The Bonfires of San Juan, a symbol of Alicante

The Hogueras (Bonfires) of San Juan, Alicante's big festival, feature fire, gigantic papier-mâché figures, music, parades and fun. They are the perfect way to celebrate the arrival of summer. We invite you to experience this blend of fireworks, light and colour and immerse yourself in the high spirits overflowing this Mediterranean city.

The brilliance, vitality and splendour present in Alicante year-round take on greater intensity during the Bonfires of San Juan, a festival recognised as being of International Tourist Interest. Over a five-day period, the capital city of Alicante is filled with large sculptures made of papier-mâché and wood (the ninots), firework displays, thundering mascletás (a pyrotechnic show), music and gigantic bonfires. This is a huge popular celebration that reaches its height on the night of 24 June, the day of the cremá, when purifying flames burn in hundreds of bonfires and turn the city's skies orange with their reflected glow.

Throughout the entire year, the people of Alicante carefully prepare the festivities that completely transform the streets of this city. The ninots, veritable works of satirical art, are brought out in many spots in the city. It is worth viewing and enjoying these clever and colourful monuments, which will go up in a blaze on the night of San Juan in a magical ritual. Do not hesitate to approach these massive structures enveloped in flames. This is the only way to experience the mystery and singular atmosphere of these bonfires, which are the most representative feature of the festival as a whole.

However, these celebrations, deeply rooted in many other towns in the province of Alicante, involve much more than flames and fireworks. These are days of fellowship and entertainment, filled with activities for children and adults alike. There is no shortage of parades with floats, street performances, the sounds of traditional instruments such as flageolets and timbrels, lunches and dinners with friends around the stalls of the fair, bands and floral offerings to the Virgen del Remedio.

Welcome summer in the best possible way: by experiencing the incomparable Bonfires of San Juan.