{"id":861569,"date":"2024-12-26T10:03:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T08:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/?p=861569"},"modified":"2025-02-12T17:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T15:41:09","slug":"la-tomatina-the-juiciest-battle-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/la-tomatina-the-juiciest-battle-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udf45 La Tomatina: the juiciest battle in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every year on the last Wednesday of August, the provincial Spanish town of Bu\u00f1ol hosts the La Tomatina festival. Thousands of people come from all over the world to fight in the world's biggest rotten tomato battle.<\/p>\n<h2>How it all started\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/sak-yant-magical-shamanic-tattoo-history-meaning-of-tattoo-masters\/\" title=\"The history\">The history<\/a> of the festival supposedly began in 1945. According to the most popular version, disgruntled townspeople attacked members of the city council during the holiday and threw tomatoes at them from a local market stall. The participants liked the action so much that every year they repeated it again and again. Until it becomes <a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/30-must-see-attractions-in-oslo\/\" title=\"a\">a<\/a> tradition.<\/p>\n<p>During the reign of dictator Francisco Franco, the holiday was banned because it had no religious value. But it was returned again in the mid-70s of the last century.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/portugal-events-calendar-top-15-festivals\/\" title=\"Festivals, concerts, fairs - the most exciting events in Portugal\">Festivals, concerts, fairs &#8211; the most exciting events in Portugal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/top-10-summer-festivals-in-croatia-2024\/\" title=\"10 Best Summer Festivals in Croatia 2023\">10 Best Summer Festivals in Croatia 2023<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/top-5-summer-festivals-in-lebanon\/\" title=\"Five festivals in Lebanon you shouldn't miss this summer\">Five festivals in Lebanon you shouldn't miss this summer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>How it's going<\/h2>\n<p>Now Tomatina is not just throwing tomatoes. It's a whole day full of activities. They start at 9 am with a small snack provided by the authorities of Bu\u00f1ol.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At 10:00 the so-called Palo Jabon or &#8220;My Buddy is Going&#8221; begins. This means that in the crowd you need to find a daredevil who dares to climb to the very top of a pole greased with oil or soap. There, a bag of ham will be waiting for the winner &#8211; the main prize. And the cheering crowd marks the official start of the festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, it is not possible to get to the goal quickly along the slippery pillar. Therefore, already at 11:00, trucks with tons of tomatoes appear in Plaza del Pueblo. The signal for the start of the battle is the firing of water cannons. This is where chaos begins, in which everyone is for himself.<\/p>\n<p>Exactly one hour after the second shot in the air, the battle ends and you can no longer throw tomatoes.<\/p>\n<p>Then the city authorities begin cleaning up using water from fire trucks. And the visiting participants, smeared from head to toe with red pulp, are looking for somewhere to wash themselves. Most do this in the waters of the Bu\u00f1ol River, but some end up under the hoses of local residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When the city and its guests are in order, you can go to the La Tomatina after parties with peace of mind. Mini- <a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/goa-a-paradise-for-beach-and-party-lovers\/\" title=\"parties\">parties<\/a> are usually held by agencies for <a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/recomendet-tiqets_com-product-tours\">tourists<\/a> who have purchased tickets from them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/post-175485-661ac9ea14a5a.avif\" data-rel=\"lightbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"SDStudio-light-box-enable SDStudio-editor-tools-md-imp\" src=\"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/post-175485-661ac9ea14a5a.avif\" alt=\"\ud83c\udf45 La Tomatina: the juiciest battle in Spain\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>La Tomatino Rules<\/h2>\n<p>As with any festival, there are rules:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No bottles or hard objects to avoid accidents;<\/li>\n<li>Do not tear other people's clothes;<\/li>\n<li>Tomatoes should first be crushed and then thrown;<\/li>\n<li>Keep a safe distance from trucks delivering tomatoes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>And some tips<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Wear closed shoes and comfortable clothes that you don\u2019t mind throwing away after the festival;<\/li>\n<li>Have a clean cloth ready to wipe your tomato-covered eyes;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It is better to leave all gadgets and valuables at home or in your room, and take a waterproof camera for shooting, or, in extreme cases, put them in a waterproof bag;<\/li>\n<li>And the most important advice &#8211; enjoy the holiday to the fullest!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Some facts<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The festival is so popular that until 2012 it attracted about 50 thousand people at a time in Bu\u00f1ol. This takes into account the fact that the population of the town is 9 thousand people. Since 2013, official ticket sales began, limiting the number of participants to 20 thousand;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>During the carnage, local store owners cover their windows with large plastic covers to protect them from dirt and damage;<\/li>\n<li>Accommodation in Bu\u00f1ol hotels is limited, so many La Tomatina participants stay 40 km from the town in Valencia;<\/li>\n<li>To add some meaning and religious value to the festival, it is held in honor of the city's patron saints, Louis Bertrand and Our Lady of the Defender of the Dispossessed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you ready for the brightest and juiciest adventure in Spain? Find out everything about the famous La Tomatina festival! From the history of the holiday to the rules of participation &#8211; a complete guide to the biggest tomato battle in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":818475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[2549,2069,1179,2709,2199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-861569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spanien-en","category-europa-en","category-miscellaneous","category-ideen-trends-inspiration-en","category-urlaubsideen-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.com.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}