Events and festivals in Benicasim

While the brass bands fill the streets of the historic centre after the processions, at the festival site another kind of musical passion returns to Benicasim every Easter, inaugurating the annual season of the great open-air festivals: the SanSan Festival.

Every year thousands of the faithful flock to the event to enjoy the best selection of national indie-rock artists in three uninterrupted days of concerts, gastronomy, beaches and lots of fun.

When spring reaches its peak, between the end of April and the beginning of May, Benicàssim becomes the coastal and Mediterranean capital of Flamenco.

This racial art so characteristic of our country, considered Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, is undoubtedly a way of life that translates into a festival that takes to the streets linking gastronomy, music and dance. You can enjoy three open-air stages, concerts, masterclasses, dances, workshops, documentary screenings, photographic exhibitions, round tables, flamenco fashion shows and many more surprises.

Benicasim celebrates its music festival for children at the beginning of May and lasts two days. Formigues Festival is located in the centre of Benicàssim, in a natural area of more than 14,000 m2 where children can move freely and safely.

It is a 100% family event where children and parents can enjoy concerts, shows, activities and workshops, theatre, play areas and areas for relaxation, all themed with different inspirations from the circus to the beach, including the famous climbing wall.

At the beginning of June Benicàssim becomes the capital of Jazz culture with three full days of concerts and activities for all audiences. Renowned artists such as MR. Sipp, Saron Crenshaw or Blind B' & the Visionairs.

Jazz began in the late 19th century in the American city of New Orleans, where many African and Caribbean slaves lived and exerted an important influence on the musical scene of the time. It was precisely this mixture of cultures that gave rise to a new art form that was christened Jazz and came to represent and unite all classes.

The FIB is the quintessential Benicasim event and perhaps one of the most important music festivals in the Mediterranean. Since 1995 it has been held in July and has become a benchmark for indie music and international alternative culture on the current scene.

In addition to music, there is theatre, art, fashion, summer courses, dance, short films, round tables, exhibitions and much more. Artists of the stature of Muse, Suede, The Chemical Brothers and Dorian have performed on its stages. To experience the FIB is to live an authentic festival experience.

In the beautiful setting of the Desert de les Palmes, specifically in the Monastery of the Carmelite Fathers, the Sacred Music Cycle is held every July, organised by the Benicassim Town Council and the Desert de les Palmes Foundation, attracting guest artists from all over the world.

Since 2000 there have been countless professionals who have delighted festival-goers with their singing in an exercise of mysticism and spirituality that illuminates an ideal context for meditation. A true display of audiovisual beauty.

Summer is a time for laughter. In the month of July, under the suggestive name of "Theatre with good humour", a wide programme of comic theatrical shows in all languages and formats takes place in the city: music, text, mime... for both children and adults.

The streets are filled with smiles with performances in which it is impossible to hold back a laugh. Come and enjoy these moments with your family and have a good time releasing endorphins.

From July and throughout the summer, the wonderful setting of the Desert de Les Palmes becomes the backdrop for this monumental open-air event that illuminates the summer nights of the Costa de Azahar. It is followed by a series of concerts by the most popular performers on the national scene in various musical genres.

Top singers who attract the media spotlight to Benicàssim in a display of glamour and glitz in a select atmosphere where gastronomy also plays an important role.

A new and unusual option for the month of July within the cultural offer of Benicasim is the magic festival "Imagina Benicàssim". An appointment with joy, mystery, optimism and illusion, for all audiences and in a unique setting on the Torre San Vicente beach.

Do you dare to guess the trick behind the magic? Put yourself to the test and let yourself be carried away by the art of some of the best magicians and conjurers in Spain.

The world's largest Reggae music festival is held in August, a festival capable of combining an extensive cultural programme with each of the musical proposals that are presented there, ranging from the most traditional Reggae to Ska, Dub or Dancehall.

