The encierro route does not exist in isolation. It is not a sealed corridor that appears at 8:00 am and disappears afterward. The route is a set of streets in the old city of Pamplona, and those streets are lived on, partied on, and destroyed every single night of San Fermin before they are cleaned, rebuilt, and prepared for the bulls each morning. The transformation that happens between midnight and 8:00 am is one of the most remarkable and least documented aspects of the fiesta. Understanding this transformation gives runners and visitors a deeper appreciation for the logistics, the labor, and the discipline that make the encierro possible every morning for eight consecutive days.
Midnight to 4:00 AM: The Streets at Their Worst
During San Fermin, Pamplona’s old city becomes one of the largest continuous street parties in Europe. People drink outside. Sangria flows freely. And the streets bear the evidence. Dennis describes the reality without softening it:
“The streets are filthy, filled with vomit, feces, trash. People can drink outside, and people leave their trash everywhere throughout the old city.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
This is not an exaggeration. The volume of people moving through the old city each night produces waste on a scale that is difficult to comprehend until you have seen it. Dennis puts it in physical terms:
“It’s possible to walk down certain streets where you feel like you’re wading through champagne bottles of plastic that have been discarded.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
The city does maintain street cleaning vehicles that sweep continuously through the night, attempting to manage the accumulation. But the volume of waste generated by hundreds of thousands of people celebrating in a medieval city exceeds what continuous sweeping can handle. By the early hours of the morning, the streets are at their worst.
The Smell: Urine, Sangria, and Specific Corners
One question visitors ask is whether the city smells during Sanfermines. The answer is nuanced. Dennis explains:
“It usually doesn’t smell bad in the city. There are certain corners around which you can smell urine, particularly behind the market, and one place below Calle Aldapa.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
People urinate in the streets. People vomit. These are the most unsanitary elements. The smell is not pervasive across the entire city, but it concentrates in predictable locations: corners, alcoves, and less-trafficked streets where people relieve themselves. The market area and Calle Aldapa are known spots. For a runner who will be sprinting through these streets with open cuts from a fall or a scrape, this sanitary reality has practical implications.
The Red Cross Recommendation
The condition of the streets is one reason Dennis and Encierro make a specific safety recommendation to all runners:
“We recommend that anyone who gets a scrape or injury along the run route make sure they go to the Red Cross to get the injury cleaned. It’s a free service, and we don’t want anyone having their wounds infected.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
This is practical advice rooted in the reality of what is on the ground. The streets are cleaned before the run, but they are not sterile. An open wound on a runner’s knee or hand has been in contact with a surface that, hours earlier, was covered in organic waste. The Red Cross stations along the route provide free wound cleaning, and this service should be used for any scrape, no matter how minor it appears.
4:30 AM: The Pre-Dawn Activity
While most of Pamplona is still asleep or still partying, a different kind of activity begins in the darkness before dawn. Dennis sees this firsthand:
“I’m often up, sometimes up as early as 04:30 to give a bull run tour to people who are looking to run. And so I see the early morning activity.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
At 4:30 am, the streets are still populated by late-night revelers. But the first signs of the morning’s transformation are beginning. According to Mat Dowsett in “Encierro!” (2003), the transition from night to morning is gradual, with authorities and workers beginning to shift the city from celebration mode to preparation mode. Dennis notes where the early morning energy concentrates:
“Most of the activity at that point is centered around streets like Jarauta, known as the Street of Broken Dreams.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
Jarauta (pronounced hah-RAH-oo-tah) is a street in the old city that becomes a focal point of the late-night and early-morning fiesta atmosphere. The nickname “Street of Broken Dreams” captures the state of the people and the street itself at that hour: exhausted, disheveled, and showing the full effects of the night’s celebrations.
5:36 AM: The Cleaning Process Begins
The transformation of the run route from filthy party street to functional encierro course begins at a remarkably specific time. Dennis identifies it precisely:
“For the run route specifically, there is a deliberate process that starts around 05:36 in the morning and includes a number of stages.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
The cleaning process is not a single action. It is a staged operation with multiple teams performing different functions in sequence. Dennis describes the stages:
“There’ll be hoses with a shampoo concoction to spray down the streets. There are trash collectors. There are even individuals carrying air blower backpacks to try to dry the streets as quickly as possible.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
The sequence is logical: first, the hoses with cleaning solution to wash the surface and loosen debris. Then, the trash collectors to remove the physical waste. Finally, the air blowers to accelerate drying. Each stage prepares the surface for the next. According to Mat Dowsett in “Encierro!” (2003), high pressure water hoses are used to scour the pavements while teams of workers sweep up the bottles, broken glass, and plastic into large black scoops and then into a following van.
The Streets Never Fully Dry
A critical fact about the run route that most visitors do not know:
“The streets will never become completely dry before the run. The idea is to get as much debris away. Things like plastic are easy to slip on.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
The goal of the cleaning operation is not a dry, pristine surface. It is debris removal. The cobblestones will still be damp when the bulls run. What matters is that the dangerous items, particularly plastic and glass, are removed. Plastic on wet cobblestones is a slip hazard for both runners and bulls. Glass is an injury hazard. The cleaning crews prioritize the removal of these materials over achieving a dry surface.
Dennis takes this responsibility personally:
“I find myself often going down the street along my portion to pick up stray pieces of plastic.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
This is the kind of detail that reveals the difference between someone who watches the encierro and someone who is part of its infrastructure. Dennis is not simply preparing to run. He is preparing the route itself, picking up debris that the cleaning crews missed, ensuring that the surface is as safe as possible for everyone who will be on it.
