The Hogueras de San Juan 2026

The Hogueras de San Juan are the big festival of Alicante. Four days with the city taken over by cardboard monuments (the hogueras), gunpowder at two in the afternoon (the daily mascletà) and, on the last night, all the bonfires burning at once in a cremà coordinated across the whole city. It's an intense festival. You have to know what you're coming to.

When

Officially from 20 to 24 June. Some events start on the 19th (the despertà) and others run on until the 25th (the night fireworks competitions from the 25th to the 29th at the Postiguet).

The must-sees

Daily mascletà · 14:00 · Plaza de los Luceros

From the 19th to the 24th, every day at 14:00 sharp, in the Plaza de los Luceros, there's a mascletà: five minutes of coordinated ground-level gunpowder that you feel in your chest. Get there at least by 13:30 to grab a good spot (around the square). There are no seats: you experience it standing. Free.

Plantà · night of the 20th to 21st

On the night of 20 June (the early hours of the 21st) the city's 90 bonfires are "planted". It's the moment the streets change: teams work until 6:00 raising cardboard monuments in every neighbourhood. It's lovely to wander the city in the small hours watching them come to life.

Cremà · night of the 24th to 25th

The big night. At midnight, the firefighters set the bonfires alight. Each neighbourhood has its own, all burning at once. Before that (at 23:00) there's a fireworks display from the harbour. The whole city takes to the streets. Recommended plan: eat early, go up to the castle at 22:30 to watch the fireworks from above, come down to your neighbourhood for the cremà.

Banyà (swim in the sea) · night of 24 June

A pagan solstice tradition. At 0:00 on the 24th to 25th, lots of people go down to the Postiguet beach and get into the sea at midnight. It's lovely if you fancy it (the water still cold, mind) and crowded.

The skippable

• The barraca dances. The "barracas" are private marquees with music until 6:00. If you don't know someone to invite you in, you stay outside. And the music tends to be repetitive commercial dance. Skip.
• The "premium" guided tours of the bonfires. €25 to be shown monuments you can see for yourself, free, in an hour.
• The themed dinners in the central hotels. Overpriced, guaranteed. Better to have dinner in an ordinary neighbourhood spot.

Street rules

• Bring earplugs. The gunpowder is real and it hurts if you're close by.
• Drink water. Lots. June in Alicante is 30°C and 22°C nights.
• Get to the mascletà spots 30 minutes early.
• Sleep when you can: the city doesn't stop, not even at 4:00.
• Book a restaurant for the 23rd and 24th days in advance.

Sleeping during Hogueras

There will be noise. There are firecrackers, the traca and the mascletà from the 18th to the 25th. If you're a light sleeper, think it through. At Alirena (a residential street off the Castaños-Luceros axis) you sleep well almost every night; midnight to dawn on the 24th is the exception. The rooms come equipped with earplugs. If you want to come for Hogueras, book weeks in advance: central accommodation sells out and prices shoot up. How to choose where to stay in Alicante or check availability at Alirena.

Is it worth coming for Hogueras?

If you like big festivals, gunpowder, lively streets, people dressed up as "foguerer": yes, clearly. If you're coming to see Alicante in peace, to eat rice quietly and to read on the beach: come any other week of June or September. Hogueras isn't for everyone.

Prices. They go up during the Hogueras: accommodation +30-50%, restaurants with a "festival menu" 20-30% more expensive. Book several weeks in advance.