La Tomatina
Thousands of fruit-flingers invade the tiny village of Bunyol in the Comunidad Valenciana for an almighty tomato fight. La Tomatina is the opportunity of a lifetime - let battle commence!
The population of the village quadruples overnight and by 11am the 30,000-strong army has been prepared for action by copious soakings. Five bulbous, tomato-packed rockets are sent whistling into the sky and the masses launch into a frenzy of flinging, slinging and lobbing - it's every man and woman for themselves.
There are very few rules in La Tomatina - it is compulsory to squish your tomato before sending it into the red blur of the crowd before you, and other projectiles are not allowed. Don't worry about running out of ammunition because there's a monumental 125,000 kilo arsenal of ripe fruit brought in by trucks. Participants have two hours in which to hurl them at what will be, for that brief time, thousands of enemies.
The aftermath of La Tomatina puts any blood-injected, horror-film set to shame. Don't count on recognising your mates, or them recognising you for that matter. Within hours, though, the town is transformed back to its former self. Shopkeepers take down their tarpaulins and everyone chips in to hose down the town and return it to its former "tomato-less" glory.
So how on earth did this gastronomically obscure tradition start? There is no patron saint of tomatoes or miraculous explanation of a tomato ritual, whereby locals beseech the gods for good weather and fortune for next year's harvest. It so happens the tradition was born way back in 1945 when some locals got carried away in a restaurant food fight. It must be the sheer fun of it that led to the "small-time" altercation taking on such epic proportions. The original disruptive diners must be very proud.
Related Information
Website: La Tomatina Website
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bunyol Town Hall |
| Phone: | +34 963 606 353 |
| Town Information: | Bunyol |
| Full Name: | |
| Directions: | By bus to Bunyol from Valencia. Tomatina excursion buses also run from Barcelona, Madrid, Benicasim, Alicante, Benidorm and other major holiday destinations. |
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bunyol Town Hall |
| Phone: | +34 963 606 353 |
| Name: | Valencia Tourism & Convention Bureau |
| Location: | Valencia |
| Address: | Avenida Cortes Valencianas, 41, 46015 Valencia, Spain |
| Email: | turisvalencia@turisvalencia.es |
| Phone: | +34 963 606 353 |
| Name: | Valencia Provincial Tourist Office |
| Location: | Comunidad Valenciana |
| Address: | Patronato Provincial de Valencia, Plaza de Manises, 2, Puerta 7, 46003 Valencia |
| Phone: | +34 96 351 49 07 |
| Fax: | +34 96 391 78 72 |
| Name: | Spanish National Tourist Office |
| Location: | Spain |
| Address: | José Lazaro Galdiano, 6, Madrid 28036 |
| Fax: | +34 913 43 35 00 |
| Name: | Spanish National Tourist Office (Turespaña) |
| Location: | Spain |
| Address: | Jose Lázaro Galdiano, 6, 28071 Madrid, Spain |
| Email: | infosmile@tourspain.es |
| Phone: | +34 913 43 35 00 |
| Name: | Spanish Tourist Board (London) |
| Location: | Spain |
| Address: | PO Box 4009, London, W1A 6NB |
| Email: | info.londres@tourspain.es |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 20 7486 8077 |
| Fax: | +44 (0) 20 7486 8034 |
