The artistic figures in every corner of the city can only be admired for a few days, after which they are burned on the spot.Image: imago
Explosions, fire and tradition: Every year in Valencia, the Fallas transform the city into a stage of noise, colors and flames. We went there for you.
Mar 20, 2026, 7:42 p.mMar 20, 2026, 7:42 p.m
The taxi stops in a quiet street in a residential area in Valencia. As soon as I get out, a loud bang tears through the warm evening air. A boy with a small wooden box around his neck laughs and sets off fireworks on the asphalt, pieces of paper whirl through the air. A fine veil of smoke hangs over the houses, smelling of black powder and spring. Something is going on in this city that has nothing to do with everyday life.
A city in a state of emergency
“Welcome to the Fallas in Valencia,” Lucia calls out to me and smiles, while her daughter Sofia looks curiously from behind her skirt. Before I can even ask anything, she starts to explain. All over the city, she says, there are currently huge figures made of wood and papier-mâché, commissioned by the individual Fallas associations. “They are beautiful,” says Lucia, “but only for a short time.” In a few days they would all be set on fire, street by street, square by square. Then Valencia would become the stage for one big fire. “Everyone here is waiting for that,” she says, taking my hand as if she were letting me in on a secret.
Some of the wooden figures “Falla” are huge and stand only a few meters next to buildings. I can’t possibly imagine these being set on fire like that. Image: Michael Kern
The living room is getting busy. Lucia and her sister dress little Sofia, layer upon layer of fabric, rustling and pinned with shiny pins. “It starts like this every year,” says Lucia, adjusting the heavy sleeve of the dress. She explains to me how the festival is organized.
Image: Michael Kern
There are around 400 Fallas clubs throughout Valencia, many with several hundred members from the area. Once a year they elect their president, an older man. When I asked if it could also be a woman, Lucia shook her head. “No,” she says and smiles, “traditions are upheld here.” There is also Fallera Mayor, a young representative of the group, as well as the two children’s roles Fallera Mayor Infantil and Presidente Infantil.
Moving through the city
In the middle of the district, a large marquee stretches across the street, a meeting place for the local Fallas community. Members gather here in their colorful traditional costumes, children and adults alike. During the festival week they move into the city center several times: once just the children, once just the adults. The expensive clothes ultimately have to be paid off. The rent alone costs over 500 euros. At the third parade, the so-called Ofrenda, which I can now be a part of, everyone goes together.
The “Fallera Mayor Infantil” and the “Presidente Infantil” lead the procession. Image: michael kern
It is midday when the train starts moving. The children run in the front, the adults behind them, and at the back a music group plays, whose drums echo through the urban canyons. The procession simply sets off, turns onto wide streets, crosses intersections without anyone directing the traffic. Cars stop patiently, passers-by stop, film, wave. The closer we get to the center, the denser the crowd becomes. The train keeps stopping because other groups pass in front of us. Firecrackers are going off all around, the city seems charged and electrified.
Buses try to push past the parade.Image: michael kern
In the heart of Valencia, participants give flowers as part of the Ofrenda in honor of the patron saint, the Virgen de los Desamparados. Then it goes back to the neighborhood on the same route. For two hours, this parade takes us through a city that is completely dedicated to the festival these days.
Paella cooking competition on Quartierstrasse
In the evening, Lucia and her friends invite me to a special event organized by their Fallas club: a paella cooking competition in the middle of the neighborhood street. Logs of wood are piled up in front of the marquee, and simple iron scaffolding stands next to it. Each team, about ten people strong, only brings a paella pan and a wooden spoon. A total of around thirty groups light their fires directly on the asphalt. I’m allowed to make the fire and realize that my time as a scout in Switzerland is unexpectedly useful to me.
We have the biggest pan, but do we also have the best paella?Image: michael kern
When it comes to cooking, I leave the field to Lucia’s friend, who comes from Catalonia and has never cooked paella before. The other teams keep looking at us, turning up their noses and giving unsolicited tips. Too much water, too little heat, “this is not an original paella”. When it comes to paella, the “valencianos” just don’t know how to have fun.
