Pamplona's running of the bulls travel tips?

Question

Hi -

I was wondering if anyone can share some tips (travel, budgeting and running) for participation in Pamplona's annual running of the bulls. I really want to participate this year.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I second what Dart Swinger said.  Those bulls are pretty fast for such big buggers.

As for budgeting, that's pretty difficult.  My best recommendation is to find out how much everything should cost, then add another 25 - 50%.  

In my youth, a lot of people used to just camp out on park benches.  Don't know if the police will come and shoo you away.

There are plenty of inexpensive hostales and pensiones in any town in Spain, although what that means is no longer exactly "cheap".  And you want to book ahead, as this is when everyone in the city makes their money for the year.  Expect to pay higher prices for rooms for the Feria.  I just checked one place (not far from the bull ring) and the same room which is 60 - 70 € any other time of the year is 250 + for high season.  I would expect the Feria to be High Season.

Start at Si Spain website:   Directorate General for Cultural Affairs at the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

http://www.sispain.org/english/index.htm...  this is a good resource and starting point for any part of Spain.

I found a couple of other places to find Hostales:

http://destinia.com/hotels/hoteles-en-pa...

(was under cheap hotels - pamplona)

http://www.booking.com/city/es/pamplona....

(under hotels - Pamplona)

This is a great one, I'm sure.  I got a lot of information from Madrid Man.  He and his cohorts really know their stuff.

http://www.madridman.com/pamplona/hostal...

Start with those, and do more searches.  Search Pamplona, some of the lodging sites will ask for you to pick dates to get a quote.  Half the fun is in the searching.

Also: expect that food and drink might be higher that week, as well.  For living on a budget, don´t plan to eat whole dinners, have tapas and bocadillos.  Don´t buy bottled water every time you sit down.  In most parts of Spain, tap water is not only fine, it tastes great (however, don´t even bother in Barcelona, it tastes like....chemicals, I guess, sulphur, mostly).   So you can just buy a bottle of water at the grocery store and fill it wherever you are when you run out.  Some places even have fridges (although not so much in the hostales), so you can chill it overnight.

Answer 2

Be sure to run faster than the bulls.  Try not to get killed.

Answer 3

Sue had some great advice on lodging etc. If you haven't already booked a place to sleep, then you should do that NOW (or yesterday). Many places are booked 2 yrs in advance.  In fact, some people even rent out their BALCONIES just to watch the running!!   There is also bussing from other towns, so don't rule out the idea that you might have to book a hostal in a neighboring town and bus in each day.

As far as the actually running, my advice is to read ahead as much as you can about bull behavior. A fighting bull is not a standard cow and they behavior differently. There are many books that could give you some pointers: Running with the Bulls (Gray); Death and the Sun (Lewine); La Fiesta Brava (Conrad) are a few that come to mind. Hemingway also wrote several books with a bullfight theme, and he was a "regular" in Pamplona. Suerte, chico!