Sleeping in the Street in Sanfermin

In Sanfermin, there are more people than the city can hold and so there are more requests for beds than offers available. The only easy solution: to go without sleep, or to sleep in a public place. Thus, the authorities turn a comprehending blind eye on this transgression as long as certain self-possession is shown. In other words, it is not permitted to raise tents and such in the middle of the public parks and avenues. But if one is reasonably discreet then it is generally tolerated by all concerned.

Obviously, the perfect option would be to have a hotel room or at least some kind of boarding-house or rented premises. But the reality often means sleeping on one's car (unless you meet up with someone who has taken an interest in you). If none of these options are available there is nothing for it but to find some of the following sites:

There are those who choose the municipal swimming-pools to get a shower and then sleep it off for a few hours in the sun. If the weather is appropriate, and you have a swimsuit and a towel, you only need about three euros to have yourself a shower and a rest. Obviously, the meteorological conditions are vital when it comes to living in the open air, but with this option of using the swimming-pool, at least there are some facilities such as dressing-rooms, showers and bar...as well as the pool, of course.

This is perhaps the most common option. There are those who conscientiously search out a place and find it. Sleeping under a tree with a cooling breeze in one's face can always be a pleasant option. But there are also those who coming out of a long hard night, with their bodies spent, who just drop any old place that they can.

There exist certain morphological differences which allow one to distinguish between those who can search out a place to sleep and those who just drop where they can. Pamplona has one of the biggest green areas of any city in Europe in relation to its population size, and in the different parks in Sanfermin you can find those who have brought their sleeping bags, those with blankets, those with carton boxes and those who have just dropped down from pure tiredness and crashed out wherever they can.

It should be remembered that some of the parks will probably have automatic water sprayers and maybe at six in the morning you could be awoken by a spray of water and this sort of thing can create tension between those who just want to sleep and modern technology.

It might also pay to be careful of a strong sun. As the day advances, the rays become stronger and it could be a bit dangerous for those who lie unprotected.

Park benches are for sitting on...and for sleeping on. As you can in the photos. Here there could be some tension between those who want to sit and those who want to sleep.