---
title: "Botafumeiro schedule: when to see it"
description: "Booking it costs 450-500 € and it flies for certain at the 12 solemnities of 2026. Grounded by the dome scaffolding as of 24 August."
url: https://santiago.es/en/what-to-see/botafumeiro
locale: en
---

# Botafumeiro schedule: when to see it

What to see · The botafumeiro

There are twelve dates a year when the Cathedral Chapter guarantees it flies. Every other day depends on whether a group has booked it privately — which happens more often than the twelve-date list suggests.

![El botafumeiro volando en la nave de la Catedral, grabado dorado](https://santiago.es/img/illus/botafumeiro.jpg)

[© santiago.es · Ilustración](https://santiago.es)

By [Cesar Rodriguez](https://santiago.es/en/author) · updated 8 September 2026

Updated 6 September 2026.

The botafumeiro doesn't fly at random: the Cathedral publishes a fixed calendar of twelve solemnities on which it's guaranteed to swing. Outside those dates, it can still fly if a group has booked and paid for it in advance — which happens more often than the twelve fixed dates alone would suggest. Here's what's worth knowing before you plan around it.

The Cathedral confirms it in writing: the botafumeiro is still out of service

**On 5 September 2026 the Cathedral confirmed it to us by email**: the botafumeiro «continues to be out of service». That is the office that handles bookings, and it **gives no date for its return**. Until that day the only source was the press.

**El Correo Gallego confirmed to santiago.es** on 24 August that the botafumeiro is temporarily out of service, and gives the reason: as the restoration of the cimborrio — the lantern tower over the crossing — advances on the inside, mostly recovering its polychromy, the scaffolding has been lowered a little, and in that position it covers the mechanism the botafumeiro hangs from. Nothing is broken, and there is no date for its return.

There is still no official notice *on their website*: **the Cathedral has published nothing** — the only notice there about this dates from December 2023, before the previous restoration — and their liturgical calendar still lists the dates in the table below, unchanged. We wrote to them on 23 August and they answered on 5 September, by email rather than on their site: rechecked that same afternoon, the liturgy page is unchanged. One warning about what circulates elsewhere: the Camino groups on Facebook treat two different return dates as settled, «late October» and «a few days in the second half of August», and neither has a source. We are not repeating them.

**They have spoken to the press, though, on 25 August**, and it shifts the forecast. Cathedral sources told El Correo Gallego they are **deliberately not setting a date**, given how this kind of restoration goes; that the situation «will last **several weeks**»; and that people close to the works place its return **towards the last months of the year**, with no fixed schedule. They will use the pause to service the mechanism, including the rope the botafumeiro hangs from. So of the two versions circulating in August — «until December 2026 or until further notice» and «working again before mid-October» — **the October one no longer holds**: nobody confirms it and the Cathedral itself points later. If your trip depends on seeing it, assume it will not fly this autumn.

**One thing worth knowing before you write to book it**, flagged for what it is. On 24 August, in a pilgrims' group, a user reported having phoned the Pilgrim Reception Office and been told they have **instructions not to accept botafumeiro bookings until the works finish**, with an expectation of wrapping up «by the end of October» and the caveat that roof work depends on the weather. That is second hand and we have not been able to confirm it. We include it because, if it is true, it explains why the address below is unlikely to give you a useful answer over the next few weeks.

The advice stands: **if the trip depends on seeing it, email [botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es](mailto:botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es) before you book**, and do not treat the guaranteed dates as settled until they confirm them.

## The 12 guaranteed dates

According to the liturgical calendar published by the Cathedral (catedraldesantiago.es/liturgia), the botafumeiro flies at the main Mass on these twelve solemnities. The movable dates shift each year with the liturgical calendar — here are the next concrete ones:

The time is the part almost nobody publishes, and **it is not 12:00**. On those dates the chapter processes with the botafumeiro first and the Mass follows *afterwards*, so it starts earlier than the midday Mass of an ordinary day: **11:40** on most of them, **10:30** on 25 July because of the National Offering, and in the evening at Clavijo. The times below are from the programme the Cathedral publishes for 2026; the 2027 ones are known once its calendar comes out.

