Travel bucket list idea:
Jerez’s May Horse Fair
Jerez del Frontera, Andalusia, Spain
Credit Shutterstock.com/Dulce Rubia
Last updated: 11 March, 2024
Beautiful horses and sherry come together for this fair (feria), when all of Jerez puts on the dog.
Every year features a different equine theme; parades, events and carriage processions take place in the afternoons, and then over a million lights illuminate nearly 200 casetas –the temporary venues set up for eating, drinking, music and dancing the night away.
Unlike Seville’s more famous Feria de Abril, the casetas are open to all. The main tipple is the local fino, served with lemon soda as a rebujito cocktail. There’s also an enormous fun fair for all ages.
Logistics
Price: Free
Minimum age: 0
Age suitable: 8+
When: May
Duration: 1 week
Getting there & doing it
Most of the action, including the carriage parades, take place in the Parque Gonzalez Hontoria, with free entry except for several equestrian events in the Antiguo Deposito de Sementales. The grand finale of the Feria is the Royal Riding School gala (see here for tickets).
If you want someone to organise it all for you, Equestrian Escapes can arrange accommodation at the Feria, tickets to the Royal Riding school, bodega visit and a lesson and hack out on Andalusian horses.
Note, it can get very hot (up to 40°C) in the late afternoon so you may want go back to your hotel for a siesta, which will also help you keep up with the locals at the all-night party.
When to do it
The Feria usually happens the first or second week in May, a week after the Feria de Abril in Seville.
Friday and Saturday are the best days, when the working horse and classical dressage (doma vaquero and doma classica) finals take place.
