Thousands of visitors heading to Pamplona for the 2026 edition of San Fermín, Spain’s most famous bull run, may feel nervous about the charging animals and their horns. However, local Pamplona police are preoccupied with a very different danger that tends to spike when this celebration comes around, and that few people think about at the event: theft.

Local Pamplona police prepare for hundreds of San Fermín complaints

As San Fermín returns, a special, temporary reporting office is opening for the celebration after hundreds of complaints were recorded during last year’s festival, with theft accounting for more than half of them.

As it stands, last year officials received a whopping 340 complaints during the famed festival, of which 196 were theft complaints. This represents an incredible 57.64 per cent of all complaints. Additionally, another 45 cases involved lost belongings or documentation.

The office, located at Calle Zapatería 40, will be added on July 5, just before the festival’s opening day, due to the expectation of high demand for this year’s edition of the event. Additional staff will also be added in order to help locals and holidaymakers that may have had their belongings stolen. The opening hours for the office will be from 11:30am to 11:30pm on each day of the festival. This office will be in operation until the end of San Fermín, on July 14.

While visitors watch the bulls, thieves watch the crowds

Every year, large numbers of people visit Pamplona for San Fermín, particularly during major festival moments. This means that, while visitors and holidaymakers are dazzled by the charging animals and the festivities, these crowded areas create ideal opportunities for pickpockets and thieves to whisk belongings away.

The problem is well-known and widespread throughout the festivities; so much, in fact, that the official San Fermín safety information guide warns visitors about the possibility of being pickpocketed while surrounded by a packed crowd.

Getting pickpocketed could be especially disastrous for foreign tourists: visitors may be carrying essential and valuable items including phones, bank cards and identification while moving through an unfamiliar city and extremely dense crowds.

Leaving your passport at your accommodation

To avoid having valuables like a passport stolen while enjoying a festival, there are a few things visitors can do:

• Only carry what is needed.
• Avoid carrying a passport unless necessary.
• Keep a secure copy or digital record of important travel documents.
• Do not keep a phone and wallet together in an easily accessible pocket.
• Be particularly careful and aware of your surroundings in tightly packed crowds, even if you think a thief could not easily get away.
• Know where the temporary police reporting office is before attending the busiest festival events.

A stolen passport can turn a fun Spanish festival trip into a nightmare

Having your passport stolen, especially abroad, can give travellers quite the headache. When a visitor reports their passport as stolen, the document is immediately flagged as cancelled. Even if the passport is found later, it cannot be used to travel anymore.

Additionally, the traveller, without an emergency travel document issued by their home country, could be grounded and miss their flights and other trips, compounding government fees for replacement documents with the expense of a new booking.

Finally, the process to report the document as stolen can be lengthy and annoying, as the embassy often needs to prove the loss before being able to help the victim.

For British visitors, a lost or stolen passport can be reported to the UK government, and an Emergency Travel Document may be required if the person cannot travel using their existing documentation.

Irish visitors, on the other hand, can apply either online or through the post for a replacement of their stolen passport. Additionally, the theft can be reported to the Gardaí and with the submission of a Garda Certificate of Loss, along with a letter signed by the victim, which will mark the passport as lost or stolen.

What is San Fermín?

San Fermín officially begins on July 6 and is a world-famous Spanish celebration in honour of the town’s patron saint. To celebrate, the town hosts its famous bull runs, which happen on each morning of the festival, from July 7 to July 14 at 8:00am.

FAQs about the 2026 edition of San Fermín

Q. When does San Fermín 2026 begin?

A. July 6.

Q. When are the San Fermín bull runs?

A. Every morning from July 7 to July 14 at 8:00am.

Q. Where can I report a theft during San Fermín?

A. The temporary Municipal Police complaints office is located at Calle Zapatería 40 and operates from July 5 to July 14, from 11:30am until 11:30pm.

Q. What is the emergency number in Spain?

A. 112

Imagine thinking your dad had vanished abroad while travelling to the World Cup, only to discover he’d spent the last 10 days happily watching football in Barcelona bars, completely unaware anyone was looking for him. That’s exactly what happened to one English family after Michael Hewitt disappeared on his way to the United States.

What was meant to be a straightforward football journey turned into ten days of silence, confusion and growing panic back home. Michael had set off with everything planned, a stopover in Barcelona included, but somewhere along the way the trip unravelled in a way nobody expected, leaving his family convinced something serious had happened abroad.

A stopover that went quite wrong

Michael Hewitt, 65, had been travelling via Barcelona on his way to Boston, where he was due to continue on to the United States for the World Cup. Like many football fans making long-haul trips, the journey was broken into stages, with a short stop in Spain before the final flight.

It was during that stopover that things started to go wrong. He lost his mobile phone, and with it, the basic tools needed to continue travelling smoothly. Boarding passes, booking details, contact numbers and travel information were all tied to the device, and without it, the situation quickly became complicated. He missed his connecting flight to the United States and suddenly found himself stuck in Barcelona with no simple way to rearrange his plans or contact anyone at home. What should have been a short pause in a long journey turned into an unexpected dead end.

Silence that began to worry his family

At first, there was no immediate alarm. Travel delays happen all the time, and it is not unusual for messages to be missed while someone is abroad. But as time passed and there was still no contact at all, concern began to build.

Days turned into a week with no calls, no updates and no sign of movement. There was no reassurance that he had made it to his next destination or was continuing his journey as planned. The silence started to feel increasingly out of place, and what initially looked like a travel delay began to shift into something more worrying. Eventually, the lack of communication became impossible to ignore.

A missing persons report 

After losing contact for an extended period, his family reported him missing. From there, the situation escalated quickly. UK authorities became involved alongside consular staff in Barcelona, as attempts were made to trace his movements and understand where communication had broken down. But once the phone was lost, the trail became very difficult to follow.

There was little digital activity to track, and no direct contact to confirm his location or wellbeing. That lack of information created a growing sense of uncertainty. For his family, the hardest part was not knowing whether he was simply delayed, stranded, or in genuine trouble. Each passing day without answers made the situation harder to interpret.

Where was he? 

While concern was building back home, the reality was far less dramatic. Michael was still in Barcelona, oblivious to what was happening at home, content in his solitary man-world, continuing his trip in a way that made sense to him at the time.

He spent time in the city shopping, going to local bars, trying the cervezas and watching the football matches, following the world cup just like many other travelling football fans. What he did not realise was that back home, the situation had escalated far beyond a simple delay, two completely different versions of events were unfolding at the same time, without either side fully understanding the other.

How he was eventually found

In the end Michael was eventually located in Barcelona after being spotted by an off-duty British police officer who recognised him based on his Leeds United football shirt, which brought the search to an end. From his point of view, the situation had been a straightforward travel disruption.

He had lost his phone, missed his onward flight, and ended up staying longer in Barcelona while trying to sort things out, or so he says. He had no idea that during those same 10 days, his family had been living with uncertainty and that authorities had been involved in trying to trace his whereabouts.

Relief after days of uncertainty

Once confirmation came through that he was alive and safe (that is until his wife gets her hands on him)! the relief for his family was immediate. After more than a week of not knowing where he was or what had happened, they finally had answers.

The incident has also brought to light how dependent modern travel has become on mobile phones. With tickets, bookings and contact information stored digitally, losing a device can quickly create complications that extend far beyond inconvenience.

In the end, what should have been a straightforward football trip turned into a 10-day disappearance that caused panic and uncertainty back home, before ending in an unexpectedly ordinary way, with a man sitting in Barcelona bars, watching football, completely unaware he had become the subject of an international search.