10 Things they don’t tell you about La Tomatina – the world’s biggest food fight

If you are researching La Tomatina tours, tickets, reviews and the pre party – there are some things they don’t tell you.

La Tomatina had been on Aaron’s bucket list since his first trip to Spain in 2008 – This festival is held annually in the small Spanish town of Buñol, just over 30 minutes from the underrated destination of Valencia – the third largest city in Spain. This is where we visited the festival from but you can also opt to stay in Buñol itself or bus in from other parts of the country.

Leading up to the festival, we spent a lot of time online trying to find the best La Tomatina experience. We considered private tours, going without a tour, and even flirted with leaving it up until our arrival in Valencia to see if we could swing a last minute ticket.

After reading 30 billion TripAdvisor reviews and some blogs, we finally settled on Festivals All Around. They had decent enough reviews and while it would have been cheaper to jump on a bus and go it alone, we liked the idea of following the masses and getting amongst the crowd (and let’s be honest the idea of matching t-shirts was enticing). But there are some things which they don’t tell you on those glossy website pages promoting the festival…

1. You’ll need to get up early & do some waiting around before the La Tomatina festival begins

As they say, all good things come to those who wait. Depending on what tour you select, you’ll likely have to get up at 5:00 am to meet your group at Plaza Tetuan in Valencia. You’ll notice a whole heap of people up and about early, wearing their group t-shirts and walking like half-alive zombies in the same direction. What you’ll find at Plaza Tetuan is thousands & thousands of people, some dressed in goggles, raincoats – you name it. It’s festival chaos. Don’t expect to jump straight into your seat on the bus – most tour groups make you wait for at least an hour before the tour leaders ferry you on – but it’s all worth it to take in the amazing atmosphere (and eat a dodgy toasted sandwich). And, when it comes to the bus it’s first on, best dressed so if you’re in a bigger group – best to get on first if you want to stay together. All buses are numbered, so if you want to get home after a long day of food fighting with your stuff in hand, write your number down!

2. If you’re nervous, don’t pass up on the pre La Tomatina sangria party

As soon as you hop off the bus in Bunol, the combination of the thumping music and the excited hubbub will get you right in the party zone, even if it’s only 7:00 am in the morning. Most of the tour companies host sangria parties which we made a beeline for as soon as we were off the bus. If you’re feeling at all nervous like we were about getting thrown into the craziest festival you’ve ever been to with thousands of hyped up strangers – then it might be a good idea to chug back a sangria or two. Don’t worry about any shortage of sangria – they have a never ending supply in garbage bins.

3. Don’t wait until you’re busting…

After seeing the sheer number of people at the festival, Aaron & I quickly schemed the clever plan to drink our Sangria while in the toilet line. By the time we were busting, we were halfway there. With up to 30,000 people attending the small-town festival, there’s a huge shortage of toilets. If you see one, go, even if you don’t need to! (And be classy people – avoid using the local rivulet…). Once we finished in the toilet, it was back to the sangria bar and then back to the line again. Sangria… line..sangria…line.

4. It mightn’t be such a bad idea to buy those goggles from that annoying man harassing you off the bus

If anything’s going to cop it during the festival, it’s likely to be your eyes. You’ll be lucky if you somehow manage the miracle of avoiding a tomato directly in the eye – I sure didn’t! Aaron somehow got me caught in the middle while targeting a group of tourists dressed up as tomatoes (how Aaron thought they were dressed as strawberries at a tomato festival, I’ll never know). He managed to duck at the perfect time leaving me wide open. Unripe tomato, straight in the eye. So I did what any sensible person would do while surrounded by thousands of people – I covered my eye and started crying in the middle of the world’s biggest food fight. “You’ll be OK babe! It’s fine, keep going!”, Aaron yelled as he continued pegging tomatoes at the opponent. When Aaron was pegged in the eye a few minutes later, I told him the same as he told me – “You’ll be fine babe!”

And, if you don’t get a tomato punch then you’re likely going to experience the pleasantness of having a weird white puss leaking out the corner of your eyes for the following week otherwise known as an eye infection. Avoid the black eye and the goop – take the goggles.