Our paella actually doesn’t look so bad.Image: michael kern
In the end, our paella tasted surprisingly good, just a little more liquid than the others. The team next to us takes pity and demonstratively puts a plate of their “real” version in front of us. When the judge comes over, we cheekily serve him exactly this plate. He looks at us briefly, recognizes the strangers, shakes his head and moves on. We laugh, continue eating, and drink red wine. Fires are blazing all around, people are sitting on folding chairs, children are running between the pans and setting off fireworks. It is a celebration of togetherness. Later there is dancing in the tent, and for a few hours it seems as if the entire street belongs only to this community.
Firecrackers, firecrackers and more firecrackers
The Fallas celebrations, which were officially declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2016, last almost three weeks. The festival officially begins on March 1st and ends on March 19th with the big burning of the figures. During this time the rhythm of the entire city changes. A fixed date is part of the daily routine: at exactly 2 p.m. at noon, the so-called “Mascletà” shakes the center. Unlike classic fireworks, this is hardly about light or colors, but about explosions, noise and noticeable pressure waves. People crowd into the large squares, cheering after every volley, while the detonations roll through the urban canyons.
But the spectacle is not limited to the official production at midday. There are almost constant bangs in Valencia throughout the festival period. Children, teenagers and young adults set off fireworks on streets, squares and intersections, often in the middle of everyday life. The smell of black powder is constantly in the air, short explosions echo through the streets. It’s hard to escape the noise these days. The Fallas are not only a visual, but above all an acoustic experience that permeates the entire city.
The grand finale
The festival reaches its climax on March 19th. On the last night, the Fallas, the figures on which the commissioned artists have worked for months, are burned throughout Valencia. Even smaller examples can quickly cost over 20,000 euros, and large monuments can cost more than 100,000. The most expensive figure is said to have cost around 260,000 euros this year. We set off in the evening with corresponding excitement.
First, let’s stick with the figure of our local Fallas community, which is scheduled to be lit around 10 p.m. But time passes without anything happening. Finally I find out that the fire won’t be lit until the fire department is on site. The fire engine doesn’t arrive until midnight. The emergency services position themselves in routine steps, hoses are rolled out and laid out along the surrounding houses.
The fire department gets into position. Some trees and houses are only a few meters away from the figure and would like to survive the fire unscathed. Image: michael kern
A short fireworks display announces the moment everyone has been waiting for. The figure is doused with gasoline. The Presidente and the Fallera Mayor step forward and together set the fuse on fire. Explosions follow in rapid succession, then the flames spread to the structure made of wood, Styrofoam and papier-mâché. At first the fire only blazes in individual places until a fireman pours more gasoline into the embers and the figure is gradually completely covered. While the crowd marvels, the emergency services routinely spray water onto surrounding trees and house facades, as if this spectacle were the most normal thing in the world. Thick black smoke rises, sparks dance through the night.
A Fallas in all its fiery splendor, including a fire brigade with a petrol can.Video: watson/michael kern
What an experience. But it’s just the beginning. This figure is one of the smaller Fallas; there are much larger ones waiting in the city center. So we move on. Because we have held out for so long, we initially fear that we will be too late. But after just a few streets it becomes clear that the night is far from over. The figures are still standing intact at many intersections, and the fire department is working its way through the city step by step. Shortly afterwards we see the next Falla go up in flames, then another.
We marvel at fire after fire and can’t get enough.Video: watson/michael kern
People clap, film, hug each other. A man who has lived in Valencia for 15 years shakes his head and says: “Ten million euros – that’s how much all these figures cost together. And everything burns in one night.”
We continue through the streets, following each new firework display like a signal. Flames keep appearing between rows of houses, figures keep blazing and finally collapse. It wasn’t until well after three in the morning that we started our way back. The spectacle seems chaotic and surprisingly routine at the same time. With water fountains from the fire brigade and people cheering, the works of art are reduced to ashes one by one.
For me, one feeling remains above all: amazement that a metropolis is willing to consciously consign so much beauty to the fire. Hundreds of such huge figures stand here in the middle of the city center, just a few meters away from houses, trees and people and are set on fire in a single night. While in Zurich a stronger wind is enough to cancel the burning of the Böögg, in Valencia the handling of fire seems fearless. And yet everything happens with a serenity that is as impressive as the spectacle itself.
For me it is clear: this festival is more than an event, it is an attitude to life. The Fallas overwhelmed me – and I already know that I will come back.