2 days until San Fermín 2026.
Pamplona’s running of the bulls begins Tuesday morning, and Encierro has tracked the city’s preparations all year because our instructors will be on the route when the rockets fire. These final days decide the conditions every runner faces, from the pavement underfoot to the medical posts at the fences. This is your encierro news July 2026 briefing for July 4.
Anti-Slip Compound Goes Down on the Encierro Route
Orain (EITB), July 3, 2026
A crew of about ten people worked through the night spreading anti-slip product over roughly 1,875 square meters of the course, from the end of the Santo Domingo slope to a few meters past La Curva (the sharp right turn from Mercaderes onto Estafeta). Applied by hand with watering cans and brooms, the compound clears the clogged micropores in the silica of the route’s pavement, creating a suction effect that improves grip, especially on wet stone. Pamplona has used it before the encierro for 20 years, and Diario de Noticias de Navarra puts this year’s dose at 1,500 liters.
The San Fermín Image Comes Down From Its Niche at Santo Domingo
Diario de Navarra, July 3, 2026
Municipal workers removed the San Fermín figure and the door of its hornacina (the niche in the city wall on the Santo Domingo slope) on Friday morning, and the niche stays empty until the first encierro on Tuesday, July 7. The year-round figure is a municipal replica in place since 1978. The image that mozos (runners in the encierro) actually sing to at 7:55, 7:57 and 7:59 belongs to the peñas (the social clubs central to San Fermín), who will set their figure in the niche each morning at 7:15 during the fiesta and store it at city hall after each run.
More Than 2,700 Officers and 258 Roadside Controls
Orain (EITB), July 3, 2026
Policía Foral, Policía Municipal and Guardia Civil presented a joint security deployment of more than 2,700 officers for the fiesta. Between July 5 and 15 the three forces will run 258 coordinated alcohol and drug checkpoints in Pamplona and on the main access roads, backed by speed radar and automatic plate readers. In past campaigns close to 300 vehicles were immobilized because their drivers were unfit to drive. The city’s information point on sexist aggressions also returns to the Plaza del Castillo from July 5 to 14.
A Medical Post Roughly Every 50 Meters of the Run
Orain (EITB), July 2, 2026
Navarra’s health department presented the encierro medical deployment: nine care posts with physicians, nurses and first-aiders at the vallado (the wooden barrier fencing that lines the route), eight support points with first-aiders, and the Plaza de Toros infirmary. Across the 848 meters the department counts, that is a medical point roughly every 50 meters. New this year, the full chupinazo (the rocket launch that opens San Fermín on July 6) medical plan will be repeated on July 10 for the Chupinazo Txiki, the children’s version. Health counselor Fernando Domínguez called the system “perfectamente engrasado y perfecto, preparado para prestar una atención en cualquier momento” (perfectly oiled and ready to provide care at any moment).
RTVE Will Let Viewers Choose Their Own Camera on the Route
Diario de Navarra, July 2, 2026
For the first time in its history, RTVE will stream the encierros live in multicamera on RTVE Play: nine feeds at Santo Domingo, Ayuntamiento, Mercaderes, two positions on Estafeta, Telefónica, the callejón (the narrow fenced chute into the Plaza de Toros) and the ring itself. The production uses 33 cameras, 400 meters of zip lines, a drone and more than 100 technicians. RTVE, EITB and the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona also signed a four-year broadcast agreement, and the 2025 encierros averaged 1,364,000 viewers, RTVE’s best figure since 2022. Expert runner Teo Lázaro, again on the broadcast team, described the job: “Nuestro deber es trasladar el pulso de un encierro a quien no puede correr o decide no hacerlo” (our duty is to convey the pulse of an encierro to those who cannot run or decide not to).
Hemingway’s Fiesta Turns 100 This San Fermín
Naiz, July 2, 2026
A century after ‘Fiesta’ (The Sun Also Rises) was published in 1926, its centenary is set to be one of the most mentioned themes of this year’s fiesta. The Hemingway statue in front of the Plaza de Toros is ready to receive its pañuelico (the red San Fermín scarf) again, and the design of the official 2026 program pays its own tribute to the writer. The full Naiz article is subscriber only, so we note only what is public.
The Jota Ofrenda a San Fermín Turns 50
Diario de Noticias de Navarra, July 4, 2026
The jota (Navarra’s traditional folk song form) that the Coral Santiago sings every July 7 in the Plaza del Consejo as the San Fermín procession passes marks its 50th year. Composed by Joaquín Madurga, it has traveled far beyond Pamplona; his nephew once heard Japanese diners singing it in a restaurant in Japan. Coral Santiago president Roberto Itoiz: “es una combinación entre lo universal que son las fiestas de San Fermín con lo íntimo y lo propio de lo nuestro, de la jota navarra” (it is a combination of the universal, the San Fermín fiesta, with the intimate and truly ours, the Navarrese jota).
From the Archive
The anti-slip compound exists because wet stone changes the run completely. Our guide to how rain changes everything about the encierro covers what that means for footing, positioning and falls.
Compiled by the Encierro editorial team. encierro.com tracks Pamplona’s encierro, its city, and its fiesta year-round, with instruction from active bull runners who have run San Fermín for decades.