Fuengirola Rosario Fair

The Rosario Fair and Festivities are Fuengirola's main festivities, in honour of its patron saint, Nuestra Señora del Rosario Coronada. Her feast day is 7 October, a local holiday, and the fair runs for the week from the opening speech, on the night of the 6th, to 12 October.

The devotion goes back a long way: as early as 1867 services were held in honour of the Virgen del Rosario, with four-day festivities and a night-time procession. In 1954 the Town Council named her Honorary and Perpetual Mayor, in 1956 she received the mayoral staff, paid for with donations from residents, and on 29 June 2002 she was canonically crowned.

Until the mid-1970s the procession went out at night; since 1976 it has gone out in the morning, after an open-air flamenco mass in Plaza de la Constitución. In 2024 the Málaga Provincial Council declared this procession a Fiesta de Singularidad Turística (festivity of tourist singularity).

The fair takes place at the fairground, with the marquees of the local clubs (peñas), the rides and the shows at the Palacio de la Paz. A few days earlier, on a Sunday at the end of September, the pilgrimage takes Fuengirola's residents to El Esparragal park.

The fair takes place at the Fuengirola fairground (Recinto Ferial), with the marquees of the local clubs, the Seniors' Marquee and the rides area. The same fairground is home to the Palacio de la Paz, where the opening speech and the fair's concerts and shows are held, and on whose façade the lights are switched on.

On the patron saint's day, events are in the town centre: flamenco mass in Plaza de la Constitución, home to the Nuestra Señora del Rosario Coronada church, and a procession along Avenida Condes de San Isidro and the streets Marconi, Palangreros, Larga and España. The pilgrimage ends at El Esparragal park, which lies within the municipality of Mijas.

Fuengirola is the last stop on the commuter rail line from Málaga. In 2026, during the fair, urban bus line 1 ran a special late-night service with a stop at the fairground, and the Town Council set up extra parking on Avenida de Andalucía and Calle Matagorda. For the pilgrimage there is a free bus every half hour between the town centre (Avenida Condes de San Isidro) and El Esparragal.

The Rosario pilgrimage begins with the pilgrims' mass at the patron saint's church; then the procession, with ox carts, riders, pilgrims and decorated vehicles, leaves Plaza de la Constitución for El Esparragal, where the day is spent together.

On 7 October the open-air flamenco mass is held, followed by the procession of the Virgen del Rosario Coronada, with brass bands. Many women accompany her in flamenco dresses or mantillas, petals are thrown from the balconies and the riders join at the end of the procession. That night the «El Jabegote» Juan de la Loma Flamenco Festival takes place.

During the fair there are horse and carriage rides around the fairground, Children's Day with rides at half price and a daily programme at the Seniors' Marquee. Before the fair, the Town Council has for years run free «Sevillanas Exprés» classes to learn or brush up on the steps.