Pamplona

The chupinazo, the bull runs and staying safe at the July fiesta

The festival starts at noon on 6 July, when the chupinazo rocket goes up from the town hall balcony and the square below erupts. The first bull run starts at 08:00 the next morning, and runs follow daily until the 14th, with six bulls chasing thousands of runners along a course of just under a kilometre.

The route runs from the corrals through Calle Estafeta to the bullring. If you plan to run, be on the course by 07:30, sober and without a camera, or police will pull you out. To watch, claim a spot on the barriers two hours ahead, or buy a seat in the 19,000-seat bullring, where the run ends.

Dress like the locals in white trousers and shirt, a red neckerchief and a red sash; shops all over town sell the kit. Wear closed shoes, since the streets are covered in broken glass by morning. Pickpockets work the crowds, so carry little. July here averages 29°C by day and 15°C at night, which makes the dawn runs cool and the afternoons warm. Rooms sell out months ahead and prices soar, so many visitors stay in Estella or at the El Molino campsite and travel in.

Pamplona outside July, from the bull-run route to the Ciudadela

Outside July, one full day covers Pamplona's old town: the bull-run route walked in reverse, the Museo de Navarra, the Gothic cathedral and the walls out to the star-shaped Ciudadela, with pintxos on Calle San Nicolás in the evening. A second day allows a bus trip to Olite castle or the churches of Estella.

Start at Plaza del Castillo with coffee under the arcades of the Café Iruña, a Hemingway haunt. Then walk the bull run backwards, from the bullring up Calle Estafeta and Calle Mercaderes to the town hall, and down the Cuesta de Santo Domingo, where the bulls are released each July. The Museo de Navarra sits on the same slope in a 16th-century hospital, with Roman mosaics and a Goya portrait. Loop back through the old town to the Gothic cathedral and its cloister.

Lunch should be over by about 15:30, when many kitchens close. In the afternoon, walk the city walls to the star-shaped Ciudadela and its park, and on a fine day carry on into the Taconera gardens beside it. In the evening, work through the pintxo bars on Calle San Nicolás and Calle Estafeta with a glass of Navarre rosado, and end with patxaran. Next morning, a bus can take you to the castle at Olite or to the Romanesque churches of Estella.

Ribera vegetables, chistorra and clarete on Navarre menus

Order vegetables in Pamplona. The Ribera, around Tudela in the south of Navarre, supplies much of the produce, and menus follow its seasons, from spring asparagus and artichokes to piquillo peppers roasted over wood and winter menestra. Meat means lamb and chistorra sausage, and the local cheese is Roncal.

Spring brings fat white asparagus and tender artichokes. Piquillo peppers, small, red and slightly sweet, are roasted over wood and often stuffed with salt cod or meat. In winter, look for menestra, a stew of mixed vegetables.

Meat comes from the hills: lamb, and chistorra, a thin, quick-fried sausage found on almost every bar counter. Roncal, made from sheep's milk in the Pyrenean valley of the same name, is the local cheese, and cuajada, set sheep's milk sweetened with honey, is the traditional dessert.

Bar food here goes by the Basque name, pintxos, and each one is paid for; nothing comes free with your drink. Calle San Nicolás and Calle Estafeta are the busiest streets for a round. Navarre's wineries made their name with rosado, called clarete at the bar, though the reds are good too. Finish with patxaran, a sloe liqueur flavoured with anise and served chilled. Outside the festival, lunch is usually over by 15:30 and dinner starts from 21:00.