5. Don’t settle for just any position in La Tomatina’s crazy crowd

You’re at the biggest food fight in the world, and a solid 30+ hours from home if you live in Australia, so it’s not the time to settle for any old spot in the crowd. If you want the maximum experience, you need to be in the heart of the action. This street in Buñol turns into a massive mosh pit as the fight’s about to commence, so we left our claustrophobia and anxiety at the sangria party and pushed our way through the singing, drunken, rowdy, selfie-crashing hoards right into the centre of the action. You’ll know you’re there when you can’t take half a step without violating someone’s personal space in a serious kinda way.

6. Leave your good stuff at home but definitely find a way to take a camera (to capture moments like this!)

By the end of the festival, you’ll be soaked from head to toe. First come the locals out their windows with hoses and buckets of water as you’re walking to the sangria party, and next comes the fact that you’re about to become part of tomato soup. Every tour group will tell you to wrap up your personal belongings (phone etc) during the festival in plastic to stop them from being damaged but we decided to take the risk to get the photos – and we weren’t disappointed! There’s a security check on the way into the festival, so don’t take anything other than the absolute necessities with you. Your bus will let you leave a spare change of clothes or your towel there, so leave it there and remember your bus number if you want to see it again.

7. Take it all in, every moment of this crazy tomato lovin’ festival

This crazy food fight is insane (the biggest on the planet), highly questionable in terms of hygiene, but incredible fun. Make sure you drink it all in (not literally) and just live for the moment from the second you hop off the bus to the second you step back on it. I remember stopping mid-way through the fight (maybe that’s the real reason why I got pegged with a tomato) to take in the view. It’s a blur of red, and a cacophony of noise. Tomatoes are flying everywhere, you’re crushing them in your hands for safety reasons and firing at the nearest target. You’ll start as clean as a whistle and by the end of the festival you’ll look like you’ve surfaced from the red lagoon – especially if you found the heart of the action like we did.

8. Let the tomato obsessed Buñol locals rinse you off

When the siren sounds to signify the end of the fight, you’ll feel on a high, ready to face the world. Once that high takes a step to the side to make room for the reality of the moment, you’re going to feel pretty filthy. And you’re also going to smell pretty bad too. As you exit the fight, locals will be armed with their hoses ready to rid you of the tomato gunk that has stuck itself to every single crevice in your body. Even if there’s a line up, wait for them to wash you down. Trust us, the bus will smell a whole lot better on the way home if you do and the effects of tomato acid on the skin can be brutal!

9. That rash – it’s likely not meningococcal

The truth no one wants to hear – La Tomatina is like being part of a giant tomato soup filled with hundred of people’s bodily fluids as well as heaps of acid from the tomatoes. So when we found we were both covered in a red, pin like rash all over our bodies, you would think the tomato festival would be the first one to blame. Instead we spent one very late night and early morning convinced we had contracted meningococcal (in our defense there were a few cases in our home town before we went on holiday). After we had a brain-wave that it might just be the tomatoes, we did a Google search and texted my dad and we were soon reassured. Even more reason to get properly hosed down after the event!

10. You’ll need to get back into the tomato game immediately

I grew up eating tomatoes from the high chair, like apples. They are pretty much one of my fav foods. And if you’re like us, getting back on the tomato eating wagon after the festival is gunna be hard. Especially because you’ll find it flaking off your scalp, falling out from between your toes or stuck behind your ears for the next week or so. Not to mention the smell! And if you’re still in Spain by then, they serve crushed up tomato in bowls with their bread which will remind you of the gunky tomato soup at the festival. Don’t wait until it feels right – get straight back into the tomato eating game. After all – they are pretty much the best fruit in the world and highly deserving of having a festival named after them. In our opinion, anyway.

Accommodation

We stayed in the heart of Valencia and were so glad we did.

In planning this trip we weren’t overly sold on Valencia as a destination and we opted for only two nights, enough to prepare and recover from La Tomatina. Hmmm, mistake. Although only having very little time we managed to cram a lot in due to staying in a great central location near the old market. Valencia ended up being a real highlight for us and we highly recommend staying somewhere very central, inside the ring of green park in the map below.

Rosie & Aaron

Booking.com