Sagunto Medieval Market 2026: 40,000 to 45,000 visitors and good sales
Sagunto's Medieval Market closed its 2026 edition, held 8 to 11 October, with between 40,000 and 45,000 visitors, good weather and traders happy with sales, according to the Culture department.
Between 40,000 and 45,000 people walked through Sagunto's historic centre during the Medieval Market, which began on Thursday 8 October and ended on Sunday 11. The figure, provided by the Culture department, covers three and a half days of market, with good weather and no notable incidents. Culture councillor Ana María Quesada gave the assessment to El Periódico de Aquí (a local newspaper).
Spread over those three and a half days, that works out at roughly 11,400 to 12,900 people a day. This is an arithmetic calculation from the Culture department's figure, not a day-by-day count: the sources give no daily breakdown.
For traders, what matters is whether the public buys. Quesada said the City Council always worries about whether the stallholders have sold, and that participants told her they were happy with their figures. There is no overall turnover number: the assessment rests on the impressions of the vendors themselves. The councillor also thanked visitors who bought small items, because, she said, every purchase adds up.
The edition had a new organiser. The company La Fragua de Vulcano took over management of the market this year and changed the layout of the stalls and the look of the site. According to the councillor, the most practical improvement was widening the walkways, so visitors could stop in front of the products without blocking traffic as much. Even so, she admitted that at times there were very large crowds and some localised congestion, although the event ran normally overall.
The market occupied the Glorieta, the Plaza Mayor and the streets of the old town. Craft, food and traditional-product stalls shared the space with music, street entertainment, historical re-enactments and activities for children. The programme included references to James I of Aragon (Jaume I), because 2026 marks 750 years since his death on 27 July 1276, and it formed part of the 9 d'Octubre (Valencian Community Day) events. James I had already been the central figure of the market's theme in the 2025 edition. The audience was not only local: visitors came from other Valencian comarcas and from Aragon, taking advantage of the long weekend.
According to the official 2026 programme, the market opened on Thursday 8 at 18:00 and could then be visited until Sunday 11 from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 23:00. The 2025 edition ran from Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 October with the same morning and evening hours.
To put this year's figure in perspective, it is worth recalling what El Periódico de Aquí reported in its preview on 6 October 2026. In 2024 there were peaks of up to 40,000 people, mainly on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, and traffic had to be cut on Cronista Chabret street. In 2025 rain affected the market for two days, and the councillor expected an attendance similar to or higher than 2024 this year. The two numbers are not directly comparable: the 2024 figure refers to moments of maximum crowds and the 2026 figure to the whole edition.
The contrast with 2025 is also about weather. Then the City Council pushed the market's opening back to 17:00 because of forecast heavy rain and cancelled the 9 d'Octubre mascletà (daytime firecracker display). The communal meal was also cancelled and the Panorama orchestra's performance was postponed. In 2026, by contrast, good weather accompanied all four days.
As a historical reference, the official programme of the 2015 edition announced more than 150 stalls, of which 60 to 70 belonged to local shops and about 100 came from other parts of Spain. There is no official stall count for 2026, so that comparison is only possible through visitor figures.
According to El Periódico de Aquí, with data from Sagunto City Council and Wikipedia on James I.