple doesn’t mean easy. You have to take the time to buy the right ingredients and to treat them properly, and most Spanish cooks excel in both categories.

Is there really Spanish food, or a diverse set of food we really call Spanish food?
Spanish cuisine, like all great cuisines, is highly regionalized, but the homogenizing forces of modernity in general, and tourism specifically, threaten this diversity. These days you’ll find paella and sangria and patatas bravas in every corner of the country. But that just means as a traveler you need to be aware of where you are and make your food choices accordingly. Up in Galicia? Eat octopus and shellfish and gooseneck barnacles and wash it down with a crisp Albariño. When in Andaulsia, eat jamón and fried little fish and drink sherry. In Basque country, feast on thick-cut steaks and whole-grilled fish and a world of pintxos. The people who find Spanish food disappointing are the ones who order paella in Madrid and sangria in San Sebastián. Of course, there is a common language that unifies Spain’s cooking — high-quality olive oil, cured pork, an abiding love of seafood — but it expresses itself in very different ways as you move around the country.

I always tell people who come to Spain to first and foremost know where you are and eat and drink accordingly. Paella, for example, has a historical connection to Valencia and is at its very best in the region, but elsewhere, it’s often used to make a quick buck from tourists looking for a “typical” Spanish experience. (The worst-kept secret in Spain is that a huge percentage of paella is made industrially and sent out frozen across the country.) Instead, spend a bit of time learning about the great regional specialties of the country and seek them out aggressively. Grape, Olive, Pig tries to give the reader the type of detailed understanding of the Spanish culinary tapestry, so that he or she is equipped to eat as well as possible in every corner of the country. But even an hour or two of reading online will make your food experience exponentially better.

Why is Spain such a foodie culture? Food is life in Spain. How did that come about?
Spain thrives on the same foundational principles of all the great Mediterranean cuisines, where the forces of geography, climate, and history conspired to create not just a group of national recipes but a pervasive food culture that informs all aspects life on the Iberian Peninsula. There’s a very important word in Spanish that I use to explain to visitors the beauty of Spanish food culture: sobremesa, which literally means “on top of the table” but actually refers to the period after a meal that Spaniards use to linger at the table. Long after the last courses have been cleared, after the coffee has come and gone, Spaniards remain firmly planted at the table, talking, arguing, laughing, enjoying an extra hour or two together. No waiter is hovering with the bill; people aren’t on their phones messaging their other friends. There may be a digestivo or a round of gin and tonics, but no one is there to get drunk. They’re there to be with each other: to debate policy, air out grievances, celebrate a loved one, and to generally bask in the warm glow of each other’s company. In Spain, food is the means, not the end.

Do you see the Spanish food scene changing into a more “quick eats” American style or is it going to remain slow forever?
Spain is not immune to international food trends, including ones imported from the States. Burger joints have been sprouting like fungus across the country for the past five years, and there appears to be no end in sight. (Though I’m still waiting for a single great burger to break out from the sea of mediocrity.) Tacos are the new thing in the bigger cities, and there is no doubt some other amorphous food fad waiting in the wings (bao?). But Spanish food has roots deep enough to withstand the existential threats that might topple a weaker food culture. When the burger lust dies out and the taco fervor fades away, there will still be a bar down the street serving tortilla and croquetas.

If someone was heading to Spain soon, where should they go eat?
You’ll find amazing food across the country, but if eating well is your primary mission, go north. I’d rent a car and work my way across the Atlantic Coast. Start in the Basque Country, hitting up the pintxos bars in San Sebastián and Bilbao and asadores (grill restaurants) in coastal and mountain villages. Stop in Cantabria for some of the world’s finest anchovies, then push into Asturias to feast at the region’s heroic cider houses. End the adventure on the coast of Galicia, the heart of Spain’s seafood culture, where the Atlantic’s treasures require little more than salt and a splash of olive oil.

What region of Spain has the most underrated food?
Asturias isn’t a region on most people’s radars, but the food is extraordinary. You have a deep culture of mar y montaña (surf and turf), thanks to the dramatic combination of rugged coastline and soaring peaks. You can be in a cider house in a mountain town eating cave-aged cheeses and fabada (a stew of fat white beans, chorizo, and blood sausage — the king of the Asturian kitchen) for lunch and in a seafood restaurant on the coast feasting on spider crabs and sea urchin before the sun sets. To write the Asturias chapter of the book, I spent a week with the chef José Andrés, born in a coal mining town in Asturias, who went on to create one of the world’s greatest restaurant empires. José is a force of nature, and he unlocked the magic of that region in a way that keeps me coming back year after year.

OK, final questions. We’re going to do a lightning round:

• #1 restaurant people need to go visit?
  Extebarri in the mountains of Basque country. Bittor Arguinzoniz is a grill god, and everything that comes out of his kitchen will haunt you for years to come.
  
• #1 thing visitors should avoid in Spain?
  Eating or drinking anything on La Rambla in Barcelona.
• Madrid or Barcelona?
  Barcelona, but I am far from objective. If I said Madrid, a few family members might disown me.
• La Tomatina: Drunk idiot fest or fun cultural experience?
  A little bit of both, but with each passing year, it slouches sadly towards the former.

You can find more about Matt at his website, Roads and Kingdoms, or just get the book Grape, Olive, Pig (which was one of my favorites of 2016) and learn more about Spain!

WIN A COPY: I’m giving away TWO signed copies of the book. It’s signed by Matt AND Bourdain! How do you win? Just leave a comment sharing your favorite food experience on the road and we’ll randomly select a winner on Sunday!

Celebrity Kids Who Have More Passport Stamps Than You Do

Princess Charlotte turned one year old May 2, marking another milestone for the royal family this year. In honor of her big day, mom Kate Middleton and dad Prince William released several photos of the tot walking with a toy stroller at her parent’s home in Norfolk. And though she was enjoying some playtime at home, the youngster has already started racking up air miles with a recent trip to the French Alps.

If her big brother Prince George is any indicator of how many passport stamps she’ll soon have, then Charlotte could be a jet-setter before her next birthday. At just six months old, George enjoyed a tropical getaway to the Caribbean island of Mustique and later joined his parents on a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand—all before he turned one.

Of course, Charlotte and George aren’t the only tots with frequent flier miles that could rival any businessman’s. Many of Hollywood’s offspring have traveled around the world before they were even out of diapers.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s daughter North has been to St. Bart’s, Mexico, Vail, New York, Thailand, and even Israel.  North’s pal Blue Ivy has traveled to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Paris, and Spain with mom Beyonce and dad Jay Z. Likewise, Suri Cruise has traveled France, Italy, Spain, and Brazil with parents Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise in her few short years on this planet.

And who could forget the Jolie-Pitt kids? Members of that six pack can check off London, Australia, the Galapagos, Turks and Caicos, Tokyo, and New Orleans—just to name a few.

So, in honor of Charlotte and her globetrotting future, we’ve rounded up the most well-traveled celebrity kids who have likely already crossed off most of your bucket list destinations.

Click through to see these jet-setting tots.