La Tomatina 2027: dates, tickets and how to get there from Valencia

La Tomatina is a tomato fight lasting exactly one hour: on Wednesday 26 August 2026, from 12:00 to 13:00, in a few streets in the centre of Buñol, 40 km west of Valencia. The journey, the queue to swap your ticket, the wait in the sun and the shower afterwards fill the rest of the day. A ticket is compulsory, costs 15 €, capacity is 22,000 people and there are no refunds.

If dense crowds, slippery ground and hours spent soaked in acidic pulp with nowhere to wash it off are your idea of hell, this fiesta is not for you and there is no way to soften it.

Official date and times

It is traditionally held on the last Wednesday in August; in 2026, the 26th, and it is the 79th edition (fewer editions than years since 1945: the fiesta was banned in the early 1950s and was not allowed again until 1957, and it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021). The programme from Buñol town council:

• 11:00 — Palo jabón in the Plaza del Pueblo: a soaped pole with a ham on top.
• 12:00 — First rocket: the fight begins.
• 13:00 — Second rocket: it is over. The street cleaning and the official after party at El Planell begin.

Distrust the times given on other websites. Visit Valencia and the Diputació still put the palo jabón at 10:00 and the fight at 11:00; the questions section of the official site still keeps the palo jabón at 10:00, although it now puts the first rocket at 12:00. The town council programme is the one that counts; given that contradiction, the sensible thing is to be there between 9:00 and 10:00.

Tickets: what they cost and where to buy them

Without a ticket there is no access to the route; the rest of the town is not fenced off. Formally it is not a ticket but a 15 € municipal fee to control capacity, and the distinction matters: it underpins the refund policy together with article 103.l) of the Consumer Act, which excludes withdrawal for leisure events on a fixed date. It includes access, a wristband and a PDF. No transport, no left luggage, no T-shirt, no food.

There are two official sellers. The town council sells the standalone ticket at latomatina.info, with whatever per-purchase limit the platform sets, on an external platform embedded in the site (ending up on enterticket.es is not a scam). ACYEB, the association of Buñol business owners, sells packs at originaltomatina.com with that same ticket plus services: 40 € with a cloakroom, 45 € with a T-shirt or paella, 50 € with two of them and 75 € with everything. Any other website is an agency, and the town council takes no responsibility for anything sold through unofficial channels.

As of 19 August 2026 there were still tickets and packs left. The packs are advertised as on sale until 00:00 on Wednesday the 26th, although the ACYEB shop shows a sold-out notice at the same time; for the town council ticket no closing time is published. And there are no refunds: not for illness, not for a change of travel plans, not for losing it. Only if it is called off.

The PDF does not get you in: it is only good for swapping for a physical wristband, and without a wristband you do not set foot on the route. Each seller has its own exchange window: for the town council the exchange is on the 26th from 09:00, at the designated exchange points (the council mentions the Plaza 5 de Marzo among others; the final list is published on latomatina.info in those days); ACYEB hands out its packs in the Plaza 5 de Marzo on Tuesday the 25th from 18:00 to 20:00 and on Wednesday from 7:00 to 12:00. Go early and with your ID document: that window closes when the fight starts. The actual entrances to the route are signposted on the day itself and the official site does not publish them in advance.

How to get there from Valencia

By train. It is the C3 Cercanías line, with a catch: the official site still says it leaves from València-Nord, and that is no longer true. Since December 2025 the service starts and ends at València Font de Sant Lluís —Adif's works on the canopy at Nord mean the C3's diesel trains cannot be stabled there— and it stops at València Sant Isidre, where it connects with the metro. Renfe schedules 48 trains a day between Valencia and Buñol, 24 in each direction, but the timetable has changed several times since the DANA: check the one for 26 August on renfe.com and take a train that reaches Buñol comfortably before 12:00. Look up the time of the first trains back there too: you will be catching them dripping wet.

Sant Isidre is reached by metro (lines 1, 2 and 7): see how to get around Valencia. The trains fill up fast and, although Renfe laid on extra services in other years, as of 19 August 2026 no extra service had been announced.