**Dates the botafumeiro is guaranteed to fly at Santiago Cathedral**

| Solemnity | Type | Date | Time (2026 programme) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Epiphany | Fixed | 6 January | 11:40 |
| Easter Sunday | Movable | 28 March 2027 | 11:15 |
| Ascension | Movable | 6 May 2027 (Thursday; transferred to Sunday 9 May in Spain) | No time published |
| Apparition of the Apostle at Clavijo | Fixed | 23 May | 19:30 |
| Pentecost | Movable | 16 May 2027 | 11:40 |
| St James the Apostle | Fixed | 25 July | 10:30 |
| Assumption of Mary | Fixed | 15 August | 11:40 |
| All Saints | Fixed | 1 November | 11:40 |
| Christ the King | Movable | 22 November 2026 / 21 November 2027 | 11:40 |
| Immaculate Conception | Fixed | 8 December | 11:40 |
| Christmas | Fixed | 25 December | 11:40 |
| Translation of the Apostle | Fixed | 30 December | 11:40 |

## Outside those dates: more likely than it sounds

The mechanism was designed with around 12 flights a year in mind — the dates above. In practice it flies far more: Daniel Lorenzo, director of the Cathedral Foundation, explained in 2024 that it can swing up to three times in a single day, given how many groups book it privately. So seeing it is considerably more likely than the twelve-date list implies, though it's never guaranteed on a random day unless it lines up with a solemnity or a private booking.

## How to book it for a group

Requests go in writing to **botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es**, through the Pilgrim Reception Office. There's no official published fee, but press sources and tour operators that arrange these bookings put the cost at around **€450-500**, unofficial and approximate, paid by bank transfer and usually including reserved bench seating for the group. Pilgrim forums have reports ranging from about €400 to considerably more depending on the date and group size, so treat any figure as indicative: the Cathedral confirms the exact amount when you make the request.

## Do the 2026 works affect it?

Now they do, and that is this week's news. The interior restoration that moved masses out of the Cathedral ran from 2019 to 2021 and is finished: as of July 2026, every mass — including the pilgrim's mass at 7:30 am, 9:30 am, noon and 7:30 pm — is held inside the Cathedral, at the Altar Mayor. Restoring the Berenguela clock tower (2026-2027) and several chapel roofs is exterior work and doesn't affect the botafumeiro; what each of the 2026 works actually closes, and what stays open, is set out in [our piece on the Cathedral works](https://santiago.es/en/news/cathedral-works-2026).

The one that does affect it is the cimborrio, the lantern tower over the crossing. As the work advances inside, the scaffolding has come down a little and now covers the mechanism the botafumeiro hangs from, so it cannot fly while that is in place. That is the reason El Correo Gallego gives, and it explains the notice at the top of this page: the mechanism is not broken, it is the scaffolding.

Travelling specifically to see it

Availability can vary from one day to the next, especially outside the twelve guaranteed dates. If you're planning a trip around seeing it, confirm availability by email at botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es before you arrive, rather than assuming. And if you are walking here, your arrival date is not a detail: the [stage planner](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/planner) lets you work the last day back so that you arrive on one of the twelve solemnities.

## The botafumeiro during Xacobeo 2027

Holy Years bring more pilgrims — most of them arriving along [the five stages from Sarria to Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/stages-sarria-santiago) — and more crowded solemn masses, which drives up both guaranteed flights and private bookings — so it's reasonable to expect it to fly more often during **Xacobeo 2027**. That said, there's no official confirmation it will fly daily or every Sunday: don't assume it, and check the Cathedral's calendar close to your travel dates. Everything else about the Holy Year — the Holy Door, the jubilee indulgence, expected crowds — is covered in [the Xacobeo 2027 guide](https://santiago.es/en/xacobeo-2027).

## How it works: the technical details

The current incense burner is an 1851 brass replica by goldsmith José Losada — the original, solid silver and a gift from King Louis XI of France, was taken by Napoleonic troops. A silver-plating job in 2006 pushed its weight up to around **62 kg** (it was closer to 53 kg before the plating); it stands 1.5 m tall.

