Hogueras / Fogueres de Sant Joan (Bonfire Festival)
Sant Joan d'Alacant celebrates its patron-saint bonfire festival from 20 to 24 June, with parades, fireworks, street music and the symbolic burning of monuments on the night of San Juan (24 June). A lively, free, fully visual fiesta you can simply turn up to.
For five days each June, this little town just outside Alicante hands itself over to the bonfire saint. The streets fill with brass bands, processions in traditional dress and towering papier-mache monuments built to be admired, mocked, and then set alight. Expect plenty of fireworks and the smell of woodsmoke after dark.
It all builds to the night of the 24th, the cremà, when the monuments go up in flames and the crowd cheers them on. Around it, the squares and side streets turn into open-air parties that run well past midnight, with food stalls, drinks and dancing. You don't need a ticket or a plan. Turn up, follow the noise, and stay for the burning if you can keep your eyes open that late.