Elche (Elx) fiestas: Misteri, Nit de l’Albà and public holidays

Elche’s fiestas do not fit into a single week. There is the great night in August, a sacred drama recognised by UNESCO as heritage of humanity, a Palm Sunday procession of International Tourist Interest and, scattered across the Camp d’Elx (the countryside around the city), the fiestas of the hamlets, with their paella contests. Here is how the year fits together, seen from a neighbouring kitchen: ours, in Aspe.

Elche fiestas in August: Nit de l’Albà and Misteri

The heart of Elche’s fiesta year is 15 August, the day of the Virgen de la Asunción (Assumption), patron saint of the city together with St Agathangelus (San Agatángelo). On the eve, in the night of the 13th to the 14th, comes the Nit de l’Albà, of National Tourist Interest, which has its own entry in the glossary. The next day the Misteri d’Elx (the Mystery Play of Elche) is performed, with the Vespra on the 14th and the Festa on the 15th, and dress rehearsals from the 11th to the 13th. The Misteri holds the UNESCO designation and that of International Tourist Interest.

Around those days there is more going on, Moors and Christians included, but we have not found a published municipal programme for August, so we give no dates for it here.

The Misteri has an autumn, too

In even years the Misteri returns in autumn. In 2026, according to the City Council, there are dress rehearsals on 30 and 31 October and the full performance on 1 November, with the Vespra in the morning and the Festa in the afternoon. They are the centrepiece of the Medieval Festival, which fills the city from 23 October to 8 November.

Holy Week, pilgrimages and neighbourhoods

Elche’s Holy Week begins with the Palm Sunday procession and its white palms, of International Tourist Interest according to the Generalitat’s register. Then come the pilgrimages: St Anthony’s (San Antón), on the weekend after 17 January, and St Crispin’s (San Crispín), on the weekend closest to 25 October. In June, the Raval celebrates St John’s Day with its bonfires on the weekend before the 24th, and in May, San Pascual (the 17th and the following weekend) with the sopar del cabasset (the basket supper).

The Camp d’Elx fiestas, with paella

The Elche countryside has its own calendar, and the municipal website lists all of it: more than fifteen hamlet fiestas, from St Vincent Ferrer in Perleta and Maitino, in April, to St Barbara in Salades and Jubalcoi, in December. Many have a paella contest, such as San Isidro in Algorós-Derramador or San Pedro in Torrellano Bajo, and in Perleta and Maitino the “second Monday of mona” fiesta (the mona is the traditional Easter cake) includes a giant paella. If you are on a hamlet’s fiesta committee and want a meal for the whole neighbourhood, you can see what we do in paella and show cooking, in giant paella and in local fiestas. To get the quantities right, read how to organise a paella for 100 people.

Local holidays and how we work here

In 2026 Elche had two local holidays: 13 April, for St Vincent Ferrer, and 29 December, for the Arrival of the Virgin. The 2027 ones will be published in the DOGV (the regional official gazette) at the end of the year. What we do in the city and its outlying districts is described in catering in Elche. To check a date, get a quote.

If you are interested in neighbouring Crevillent, here are its fiestas, and for the dates across the whole Community, the public holidays calendar.