By bus. Metrobús line 435: useful departures from Valencia at 8:40 and 10:15, returns at 13:30, 14:35 and 15:50, between 68 and 94 minutes. The timetable published by MetGO dates from May 2025.

By car, a bad idea. It is 40 km along the A-3, but access to the town centre is closed off at around 7:00 and there is no designated parking: you park outside and walk in. The lists of "official" car parks going round the internet appear on no page of the town council. More routes in villages without a car.

Where to sleep. Accommodation in Buñol is very limited and is booked a very long way ahead: the practical option is to sleep in Valencia.

What to bring and what they will not let you in with

Two rules combine badly: no large backpacks, bags or selfie sticks are allowed in and the 15 € ticket comes with no left luggage. The cloakroom only exists in the packs and closes at 15:00. If you arrive by train with luggage, that is a problem.

• Clothes you are ready to throw away, white by tradition, not by rule.
• Closed shoes, tightly laced. Flip-flops are banned: the ground is slippery and you lose them straight away.
• Diving or swimming goggles, not glass ones. The official sources expressly recommend it, and acid in the eyes is regret number one.
• Swimwear underneath, and your phone only in a waterproof case on a cord round your neck.
• Drink water and put on sun cream before going in, because no bottles or hard objects are admitted: all bottles are banned, not only glass ones.

The six rules of the fight

• Do not bring in bottles or hard objects.
• Do not tear or throw T-shirts, neither your own nor anyone else's.
• Squash the tomato before throwing it: whole it hurts, squashed it is a soft projectile.
• Keep your distance from the lorries; climbing on them or holding on to them is forbidden.
• Stop throwing the moment you hear the second rocket.
• Follow the security staff and do not block the calles pulmón, the evacuation routes.

After 13:00 the town council sets up public showers near the river and many locals bring out their hoses; according to the press, some charge for it. There will be a queue: the town has around 9,900 inhabitants and on that day it takes in several times that number. What changes the end of the day is having dry clothes and a spare pair of shoes.

If you are going with children

The town council warns that it is not recommended for under-16s, and sets no minimum age. You will read elsewhere that you have to be over 18; that requirement does not appear on any official page. Several agencies demand a signed parental authorisation with the ID documents of the adult and the minor; the official site publishes no procedure for minors, so it is worth confirming at [email protected] before buying. Write a phone number on the child's arm as well.

For the little ones there is the Tomatina Infantil: free, on Saturday 22 August at 12:00 in the Plaza del Pueblo, ages 4 to 14 and in a fenced-off area.

Buñol beyond the fight

La Tomatina is one day inside Buñol's Feria y Fiestas, from 14 to 31 August, and the 26th does not end at 13:00: fireworks after the 20:00 mass, a free Queen tribute at 23:00 and a mojete contest at 01:30. On the 28th there is the Carrera Popular, 8 km from the Plaza Layana. The castle is free and can be visited at any hour; the Cueva del Turche, by contrast, is closed until April 2027 because of the DANA damage and going in is a punishable offence, even though many guides still recommend it for a swim. By car it combines with Requena; by train it does not: the Buñol-Utiel stretch runs by bus.

Frequently asked questions

When is La Tomatina 2026 and what time does it start?

On Wednesday 26 August 2026, from 12:00 to 13:00, between the first and the second rocket. The pages saying 11:00 are out of date.

Where do you buy the official tickets?

In two places only: the standalone ticket at latomatina.info, from Buñol town council, and the 40 to 75 € packs at originaltomatina.com, from the business owners' association. Any other website is an agency.

Can under-18s go?

Yes. It is not recommended for under-16s, but it is not forbidden. The official site publishes no procedure for minors; if you are going with one, confirm it beforehand at [email protected].

How do you get there from Valencia without a car?

On the C3 Cercanías, which in August 2026 leaves from València Font de Sant Lluís and stops at València Sant Isidre, no longer at València-Nord: check the timetable for the day on renfe.com and take a train that arrives with time to spare before 12:00. The other option is Metrobús line 435.

The up-to-date times and price are on the event page, and the rest of the summer is in the fiestas calendar.