Pamplona Running of the Bulls Tours

Event and PP Tour Information

The San Fermin (Running of the Bulls) Festival is without doubt the wildest and probably most fun festival in Europe. Its amazing festive atmosphere and the way the Pamplona locals Party has to be seen to be believed!! If you are after Serious Fun in Pamplona it has to be PP Travel.

It's hard to really describe the spirit & atmosphere of Pamplona's famous Festival of San Fermin. You really just have to experience it for yourself. Even though you probably know the festival as The Running of the Bulls, it is the full-on Spanish fiesta not the bull running that makes visiting Pamplona such a life changing experience. The festival starts each year at noon on July 6 with the amazing champagne Opening Ceremony and then runs non-stop 24-hours a day through to midnight on July 14.

NEXT YEAR'S TOURS HELD AT 2010 PRICES FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!

The bull running begins at 8am every morning from the 7th to the 14th of July. Even though the festival is known worldwide for this unusual event, it is only a small part of the festival and you really will only want to watch once or twice. Running with the bulls is a relatively new activity when you consider how ancient this festival is.

It is free to run with the bulls, if you want to take the risk. You just have to get a position on the street pretty early. It is a male-only tradition and it is extremely frowned upon by Pamplona locals for females to run.

PP's Great Running of The Bulls Tours
Our Pamplona Tours are renowned as the best organised and most fun to the big party destinations. Join us at fabulous Estella base - easily the best camp close to Pamplona. Choose from 5, 6 and 7 day return coach tour options from London. Meet us there and stay up to 6 nights with our accommodation packages or fly into Spain and let us transfer you to our superb San Fermin base.

Pamplona 2011 tours look set to be our biggest ever - and we are offering our greatest variety of value packages:

Our short 5-day dash Pamplona coach tour (ideal for those with limited time to take off work) is sure to be really popular. You have a day in Spain to prepare for the amazing opening ceremony on July 6, followed by the first Running of the Bulls on the 7th. You even have time to spend the afternoon in Pamplona continuing to celebrate San Fermin with the crazy locals, before returning to London that evening..

Our classic 6-day Estella Pamplona tour offers a more thorough San Fermin experience. You have the opportunity to do two bull runs, the opening and have an extra party night in Pamplona. It returns to London on a Saturday, so you should be back in shape for the following working week.

The ultimate Pamplona tour is definitely our 7-day Bulls and Beach Pamplona Combo tour. Take in the amazing opening ceremony and the first bull run while based at Estella and then spend nearly 3 days recovery on the magnificent Spanish coast at our Zarautz camp.

Travelling Europe independently? What to fly? Then join our very popular accommodation only packages. Last year over 400 passengers joined us in Spain on these accomm-only packages - many using low cost airlines and linking with our transfer service from nearby airports.

Flying Options
Want to fly to Spain? No problem. The cheapest and easiest way to fly to the Running of the Bulls is to book a low cost airline on the web to the region and join us at our Estella campsite and stay for up to six nights with our value accommodation only Pamplona Tour packages.

The best site we believe to book your own flights is Opodo. It was created by the major European airlines and can offer the cheapest options with them all.

PP Airport Transfers
Let us take the hassle out of flying to Spain with our transfer service to Estella which meet most low cost flights that land in Bilbao and Biarittz. Transfers cost just £25 each way and operate to Estella on 3, 4, 5 July with return transfers on July 8 and 9.
Full details of these transfers to be posted when confirmed.

Further Information on transfers and accommodation packages.

Accommodation

Estella - the best campsite close to Pamplona
At PP we believe in quality not overcrowding, therefore we deliberately operate out of our Pamplona base camp at Estella. We believe this certainly gives us an edge as our exclusive base has the best facilities by far, is safe and clean. We also offer a choice of tents or dorm accommodation (at no extra cost). The city of Pamplona does not have its own campsite therefore you will be based out of town and should chose a site that is either not packed out by many operators as well as those that are over run by hoards on van tour.
Beach camp Zarautz: Our 8 day Bulls and Beach combo tour also spends two nights on the magnificient northern Spanish coast, staying in our great surf-side base at Zarautz.