6:00 AM to 7:00 AM: The Barriers Go Up
According to Mat Dowsett in “Encierro!” (2003), between 6:00 am and 7:00 am, workers erect barriers on the sections of the route that require them. The barriers are numbered, and the same barriers are used in the same locations every day. Damaged barriers are replaced as required. The barriers are supported by thick posts placed in specially constructed retaining holes in the ground.
But the barrier situation is more nuanced than a single morning construction. Dennis explains:
“There are some barriers that go up days before the fiesta begins. There are certain ones that go up during the fiesta, and there are certain ones that go up in the morning. The vast majority go up in the morning so that people can walk throughout the city throughout the day unobstructed.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
This is a practical decision. The encierro route runs through streets that people need to use during the day. If the barriers were permanent, they would block pedestrian and vehicle traffic. By erecting the majority of barriers each morning and removing them after the run, the city maintains the usability of its streets while still providing the infrastructure needed for the encierro.
The Sound of the Carpenters
One of the most distinctive sounds of the pre-dawn hours in Pamplona is the construction of barriers. Dennis describes it:
“You can hear the carpenters putting the barriers together in the morning, and they start quite early before sunrise.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
The sound of hammering, the clatter of wooden boards being positioned, and the voices of workers coordinating in the darkness are part of the sensory landscape of pre-dawn Pamplona. For runners who are awake and preparing, these sounds are a signal that the city is transitioning from fiesta to encierro.
The Precision of the Barrier System
The barrier system is more engineered than it appears. Dennis explains the numbering:
“There is a number on each of the barrier sections to indicate specifically where that particular board goes. All the barriers look the same, but each piece of the barrier has a very specific place that it goes. A section along the run route and a height above the street.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
This is precision infrastructure. Every board is coded for a specific location and a specific height. The system ensures that barriers are consistent every morning, that replacement pieces can be identified quickly, and that the entire route can be assembled reliably in the limited time available between the cleaning and the run. As Dowsett documents, the same barriers go in the same places every day, making repair and maintenance systematic.
7:15 AM to 7:30 AM: The Route Is Ready
According to Mat Dowsett in “Encierro!” (2003), by about 7:15 am the streets are fully blocked off and impressively clean. Dennis confirms the transformation:
“By 07:30, the route has been pretty well cleared.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
The contrast between the route at midnight and the route at 7:30 am is profound. Streets that were buried under waste are now cleaned, barriers are erected, medical personnel are in position, and the route is functional. This transformation happens every single morning of San Fermin, for eight consecutive days. The labor and logistics required to achieve this daily are a testament to the city’s commitment to the encierro.
The Mayor’s Inspection
Just before the run, the mayor walks the route. Dennis has observed this ritual many times and offers a candid assessment:
“Just before the route, the mayor comes along the route to inspect it. Despite the mayor being there I seldom see the mayor actually looking at the streets itself.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
Dennis has come to question the nature of this inspection:
“In recent years, I’ve questioned whether that’s actually what’s happening or whether it’s a ceremonial procession of the mayor through the streets.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro and member of La Única Peña
According to Dowsett, between 7:15 am and 7:45 am a final inspection walks the entire length of the course. This deputation from the town government can demand that sections of barriers be repaired or that shops be better secured. If they determine that the course is not safe, they have the power to postpone or cancel the encierro. Whether the mayor’s walk is a genuine inspection or a ceremonial tradition, it is the final step before the route is handed over to the runners and the bulls.
Vocabulario: Spanish Terms Related to the Morning Transformation
Jarauta (hah-RAH-oo-tah): A street in the old city known as the “Street of Broken Dreams,” a center of late-night and early-morning fiesta activity.
Calle Aldapa (KAH-yeh ahl-DAH-pah): A street near the market where unsanitary conditions concentrate during fiesta nights.
Vallado (vah-YAH-doh): A barrier or fence section. Each piece is numbered for its specific location on the route.
Sanfermines (sahn-fer-MEE-nes): The proper term for the fiesta period of San Fermin.
Cruz Roja (croothROH-hah): The Red Cross. Free wound cleaning stations are available along the route.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the streets clean when the bulls run?
The streets are cleaned starting at approximately 5:36 am through a multi-stage process involving hoses with cleaning solution, trash collection, and air blowers. By 7:30 am the route is cleared of debris, but the cobblestones remain damp. The goal is debris removal, not a dry surface. Plastic and glass are the primary hazards that cleaning crews target.
When do the barriers go up on the encierro route?
Some barriers are erected days before the fiesta begins, and some go up during the fiesta period. But the vast majority are assembled each morning starting around 6:00 am so that the streets remain walkable during the day. Each barrier section is numbered for its specific location and height, and carpenters begin work before sunrise.
Should I get scrapes or cuts treated after running?
Yes. The Red Cross provides free wound cleaning along the route, and you should use this service for any scrape or cut, no matter how minor. The streets, while cleaned, are not sterile, and the risk of infection from an open wound on the route surface is real.
What does the route look like the night before?
At night during San Fermin, the streets of the old city are filled with trash, broken glass, plastic bottles, and organic waste from hundreds of thousands of people celebrating. By early morning, the transformation begins, and by 7:30 am the route is cleared and ready for the encierro. This transformation happens every morning for eight consecutive days.
See the Transformation with Someone Who Witnesses It Every Morning
The transformation of the encierro route from filthy party street to functional running course is something most visitors never see. Our preparation sessions begin early enough to witness parts of this process, giving you a firsthand understanding of the logistics and labor that make the encierro possible. Learn the full route geography or book a tour with Encierro and see Pamplona’s streets from the perspective of someone who has walked them before the cleaning crews arrive.