Bayonne's fêtes were founded in 1932 in open imitation of Pamplona, and the resemblance is deliberate down to the uniform: white clothes with a red sash and neckerchief, worn by essentially everyone in the city for five days. The opening is the handing of the keys to King Léon from the town-hall balcony to a crowd packed into the Place de la Liberté, after which the peñas play through the streets more or less continuously until Sunday night.
The city estimates around a million participants across the five days — a cumulative city-wide count rather than a headcount, and the standard caveat applies.
There are bullfights in the arena, a Basque programme of pelota and force basque, and a cow run that is not the Pamplona encierro.
It is anchored to the Wednesday before the first Sunday of August. Accommodation across the whole Basque coast, including San Sebastián, tightens for that week.
PlanningAnchored to the Wednesday before the first Sunday of August, so the dates move within a week each year.