{"id":5401,"date":"2026-08-24T05:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T03:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casaruralcastalla.com\/en\/?p=5401"},"modified":"2026-09-06T06:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:07:24","slug":"moors-and-christians-castalla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casaruralcastalla.com\/en\/blog\/moors-and-christians-castalla\/","title":{"rendered":"Moors and Christians of Castalla: a guide to the town’s biggest fiesta"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the end of August, Castalla lives its most important week of the year: the Moros y Cristianos<\/em> (Moors and Christians), the biggest event in the town’s whole festive calendar. If you are coming from outside and putting your stay together, here are the essentials \u2014 when the fiesta falls, what the days are like and where to stay right in the old town. And if you belong to a capitan\u00eda<\/em> (the company that holds the captaincy that year, together with its guests) and are already looking at the next edition, there is a section for you at the end.<\/p>\n

In short:<\/strong> the Moors and Christians of Castalla take up five days at the end of August and the beginning of September<\/strong>. In the 2026 edition they ran from 31 August to 4 September<\/strong>, with the busiest days the 1st and the 4th. The dates for each year are set by the town council and confirmed in the municipal bando<\/em> (the mayor’s official notice), usually published in the last week of August. Casa Rural Castalla is at Carrer Major 33<\/strong>, right in the historic centre of Castalla (inland Alicante): 241 m\u00b2, 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms for up to 10 people (14-15 with extra beds)<\/strong>, on the parade route itself.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Moors<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

When exactly are the Moors and Christians of Castalla?<\/h2>\n

The fiesta takes up five days straddling the end of August and the start of September, but the exact dates change every year<\/strong> and are not firm until the town council publishes the municipal bando<\/em>, normally in the last week of August. In the 2026 edition they ran from 31 August to 4 September<\/strong>, with the busiest days the 1st and the 4th; those dates were checked against Turismo de Castalla, as opposed to another version doing the rounds (1\u20134 September) that fell a day short. We tell you this so you know where to look: do not take any date as good unless it comes from the bando<\/em> or from Turismo de Castalla.<\/p>\n

For the full hour-by-hour programme \u2014 parades, the Entr\u00e0<\/em> (the grand entrance parade), the floral offering, each comparsa<\/em>‘s own events (a comparsa<\/em> is one of the festival companies that parade, each with its own costume and band) \u2014 the reference is the Turismo de Castalla<\/a> website, which publishes the official detail. Further down you have the day-by-day programme and, above all, how to arrive by car with the town closed to traffic.<\/p>\n

Two related dates also circulate, but with less certainty, and are worth treating with caution:<\/p>\n