This page may contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Fallas goes on for about 3 weeks in March in Valencia province, with the most spectacular events occurring in the capital Valencia city. It is completely bonkers and an assault on the eyes and the ears. As an outsider, I can’t say I get why they set off fireworks all day, rather than at night where fireworks are at their best, but it’s their thing. It works for them. As does throwing firecrackers in the street and laughing as 3-year-olds do the same. It makes those of us from other cultures go quite pale, but you get used to it.

You also have to mentally adjust to what sounds like gunshot or explosions echoing around the city streets. Particularly hard if you’re used to being in a city, such as London, where loud bangs would be a really, really bad sign.

The finale of Fallas comes in the last 5 days, where the chaos ramps up. We stayed in the city until 3 days before the very final but all the cool stuff was in place (and the hotels were a little cheaper still). You can enjoy Fallas by just wandering around and stumble upon stuff, though it can be handy to get an app or a map of where some of the big ones are.

The Ruzafa is the heart and soul of Fallas. The light and sound show setup there is monumental.

Lots of the displays are political – some are perplexing to an outsider, others a little more obvious.

Some are just plain creepy.

Fallas Museum

We went to the Fallas museum, which I can definitely recommend. It has the winning Fallas from every year going back to the 30s. The history of the style, as well as content, is really interesting. Even the display of poster artwork was impressive.

In Summary

Falls is not for the faint-hearted, but it’s one of those things that it would be great for anyone to experience at least once in their lives, as no description can do it justice. Possibly bring ear plugs for your own sanity though.