From the street

The run can be watched from behind the wooden fence which lines the most part of the route. The longest stretch of fencing is at the Town Hall square, and at the end of Mercaderes Street, as well as all along the most part of Estafeta Street and the stretch which goes from the end of that street on into the bull ring.

The fencing is double-lined and the spectators must remain behind the second line of fencing. The first line of fencing is kept clear for runners who need to make a quick exit from the path of the bulls. And in the spacing between the two rows of fencing only the medical teams, the police and perhaps some press photographers are allowed to stand.

To find a good spot behind the fence means taking up position at about 6.30 in the morning. Inevitably, this means waiting round, bored to tears and out of sorts until eight o'clock when the run begins. There is no way you can "book a place in advance". Anyone who wants to see the run must take up their position and hold it. And in the end the view is not so great as the fencing in front tends to block the view quite a bit. The locals don´t tend to watch from behind the fencing. However, if you are a stranger in town and have no way of getting a balcony "seat", and maybe this is going to be your first and last chance to see the run, it could be worth your while to suffer the boredom of the wait. Make sure you go looking for a position at least by 6.30 in the morning and take some warm clothing for the wait in the chilly dawn. Any later than that, it´s going to be very difficult to get even a half-decent view of the run.

One possible place, and somewhat better, is to go down to the starting post. There is a small sloping square just near where the local Museum is and which is looking over the starting place in Santo Domingo. Here, there is no wooden fencing and you look down at the runners gathered round the nitch where they sing their simple paen to the small figure of San Fermin to implore his protection. The stretch which leads down to the pen from where the bulls will be released in just below and the view of the stretch leading up to the Town Hall is quite clear. It´s certainly one of the best spots and of course, for that reason is heavily populated. Get there about 5.30 or 6 o´clock at the latest, in order to get a good position.

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