Saint John's Night (Bonfires of San Juan)
On the magical midsummer night of San Juan, residents and a charanga brass band parade through town lighting the registered neighbourhood bonfires one by one, ending with a final blaze in the Town Hall Square. A warm, community-spirited fire-and-music night that marks the start of summer.
This is the night the Spanish coast lets summer in, and Los Montesinos does it the old-fashioned way. Local neighbourhoods register their own bonfires with the town hall in the days beforehand, then on 23 June a charanga brass band leads a procession from one to the next, lighting each in turn. You follow the music and the smoke through the streets, pausing at fire after fire as the town gradually warms up.
It all winds up in the Town Hall Square, where the last and biggest blaze is lit and the crowd settles in for the rest of the evening. It is a neighbours' night more than a tourist spectacle, which is rather the point. Wander out, find the band, and let it carry you along. It is free, and you will smell it before you see it.