It hangs from a rope roughly 65 m long and about 5 cm thick, pulled by eight men, the **tiraboleiros**, hauling together from the crossing floor. It's loaded with incense and charcoal before mass. In full flight it traces an arc of around 65 m between the Azabachería and Praterías doors, reaches up to 21 m in height (an 82° angle) and speeds of up to 68 km/h, with about 17 swings over just over a minute and a half. When the main censer isn't available, a smaller stand-in nicknamed **"la Alcachofa"** ("the Artichoke") is used instead.

## The schedule: which mass, and where to stand

On the fixed dates it usually flies at the noon main Mass or the solemnity's central Mass; for private bookings, it's whichever Mass the group has arranged, often 7:30 pm or noon (approximate — it depends on the group). The four daily mass times are on [the Cathedral mass times page](https://santiago.es/en/what-to-see/cathedral/mass-times). For a good view, the transept arms — near the exit toward the Azabachería, diagonal to the high altar — tend to give a better angle than the central nave, where the censer swings overhead without the swing being as easy to appreciate up close.

Check how packed it is before you walk down

CRTVG runs a [public camera in the central nave](https://santiago.es/en/webcams) that refreshes every five minutes and points at the high altar. You will not see the censer swinging — it is a photo, not video — but you will see **how many people are already inside**, which is what actually decides whether it is time to leave. On guaranteed dates the basilica fills an hour ahead.

## Two moments it went wrong

The botafumeiro has been flying for centuries, and only two documented incidents are known. In 1499, with the Infanta Catalina of Aragon present in the Cathedral, it broke loose and smashed against the Praterías door; the popular version where it "flew out the window" is legend — physically impossible, according to experts who've studied the mechanism — though the collision with the door did happen. On 23 May 1622 the rope snapped and it fell to the crossing floor, with no injuries. Other 20th-century anecdotes circulate, but they're unverified.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the botafumeiro schedule?**

There's no daily timetable: it flies at the main Mass of the twelve guaranteed solemnities — usually the noon Mass — and, the rest of the year, at whichever Mass a private group has booked, often noon or 7:30 pm. If your trip depends on seeing it, confirm the date with the Cathedral at botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es.

**When does the botafumeiro fly?**

It's guaranteed on twelve fixed solemnities of the liturgical calendar, including Epiphany, St James the Apostle (25 July), the Assumption, All Saints, Christmas and the Translation of the Apostle (30 December), plus movable dates like Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Christ the King. Outside those dates, it can fly if a group has booked it privately.

**Does it fly every day?**

There's no daily guarantee, but it's not rare either: the Cathedral Foundation's director has said it can swing up to three times in a single day thanks to private group bookings, though it's never 100% certain on a random day.

**How much does it cost to book?**

Roughly €450-500, paid by bank transfer and with reserved seating for the group. That figure is not an official published fee: it comes from press sources and from tour operators who handle the requests, and pilgrim forums quote anything from around €400 upwards depending on the date and the size of the group. The Cathedral confirms the exact price when you request it at botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es. Note that the botafumeiro is currently out of service because of the dome works.

**Which mass does it fly at?**

On the fixed dates, usually the noon main Mass or the solemnity's central Mass. For private bookings, whichever Mass the group has arranged, often noon or 7:30 pm (approximate, it varies by booking).

**Where should I stand to see it well?**

The transept arms, near the exit toward the Azabachería and diagonal to the high altar, tend to give a better view than the central nave, where it swings overhead without the motion being as easy to appreciate up close.

**Will it fly more often during Xacobeo 2027?**

It's reasonable to expect so: Holy Years bring more crowded solemn masses and more private bookings. There's no official confirmation, however, that it will fly daily or every Sunday of 2027.

## Keep reading

**[Santiago Cathedral: hours and tickets](https://santiago.es/en/what-to-see/cathedral)** — The full visit — Museum, Pórtico de la Gloria, rooftop and every official price, kept current. — Read the guide

**[Xacobeo 2027: the Holy Year guide](https://santiago.es/en/xacobeo-2027)** — The next Holy Year — The Holy Door, the jubilee indulgence, and what changes in Santiago during a Holy Year. — Read the guide

**[What to do when you reach Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/arriving)** — Arriving on foot — The Compostela, the pilgrim's mass and the embrace of the Apostle, step by step. — Read the guide