Estella Camp
Estella is our closest camp to Pamplona and easily the best camp in the area. This is our party camp where we operate 6 and 7 day Pamplona Coach Tours, as well as one-way special Pamplona Tours from London. Accommodation only packages are also on offer. You can choose from camping or our dorms. But you need to be quick, as it's first in, best dressed, for the simple dorm accommodation which can be reserved for no extra cost! The Estella experience is certainly full-on with our exclusive entertainment nights included. Also, with the new motorway now open, it's just a short 25 minute shuttle to the party! The great thing about our Estella base is that it is really a clean, safe "oasis" away from the fun carnage of San Fermin in Pamplona. No free campers are allowed during this period. It has first class facilities, including a massive swimming pool, clean showers and toilets with free showers, very lively bar (that hardly ever closes), restaurant, shop along with free Wi-Fi.
Checkout Photos of the Estella Camp
Checkout Estella's Camping Lizarra's website
PP's Estella's base on Google Maps

Beach Camp at Zarautz
At the magnificent northern coast resort of Zarautz, our awesome 7-day Bulls and Beach Combo Tour spends two nights of post fiesta recovery. At Zarautz you can enjoy a beach break along with the fun of the fiesta! Our camp is just a few minutes walk from the magnificent Zarautz surf beach with stunning views of the green Basque mountains that cling to the coast. Its facilities include bar, restaurant, shop excellent shower facilities and free Wi-Fi.

Check out Zarautz's Camping Talai Mendi site
PP's beach base on Google Maps

Frequently Asked Questions about Pamplona

The PP Pamplona Experience

It is hard to really describe the spirit & atmosphere of Pamplona's famous Festival of San Fermin. You really just have to experience it for yourself. Even though you probably know the festival as The Running of the Bulls, it is the full-on Spanish fiesta not the bull running that can make visiting Pamplona during this period such a life changing experience.

At PP, we aim to to not only operate the most organised, best fun tours to the Running of the Bulls, we are determined that you really get to discover and experience this unique atmosphere for yourself. And with our long experience at San Fermin and our large professional team, we believe we know what it takes takes to make this happen.

Pamplona 2011 will mark PP Travel's 20th birthday and it is sure to be be a great party. Our first tour back in 1991 was to Pamplona with just two coaches. We are very proud of how we have grown so much from our humble beginnings and the quality of the tours we have run to Spain over the past 20 years. We will ensure that our San Fermin 2011 tours are something special.

The cornerstone of PP's determination to operate the most professional tours to the Running of the Bulls, is our deliberate policy of operating out Pamplona's best campsite - Estella - as well as offering tours that also stay on the Spanish coast at Zarautz. From our first Pamplona tour way back in 1991, we have used the region's two best campgrounds - so we can offer our guests excellent facilities - instead of overcrowding! This, we believe, gives us an edge. We operate exclusive parties, offer both local and day tours to San Sebastian, and include breakfast daily as well as transfers to Pamplona for the opening ceremony, the running of the bulls and the fiesta's evening festivities.

All PP Tours to the Pamplona cover the sensational opening ceremony of the festival of San Fermin at noon on the 6th. If you are going to head to Pamplona for the Bull Run, then you MUST be at the opening - it will blow you away!

PP Travel is one the largest operators to the Running of the Bulls annually taking over 1000 passengers to the Pamplona Bull Run and we are proud of our reputation of quality tours achieved over the past 20 years.
Whether you are travelling on a coach tour from London, making your own way and joining our Pamplona accommodation only packages or flying in and joining one of our airport transfers - all PP reps are thoroughly trained and will be sure to show you a great Pamplona/San Fermin experience.

The festival starts each year at noon on July 6 with the amazing champagne Opening Ceremony and then runs non-stop 24-hours a day through to midnight on July 14. The Running of the Bulls begins at 8am every morning from the 7th to the 14th of July. Even though the festival is known worldwide for this unusual event, it is only a small part of the festival and you really will only want to watch once or twice. Your PP Pamplona Tour will transfer you into old town early on the 7th and 8th in plenty of time to get a position to watch the run or join in yourself! Experienced PP reps will give you a thorough background to the run, where best watch it from and will even walk bull runners to the best starting position.

If you only go to one fiesta in Europe this year - Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls it has to be. It really is a must!

History

WHAT IS THE FESTIVAL OF SAN FERMIN?
It is impossible for anyone to accurately describe the spirit and atmosphere of Pamplona's famous Festival of San Fermin - it is something you'll really just have to experience for yourself. Also it is very difficult to explain why the festival is so important to the locals, all its ancient traditions and why the people of the region go so crazy during the week of San Fermin. Even though most tourists know the festival as "The Running of the Bulls" it is the amazing party atmosphere, a full-on Spanish fiesta, not the bull running that makes visiting Pamplona during San Fermin such a memorable experience.

