I will be flying into Bilbao on June 21, and I am very interested in seeing traditional local festivities for St. John’s Eve and St. John’s Day, especially traditional Basque dances and processions.

From my initial research, Tolosa seems to have a lot of activities on the day of June 24. I’d love to stay in Tolosa the night before, but none of the local lodgings appear available to book yet. How difficult is it to secure lodging the night before in the city? If I am unable to secure overnight lodging, how difficult would it be to take a local train from San Sebastián on the morning of June 24 into Tolosa to see the local festivities? Will the trains be packed? What time do the dantzas and processions usually start?

Are there other cities I should consider instead?
Any tour guides who specialize in these tours so I can have local insight into the meaning of the festivities?

Thanks in advance!

The festivals of San Juan are celebrated all over Spain, with thousands of bonfires where we burn old furniture, books...that are previously collected going from home to home. In the Basque Country there are many towns that celebrate their festivals (but not just one day, they normally last a minimum of 5 days and even longer) on that date. You can see some good info here, https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/agend...r00-evento/en/. I live in Leioa, near Bilbao, and we have a huge celebration that night, as part of our 7-day festivities celebrating St John. We are not religious any more, but we love to celebrate our traditions, most of them of pagan origin and later adopted by Christianism.

I'd just write an e-mail to the hotel; their website might show that they are not booking yet but they might allot a room to you if you go to therm directly. Or call them.