October 9 to 12 Annual fair in Caravaca de la Cruz 2025
Live music, a fairground, gastronomic events, an antiques market, motor vehicle displays and a children's fairground in Caravaca
The city of Caravaca de la Cruz offers a wide range of activities over the weekend of October 9 to 12 as it enjoys its annual Feria, an event which is traditionally associated with cattle farming and agriculture and to which records first allude in 1573, but which has grown to encompass gastronomy, a fairground, an antiques market and various live music shows.
The gastronomy event is a chance for local restaurants to show off their finest dishes in the Paseo de la Corredera, while the children’s fairground is being held at the Francisco Fernández Torralba sports complex from Thursday October 9 until the end of the weekend of the National Day of Spain, which falls on Sunday October 12.
Meanwhile, throughout the weekend much of the focus is on motor vehicles, many of them agricultural but with a whole range of 20 exhibitors and more than 400 vehicles on display.
The program for the 2025 Feria de Caravaca de la Cruz includes the following:
Thursday October 9
17.00 to 23.00: Children’s fairground at the Francisco Fernández Torralba sports complex.
Friday October 10
10.00 to 21.00: Farm vehicles and machinery fair on Gran Vía and Avenida de la Constitución, official opening ceremony at 12.00.
10.00 to 14.00: Las Cocinas del Jubileo, a gastronomy fair in the Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz, featuring a workshop for aspiring junior chefs!
17.00 to 23.00: Children’s fairground at the Francisco Fernández Torralba sports complex.
17.30: Another children’s cooking workshop in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz, this time focussing on baking their own bread.
19.30: Sabores del Camino, a gastronomic experience in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz
19.30 to 23.30: Las Cocinas del Jubileo reopens for the evening.
21.30: Live music, “Música para el Paladar” with Andrés Ballester.
Saturday October 11
10.00 to 21.00: Farm vehicles and machinery fair on Gran Vía and Avenida de la Constitución.
10.00 to 21.00: Antiques and second-hand market with live music and various activities in Calle Corredera.
11.00 to 23.00: Children’s fairground at the Francisco Fernández Torralba sports complex.
11.00: A coffee workshop in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
12.00 to 16.00 and 20.00 to 23.30: Las Cocinas del Jubileo, gastronomy fair in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
12.30: Estrella de Levante offer a beer and snacks experience in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
13.30: Haute cuisine workshop in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
13.30: Laly Blu y Pablo Sax provide live music in the Paseo de la Corredera.
16.30: Frenesí live in concert in Plaza Tuzla.
19.30: Cheese and wine tasting in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
23.00: Live music from DPereza, a tribute eto Leiva y Pereza.
Sunday October 12, the National Day of Spain
10.00 to 14.00: Farm vehicles and machinery fair on Gran Vía and Avenida de la Constitución.
10.30: Children’s pizza workshop in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
11.00 to 22.00: Children’s fairground at the Francisco Fernández Torralba sports complex.
12.00 to 16.00: Las Cocinas del Jubileo, gastronomy fair in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
13.30: Laura Morella provides live music in the Paseo de la Corredera.
13.30: Showcooking in Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.
Further information about Caravaca is available from the tourist office (Plaza de España, 7, telephone 968 702424, email turismo@caravacadelacruz.es
Or for more local information, including the Holy Jubilee Year as well as local news and what’s on, go to the home page of Caravaca Today.
Address
Calle De Las Monjas, 19, 30400 CARAVACA DE LA CRUZTel: 968 702424 / 968 701003
Caravaca de la Cruz tourist office
More information about the places of interest which can be visited in the municipality of Caravaca de la Cruz, along with what's on and local news can be found in the Caravaca Today.
Caravaca de la Cruz, in the north-west of the Region of Murcia, is one of only 5 Holy Cities in the Roman Catholic world, a centre of pilgrimage, along with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Santo Toribio de Liebana, and is home to the Cross of Caravaca, the Vera Cruz.
The status of Holy City was bestowed by Pope John Paul II in 1998, granting the City a Permanent Jubilee year every 7 years for perpetuity, the first one held in 2003 and the next in 2024.
The strategic and natural advantages of Caravaca de la Cruz have attracted the attention of settlers for more than 800,000 years, the Cueva Negra yielding remains of Homo Heidelbergensis, forbears of the Neanderthals and the municipality also houses important archaeological remains from the Argaric, Iberian and Roman cultures. many of these can be seen in the Municipal Archaeological Museum.
As a border town caught between the Catholic forces of Castille and the last remaining Moorish stronghold in Spain, Granada, Caravaca had a turbulent medieval history, but it was during this period that the legend of the Cross of Caravaca was born, bringing the religious orders which shaped the structure of Caravaca today, with its impressive hilltop castle and eclectic collection of churches and monasteries, religious tourism today being a backbone of the town´s economy.
Caravaca de la Cruz is a municipality with important natural resources, including extensive forests, part of which have protected status due to their wealth of flora and fauna, and due to the abundant water supplies is also a major area for canned fruit production, apricots in particular being an important crop.
Caravaca is renown for its important May Fiestas, held in honour of the Vera Cruz, which also incorporate the Moors and Christians celebrations and the Running of the Wine Horses.
Caravaca de la Cruz is also the home of Europe´s largest collection of ethnic instruments at Barranda, the Museo de Música Étnica Barranda and is the location of the Barranda festival de Cuadrillas, which celebrates the Region's ethnic music traditions.
The municipality is home to around 26,000 inhabitants and shares boundaries with Moratalla, Cehegín, Lorca, Puebla de Don Fadrique in the province of Granada and Vélez-Blanco in the province of Almería.
Tourist office opening times:
Weekdays: 10.00 to 14.00 and 16.30 to 19.30
Saturdays: 10.30 to 14.00 and 16.30 to 19.30
Sundays and public holidays: 10.30 to 14.00
Click for map, Caravaca de la Cruz Tourist Office
