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Bucket list experience:

Last updated: 14 December, 2022
Expert travel writer: Dana Facaros

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.

Price: Free
Minimum age: Any
Age suitable: 4+
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.

Our writer’s picks of the best places to stay near this experience, closest first

Bodega Tio Pepe Hotel

Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, Spain

In the heart of Jerez, the world’s first sherry hotel is luxuriously contemporary, with a lovely panoramic rooftop terrace 

Official star rating:

Hotel Casa Palacio Maria Luisa

Jerez de la Frontera , Andalusia, Spain

Jerez de la Frontera’s former casino has been reborn as one of Andalusia’s most dazzling new five-star hotels. 

Official star rating:

Destination guides including or relevant to this experience

Andalusia

Andalusia, Spain

A big dazzling region, packed with fascinating cities, beautiful landscapes and beaches, colourful fiestas and oodles of sunshine.

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