Artists of the stature of Damien Marley, Manu Chao and Shaggy have performed at Rototom Sunsplash, all of whom have been key figures in this genre born in Jamaica in the 1960s. Let yourself be carried away!

Habaneras are a musical genre born in Cuba in the 19th century that quickly reached the ports of our coasts because the sailors had fallen in love with them. Every August since 1985, Benicàssim hosts the Habanera Festival, where local groups and guest bands from all over the Mediterranean coast come together. It is, without a doubt, a beautiful, local festival to be enjoyed right on the beach.

Organised by Canya de Sucre, a local music group, with the sponsorship of the Benicàssim Town Council, it has traditionally been held on the Torre de Sant Vicent beach, moving in 2012 to the Amfiteatre Pepe Falomir Almela, located in the same area.

Also in mid-August we can enjoy the National Ballroom Dancing Festival, held in a unique setting on the Torre de San Vicente beach. In this event different couples perform dances as colourful as Tango, waltz, salsa, cha-cha-chá, bolero, samba, rock, pasodoble and bachata. There are also Latin and standard dance workshops for visitors.

An exhibition of pirouettes, rhythm and lots of colour that attracts professionals and amateurs to enjoy dancing at its best. Find a partner and start moving your skeleton, you'll dance till you drop!

At the end of August, the electronic music marathon has been held in Benicasim since 2015. You can enjoy 12 uninterrupted hours of House and Techno music in a temple to Club Culture with artists such as Paul Ritch and Cora Novoa.

A day of non-stop partying where you can disconnect from your routine to the rhythm of the best electronic music of the moment.

With the arrival of September, Benicasim organises the International Classical Guitar Competition, born in honour of Francesc Tàrrega, whose mission is to give visibility to the musical legacy of the famed composer from Castellón, where participants compete for a coveted award that is a benchmark in the world of classical guitar.

Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea was born in the nearby town of Villareal in 1852 and toured Spain and France as an ambassador of the art of the Spanish guitar until his death in 1909.

Between the end of August and the beginning of September the most emblematic area of Benicàssim takes on a special colour. As well as visiting its characteristic Villas, you can take a dramatised tour around the corners of the "Valencian Biarritz" and go back a couple of centuries to the most luminous period of the past of this municipality.

Period costumes are the protagonists of a visit for all audiences where you can enjoy the culture, tradition and craftsmanship of Benicasim's most splendid period.

The aim of this festival is to make opera and the lyric genre more accessible to the general public. national and international lyrical figures such as Joan Pons, Isabel Rey and Ana María Sánchez have performed at the festival.

The first edition of this event took place in 2008 and since then it has been held in the Francesc Tárrega municipal theatre and has become one of the most acclaimed cultural events in the city.

The Benicàssim Art Exhibition (MABE) is held from 1 to 31 October with the aim of promoting and encouraging new trends in plastic and visual arts in the Valencian Community. Individual and collective exhibitions, installations and artistic interventions take to the streets of Benicasim, bringing contemporary art to the general public.

The Melchor Zapata Cultural Centre is the nerve centre of this annual event which also has other venues such as the Exhibition Hall of the Municipal Theatre, as well as the premises of "La Maranya" and the Café Teatre "El Corb".

In October Benicasim Pop is held, a festival that was born with the aim of promoting pop and rock music created in Benicàssim through a series of concerts that take place in the Municipal Theatre "Francesc Tàrrega".

It usually involves groups of promising young musicians who have emerged in the area and who are struggling to make a place for themselves on the national scene. Talent and enthusiasm are more than guaranteed.

In November, we can enjoy the Mostra de Teatre Reclam. This is an extensive programme for the dissemination of the performing arts, which is firmly committed to the different languages of contemporary drama committed to quality and innovation. The show, which began in 1993, includes numerous proposals for theatre, dance, community theatre, micro theatre and family shows.

The event is sponsored by the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) of Castellón, which aims to offer quality, contemporary and current theatre, innovative proposals and a mixture of styles that on this occasion place a special focus on Valencian playwriting.