The Royal Fair was established under a royal warrant in June 1850 as a cattle show held in the area known as El Calvario, to the north of the city in the direction of San Roque. The area was devoid of buildings at the time and was the starting point of a popular pilgrimage known as Los Pinos.According to the poster and various contemporary writers, the first fair included fireworks, ship regattas, horse performances and even a bullfight called the toro de la veta, which was banned a few years later. In addition to the entertainments and the cattle show, goods and craftworks from all parts of the Campo de Gibraltar could be bought at the fair.
The fair soon became very popular both in the city and neighboring towns. Some of the temporary stalls erected for the annual show became permanent fixtures, which citizens of Algeciras visited on summer evenings. Seven years after the first fair was held, Algeciras’s first permanent bullring was constructed in its vicinity but had to be torn down after a few years because of problems with its construction. The La Perseverancia bullring was built to replace it in 1866. In 1877 a promenade called the Alameda de la Feria was constructed and had to be extended in 1914 to accommodate the number of people using it.
The most popular and most visited of the festivities in Tarifa. The Royal Fair is held on the first Sunday of September . This festival has been declared of tourist interest in Andalusia, and brings together thousands of residents and visitors every year , in a few days of joy and fun.
This festival lasts a whole week , with many events. The previous Saturday, the coronation of the queens and the opening speech take place. After which the special lighting is inaugurated and, within the enclosure of the fair, the stands begin their animation which will last until the second Sunday. The arrival of the Marian painting is a multiple event and its main attraction is the centenary agricultural parade that accompanies the Virgin and in which between 600 and 700 horsemen take part.
On the last Sunday of September, the painting returns to the sanctuary, accompanied by thousands of participants in the traditional pilgrimage.
The exhibition center contains plenty of stands where you can dance and taste the rich gastronomy of the region. Attractions for young and old are a meeting point where joy, dancing and good humor abound! The fair ends with a colorful fireworks display .
How to get to Algeciras
The fair of Algeciras is a great event that you simply must experience, if you wish to get there by car you can take the AP-7 road, after passing by Marbella, La Linea and San Roque, you’ll end up in Algeciras very easily.
The fairgrounds are located between the Carretera de Málaga and the Circunvalación of the city, next to the neighborhood of Las Colinas. It is divided into two zones, in the lower part there are the fair booths (a total of 72) in six blocks separated by the streets Volantes, Castañuela, Encajes and their perpendicular Mantilla, Lanterns and Fans; The upper part of the enclosure houses the mechanical attractions and various establishments such as raffles or food stalls.
The fair is limited in its four vertices by commemorative monuments of the fair or of the history of the city, in this way next to the entrance of the fair, on the Carretera de Málaga, is the so-called roundabout of the Pandero that represents a One of the best-known covers of the fair, held in 1945, at the other end of that same street is the Millennium roundabout, inaugurated in 2001; Next to the ring road, the cattle ranch roundabout has a set of sculptures that represents a well-known wine advertising poster that could be seen on the façade of the old La Perseverancia bullring. Finally, in the fourth vertex of the enclosure, the Las Palomas bullring with its monument to Miguelín presides over the entire fair from above.
