The main feature of Valencia’s famous Las Fallas festival is, of course, the towering Fallas effigies themselves. Made from wood and papier-mâché, and measuring over 20m, these amazing works of art are crafted during the preceding year at huge costs and adorn every street corner, plaza and crossroads of the city. They’re mostly elaborate representations of anything from Disney characters to NASA spacecraft and bawdy portraits of politicians performing lewd acts, and they pass through the streets accompanied by bonfires, fireworks, deafening music and a huge amount of drunken singing and dancing. Come nightfall on St Joseph’s Day, the final day of the festival, all hell breaks loose as hundreds of effigies are stuffed with fireworks and burned on crossroads and street corners around town in one of the most spectacular acts of pyrotechnic pandemonium you will ever see, after which the crowds, drink, sing and party the night away.

Each Falla sculpture has its own committee, made up of a group of neighbours, who hold meetings, pay dues and seek out finance. Each is a member of the Central Fallas Association, a Valencia city council body that coordinates the Fallas festivity throughout the city. Still renowned as a centre of excellence for craftsmen, the Valencian artisans export carnival paraphernalia to Rio, New Orleans and most of the other big festivals around the world. Strictly speaking, only the large central figure of each structure or effigy is the Falla – the smaller wooden sculptures surrounding it are called Ninots. Up to fifty Ninots may surround the central Falla, and it is these smaller creations that are paraded around on March 15. Explanatory placards are placed next to each Falla, but in Spanish only, so take your phrasebook along or get hold of a copy of the official programme – available in English from any tourist office – which contains pictures, locations and explanations of the ten largest Fallas on display. Not all Ninots are burned on the last night: the displays are officially judged and the winner – the Ninot Indultat (reprieved figurine) – is spared and placed in the Fallas museum in Plaza de Monteolivete, which contains Ninots Indultats that have been saved from the flames from as far back as 1934.

Your main area of activity will be the old city centre, a maze of narrow streets enclosed by Calle Colun, Calle Xtiva and Calle Guillém de Castro. This area is closed off to all traffic except buses and taxis, so getting around by foot isn’t too much trouble. Other than the old city centre, stick to the Barrio de la Turia, between the Mercado, Plaza de la Reina and the river, for the best of the festivities, day or night. Maps and official Fallas programmes, which indicate where the biggest Fallas are positioned, are available from the tourist information office at the corner of Calle Pau and Plaza Alfons Magnnim.

It’s not possible to get involved with the Las Fallas fiesta in the same way that you can at, say, Pamplona. The highlights during the day make for top-quality entertainment and at night the partying presses on long and hard, but the only fixed points in your schedule are the 2pm Mascleta firecracker display in Plaza Ayuntamiento and the midnight firework displays over the Turia gardens. Otherwise, you're free to explore the various Fallas displays, mounted throughout the day by the festival’s various committees, who usually back up their presentations with music, and, if you're really lucky, hand out free beer.

Although the official dates for Fallas are March 12–19, things don't really get going until March 15, when Ninots are paraded around during the afternoon in the Cabalgata del Ninot before joining the Fallas displays at midnight. There's always a huge one on the main square Plaza Ayuntamiento, which the crowds watch being hauled into place at midnight. Whilst spectacular, the Gran Crema burning on March 19 is a strangely solemn affair, and formally marks the end of the celebrations. Don't worry, though, you'll have had plenty of opportunity to party to oblivion in the previous nights. Indeed, it’s a good idea to anaesthetize yourself with booze before trying to sleep, as bangers go off throughout the night and each morning you’ll be woken up at the crack of dawn by the sound of 300 marching bands, hired just for that purpose and accompanied by la despert – the “wake-up” fireworks. As a tourist, you won't need any special kit for the party, just some reasonable, heat-resistant clothes and, of course, some firecrackers – available from most street stalls – so you can join in the perpetual banger-throwing along with everyone else.

The highlight of March 16 is the first full-scale Mascleta, which takes place at 2pm on Plaza Ayuntamiento – essentially a firework display, only with the emphasis on large explosions rather than on spectacular colours. Firework displays are of course no big deal these days, but this is unlike anything you will have seen before. Valencia has some of the most internationally famous pyrotechnical engineers in the world and they take the bang business very seriously indeed, with advanced research into chemical reactions, computer-aided analysis and field trials that would make NASA proud. Get the picture?

At 2pm the vast crowd falls silent, as if some great concert were about to begin. Straight away, the whooshing and whistling of the rockets split the air, which, combined with the kettledrum barrage of the firecrackers, strikes up an infernal rhythm, gaining in tempo and volume as it progresses. The effect is mesmeric. The sky is obscured by the huge clouds of grey smoke caused by the explosions, the air thick with sulphuric fumes and the ground itself shaking with the loudest explosions. The spectacle is maybe only five minutes long, but your nerves will be jangling for a good few hours afterwards – until the next firework display at least, which is scheduled for midnight at the Turia gardens.

For most locals, March 17, and its La Ofrenda de Flores a la Virgen de los Desamparados (The Offering of Flowers to Our Lady of the Helpless), is the highlight of the festival – and, after the Mascleta, its most important event. On Plaza Virgen, two disembodied heads sit atop a bare wooden frame – a half-finished monument that depicts the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. From 4pm and onward through the next two days, thousands of women from the Falla committees process through the city in traditional dress, carrying bouquets of flowers that they hand to the men who are busy clothing the bare frame with the floral offerings. Parades carry on until ten at night, by which time a veritable mountain of flowers have accumulated. More spectacular fireworks follow at midnight.

The flower offering continues through the following day, but the crowds between Plaza Reina and Plaza Virgen and on the surrounding streets are so huge you might be better off staying in bed and then getting yourself sorted out with a big plate of paella before enjoying the last full night of partying. After the 2pm Mascleta, the big event on March 18 is the Nit de Foc – a fire and fireworks extravaganza that makes the explosion scenes in Apocalypse Now look like a picnic in the park. Grab some beers and head for the Paseo de la Alameda at 1.30am and prepare to have your senses numbed.

March 19 or El Dia de San José is the festival’s grand finale, and there is a slight feeling of sadness in the air – partly due to three nights’ aggregate hangover and partly because the party's almost over. In most respects, it’s the same deal as before, apart from the evening’s big bonfire – the Gran Crema – when, at midnight, the amazing, precious wooden creations, lovingly designed and assembled at vast expense, are reduced to cinders. At 12.30am the first prize Falla is burnt and half an hour later the enormous Falla in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento is set alight. As it catches, belching black smoke and shooting flames into the sky, the bands strike up the “Himno a Valencia,” and the Falla is engulfed. As the fire grows in intensity the front rows of the crowds fall back to escape the searing heat, cheers erupt from the mob and firemen hose down the surrounding buildings to prevent the glass panes from exploding. In squares and streets all over the city, the Fallas are succumbing to the same fate as they have for nearly two centuries.

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