What to see in Buñol

Buñol is, for half the world, synonymous with one thing: the most famous tomato fight on the planet. But the village that hosts it every last Wednesday of August is also a full day trip in its own right, about 40 km west of València, with a medieval castle crowning its old town and a river that has carved waterfalls and ravines into the mountains around it.

The Castillo de Buñol, dating from medieval times (11th-12th centuries) and remodelled after the Christian conquest, overlooks a neighbourhood of steep streets once painted by Joaquín Sorolla, a regular visitor to the village between 1890 and 1895. Below it, the Iglesia de San Pedro Apóstol, a neoclassical 18th-century church, stands over the Plaza del Pueblo, where La Tomatina kicks off every year. The Parque de San Luis, next to the river, is the gateway to the area's hiking routes — although its most photographed spot, the Cueva Turche, has been closed to the public since the damage caused by the DANA storm of October 2024.

How to get there from València

The easiest option without a car is the Cercanías C3 train, which stops in Buñol. One thing to watch: since December 2025 the line has departed from València Font de Sant Lluís, not the Estació del Nord, and stops at València Sant Isidre, which connects to the metro. By car, take the A-3 towards Madrid and get off at exit 332 (Buñol).

Local tip

LOCAL TIP: outside of the last Wednesday of August, Buñol is a quiet inland village. The castle has free admission every day of the year, so it's worth going up early, before the heat, to walk its streets with fewer crowds.