Las Fiestas Mayores Patronales is an annual festival which celebrates Benidorm´s patron saints; Virgen del Sufragio and San Jaime Apostle. The fiesta lasts for six days and always begins on the second weekend of November. This year (2013), the fiesta will run from Friday the 8th of November until the 13th.
This is Benidom´s main annual festival and features everything you could want from a Spanish fiesta; live music; food, dancing, bull running, a fairground, fireworks and colourful parades.
An important part of the festival is the offering of flowers to a statue of the Virgen del Sufragio (Lady of Suffrage). Following a silent procession through the streets of the Old Town, colourful flowers are offered to the figure of the patron saint in the Church of San Jaime. Flowers are a key part of the celebration, with large bouquets decorating the streets, floats and carriages throughout the fiesta.
The festival officially comes to an end on the Wednesday, but this hasn’t stopped the town’s British expat community staging an annual fancy dress party on the Thursday. The event has grown over the years and is now one of the most popular parts of the festival among both Spanish and British locals. The party starts at midday around Calle Gerona and ‘The British Square’ and anyone is welcome to attend and see out the festival for another year.
The programme for the 2013 fiesta has not yet been published but should be available at the Visit Benidorm website soon. In the meantime you can see Mayores Patronales 2012 programme for an idea of what to expect.
Benidorm is around a 40 minute drive from Alicante Airport and Drivalia Car Rental.