Torrevieja’s paella contest: 80 places, one week to register, and a date that does not add up

Torrevieja opens registration for its 34th paella contest on Monday 16 November, and closes it again on Sunday the 22nd. There are eighty places and they go in the order the applications arrive.

If you are registered on the padrón in Torrevieja and you have ever thought about entering, that is your week. If you are not on the padrón, you cannot enter at all, which is the detail most write ups leave out.

Below: the rules in full, the two that catch people out, and the problem with the date the council has published.

The week that matters

Everything about this contest is decided before December.

Registration runs from Monday 16 to Sunday 22 November 2026. Seven days, and then it is shut.

Where. Through the council’s Sede Electrónica, or in person at the Registro General, the PROP office. The form appears on the electronic office and is handed out at PROP.

Eighty groups, strictly in order of application. Pitches in the Parque Antonio Soria are allocated the same way. Applying on the Friday is not the same as applying on the Monday.

One paella per group.

You need the group representative, the group or peña details, an address and a contact number. Have them ready rather than assembling them inside the form.

New this year: if a participant is under eighteen, a parent or legal guardian has to fill in and sign the annex authorising them to take part.

Who can enter, and who cannot

This is the line that decides whether the rest of the article is useful to you.

You must be on the padrón of Torrevieja. The rules say anyone who wishes to take part and is registered in the municipality. Registration on the padrón is the gate.

Which rules out most visitors, and anyone resident in a neighbouring municipality. Living in Spain is not enough; living in Torrevieja on paper is.

If you have just moved and have not registered, this is a reason to do it. The padrón also governs things with considerably more weight than a rice competition.

Everyone else can still turn up. Watching eighty paellas being cooked at once in a market enclosure is the better half of the day anyway, and it costs nothing.

The date problem

Here is something the council will probably correct, and you should know about before you book anything around it.

The published rules say the contest is on Saturday 6 December. That is the wording in the announcement.

6 December 2026 is a Sunday. It is also Constitution Day, the first half of the December bridge.

Local coverage splits. One outlet reproduces Saturday the 6th, another writes Sunday the 6th. The date is almost certainly right and the weekday wrong, but we are not going to guess on your behalf.

If you are entering, confirm it when you register. The PROP counter will know. And since the whole thing sits inside the Fiestas Patronales programme, the surrounding days will have their own events.

What the council provides and what you bring

The division is unusually generous on one side and unusually strict on the other.

The Concejalía de Fiestas pays for all the ingredients. Every ingredient in every competing paella, up to a maximum of one kilo of rice per contestant. You are not buying the rabbit.

You bring the hardware. Pans, paelleras, cooking utensils, all of it yours.

And the burner has to be certified. The paellero must carry the proper homologation, and so must the gas hose, which also has to be within its expiry date. This is the rule that sends people home. Check the date stamped on your hose this weekend, not on the morning.

No private sound systems inside the enclosure. The Fiestas department has its own music programmed for the day and does not want eighty competing playlists.

How the day runs

It is a long day, and it starts earlier than the cooking does.

From 07:00 participants can get into the market enclosure at the Parque Antonio Soria. That is six hours before the contest starts, and it is when the good pitches get set up.

13:00: the contest begins.

14:00 to 15:00: the jury tastes. Paellas are presented in the order they are finished, inside that window.

Late is out. No paella handed over outside the hour is accepted. There is no discretion written into the rules.

Six prizes, with a jury appointed by the organisers.

Scored one to four on four things: presentation, flavour, texture of the rice, and the point of cooking. Three of those four are about the rice rather than what is on top of it, which tells you where to put your attention.

The other contest nobody mentions

Running alongside it is the seventh T-shirt competition, and it is a lower barrier to entry in every sense.

The shirt has to reference Torrevieja. The city’s coat of arms, a monument, something recognisable. Beyond that the design is free.

You register on the day, at the jury point inside the enclosure, up to 13:00. No electronic office, no week long window.

Three prizes, all trophies: best design, best slogan or wittiest phrase, and the most striking shirt.

Which is the one worth entering if you want to be part of the day without owning a certified gas burner.

Frequently asked questions about the Torrevieja paella contest

When does registration open? Monday 16 November 2026, and it closes on Sunday 22 November.

Where do I register? The council’s Sede Electrónica, or in person at the Registro General, the PROP office.

How many places are there? Eighty groups, allocated in the order applications arrive.

Can I enter if I am not on the padrón? No. Registration in the municipality is a condition.

What does it cost? The ingredients are paid for by the Fiestas department, up to one kilo of rice per contestant. You supply the equipment.

When is the contest itself? 6 December. The published rules call that a Saturday; it falls on a Sunday. Confirm when you register.

What time should I arrive? Access from 07:00, cooking from 13:00, judging 14:00 to 15:00.

Can I just come and watch? Yes, and if you cannot enter, that is the plan. See the diary and food and drink for the rest.

About the authorMilo Schuijt

Milo Schuijt is an entrepreneur and DJ on the Costa Blanca. He writes about the places where he lives, works and plays: from beach bars to the housing market.