The festival begins each year at noon on July 6 with the amazing champagne opening ceremony and then runs non-stop 24-hours a day through to midnight on July 14. Today's modern festival is a combination of three ancient festivals that were united in 1591. It obtained its name from Saint Fermin who is the patron saint of Navarra. He was the first bishop of Pamplona and died as a martyr in Amiens, France, way back in the 1st century AD. He has always been worshipped by the people of Pamplona as he was considered their original martyr of Christianity. The cult of San Fermin grew when his relics arrived in 1187 from Amiens with more relics arriving in the 1500s. Originally this festival was held in October when tradition says San Fermin first arrived in Amiens. It was moved to July in 1590 basically because of better weather. The other two festivals that now make up the modern one are the bull fighting festival which began in 1385 - bull fights are only held in Pamplona now during the festival -and an ancient trade fair that used to be held on St Peters Day - 18 July, when taxes were exempt.

WHAT IS THE BULL RUNNING ALL ABOUT?
The Running of the Bulls occurs at 8am each morning from the 7th of July through to the 14th. Even though the festival is famous for this unusual event, it is only a small part of the fest, something you really only want to watch once or twice. Transporting the bullfighting beasts to the ring is simply what the running of the bulls is all about. The bull run is known as the "encierro" which means "enclosing" (the bulls in the bullring). In old times there were no trucks to take the bulls from farms into the pens at the rear of the ring so they were hearded through the streets just after dawn when things were starting to quiet down. Running beside the bulls is a relatively new occurrence when you consider how ancient this festival is. It is believed men first started proving their manhood by running with the bulls during the early morning transport to the ring in the early 1800s. Running was outlawed then. But it grew through tradition and authorities officially allowed it in 1867.

Today all the shops and streets along the route in the old town are boarded off about 7am and cleared by police. At 8am a gun goes off and the bulls are released from a pen on one side of old Pamplona and it takes only a few minutes for them to charge the 1 mile (approx) through the narrow cobblestone streets into the ring. Once the bulls are safely in their pens, young steers are released into the thousands of runners in the ring for a bit of fun. By 8.30am the whole event is over, then it is back to the party ...! It is not easy to get a good position to watch the bull running on the streets. It is free to go into the lower sections of the bullring but for a few euros you can go to the upper tiers and watch the runners enter the "tunnel of death" and then watch the small bulls knock a few runners over. The bullfight occurs each evening about 6.30pm. Tickets to the fight cost anything from 25 to 70 Euros.

CAN I RUN THE BULLS? IS IT DANGEROUS?
It is free to run, if you want to take the risk. You just have to get a position on the street relatively early. It is considered a male-only tradition and it is extremely frowned upon by locals for females to run.

There have been 14 deaths in the run since 1910, the more recent being 22 year old American tourist Mathew Peter Tassio in 1995 and local veteran bull-runner 63-year-old Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta in 2003 - so it obviously is dangerous. However these numbers are not huge compared to the massive amount of runners who take on the 800 metre dash each year. In fact, it is those thousands who run - not the bulls - that you usually have to watch out for. Runners often fall over each other during the panic as the bulls get close putting limbs etc. at risk. Like a bungy jump, the thrill of the run is surviving.

PP Travel does do not encourage anyone to run or to dive off the statue in the mussel bar. If you do either, you do so at your own risk (insurance will not cover either) and PP Travel will take no responsibility for the consequences.

Pamplona Photos

Pamplona San Fermin 2010 06/07/2010	Pamplona San Fermin 2009 06/07/2009	Running of the Bulls (San Fermin) 2008 06/07/2008
Pamplona Reunion 2007 12/07/2007	Pamplona San Fermin 2007 06/07/2007	Pamplona 2006 06/07/2006
Pamplona 2005 'The Running of the Bulls' 06/07/2005	Pamplona 2004 'The Running of the Bulls' 06/07/2004	Pamplona 2003 Reunion 17/07/2003
Pamplona 2003 'The Running of the Bulls' 04/07/2003	Pamplona 2002 'The Running of the Bulls' 06/07/2002	Pamplona 2001 Reunion 19/07/2001
Pamplona 2001 'The Running of the Bulls' 06/07/2001	Pamplona 2000 'The Running of the Bulls' 06/07/2000

Videos