Festival · Valencia
Las Fallas: Valencia’s festival of fire
Every March, Valencia builds hundreds of monuments of wood, card and paint, some as tall as the buildings around them, and then sets them on fire. Las Fallas is the city’s great festival, and UNESCO has recognised it as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Visit Valencia).
Updated October 2026
Monuments built to burn
Each neighbourhood commission builds its falla, a monument of satirical figures, the ninots. They stand in the streets for a few days and are burned at the end of the festival (Visit Valencia).
The key days
The Plantà, when the monuments go up, starts with the children’s fallas on 15 March, followed by the main fallas on 16 March. The Cremà, the burning, is on the night of 19 March: the children’s fallas first, then the big ones later in the evening (Visit Valencia). Exact times are published by the Junta Central Fallera each year.
The ninot indultat
Each year one figure, the ninot indultat, is spared from the flames. You can see the pardoned figures of past years at the Museo Fallero, on Plaza Monteolivete, all year round.
How to plan
Book hotels months ahead and expect crowds and noise late into the night, especially in Ciutat Vella. Use the metro, wear comfortable shoes and keep your bag close. Check the official programme on fallas.com and visitvalencia.com before you travel; we add 2027 times as soon as they are published.
Questions and answers
When are Las Fallas?
From 15 to 19 March each year; the monuments are burned on the night of 19 March.
Where can I see the fallas outside March?
At the Museo Fallero, which keeps the pardoned ninots.
Sources: visitvalencia.com and fallas.com (Junta Central Fallera), read 22–23 October 2026. Times for 2027 will be added when published.