Cuenca Events and Festivals

Cuenca runs on two big dates: Holy Week in the spring and the San Mateo festival in late September. Both shut down parts of the old town, fill every hotel and give the city a noise and energy it does not have the rest of the year. On top of those, the summer San Julián fair and the long-running Religious Music Week round out the calendar. Here are the exact dates, locations and what to expect.

Cuenca Events and Festivals: Semana Santa (Holy Week)

Cuenca’s Holy Week is a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest, and its centrepiece is the Camino del Calvario procession, known everywhere as Las Turbas. It starts at 05:30 on Good Friday from the Iglesia de El Salvador, when hundreds of participants called turbos march through the dark streets beating drums and blowing trumpets in a deliberate, disorderly wall of sound that re-enacts the mockery of Christ on the way to Calvary. In 2026 Holy Week runs from Sunday 29 March to Sunday 5 April, with Good Friday falling on 3 April, and the Santo Entierro burial procession follows that evening at 21:00. Processions through the old town are free to watch, but accommodation near the centre sells out weeks ahead, so book early. For dates in future years, check the Cuenca weather by month page, which also covers the spring conditions.

Cuenca Events and Festivals: Fiestas de San Mateo

San Mateo, held from 18 to 21 September, is the city’s main street festival and a Fiesta of Regional Tourist Interest. The four days are built around the vaquillas enmaromadas, roped heifers and young bulls run loose through the Plaza Mayor and the surrounding streets, plus the Toro de Fuego, a figure of a bull covered in firework sparklers carried through the crowd after dark. The schedule is dense: the opening parade of peñas (neighbourhood social clubs) leaves Plaza de España at 15:30 on the Friday, and the weekend brings a gachas cooking contest in the Barrio del Castillo car park, the gigantes y cabezudos giant figures, pasodobles by the municipal band and open-air verbenas that run past 03:00. Monday 21 September, the day of San Mateo itself, is a local holiday, and the Pendón (banner) of King Alfonso VIII is carried from the town hall back to the cathedral in the morning. If you go, stay inside the old town to be in the middle of it, and note that road access is restricted. See our where to stay in Cuenca guide for hotels near the action.

Cuenca Events and Festivals: Feria de San Julián

San Julián is Cuenca’s patron saint, and his feast day on 28 August anchors the summer fair in the final week of August. The feria mixes a traditional fairground and market in the lower city, whose districts we map in our Cuenca neighborhoods guide, with concerts, bullfights at the Plaza de Toros and processions around the cathedral. It is a smaller, more local event than San Mateo, which makes it a good way to see the city celebrate without the September crowds. Dates shift slightly each year to fall around the 28th, so check locally before travelling.

Cuenca Events and Festivals: Semana de Música Religiosa

The Semana de Música Religiosa (Religious Music Week) runs alongside Holy Week and is one of the oldest classical music festivals in Spain, founded in 1962. It programmes choral and orchestral concerts, often in the cathedral and other historic churches, and draws international ensembles alongside Spanish groups. Most concerts are ticketed and sell quickly, and they run in parallel with the processions, so you can alternate between the two. The festival’s exact programme is published a few weeks before Holy Week each year. For the rest of what to do between events, see our things to do in Cuenca list.

Outside these dates the city is quiet, which is part of its appeal. For help deciding when the events line up with good weather and reasonable prices, read the best time to visit Cuenca guide, and for the practicalities of getting there, see the travel tips and FAQ article.