The Heart of Feria del Caballo

A day trip from Seville to Feria del Caballo — the horse fair of Jerez, and one of Andalusia's great spring festivals — as the guest of a local family. (2027 is the fair's 60th anniversary; it runs 24 April–1 May.) Feria del Caballo fills the González Hontoria park each spring: some two hundred casetas hung with paper lanterns. At its center is the horse — Pura Raza Española and Cartujana, the Carthusian bloodline bred in Jerez since the 15th century — paraded through the fairgrounds each afternoon by riders in traje corto and traje de flamenca, on horseback and in carriages. Your host brings you into this world, explains the codes, and receives you at a caseta for a full Andalusian lunch with the sherry that is Jerez's own — fino, manzanilla, and the rebujito. There is flamenco, too — Jerez is one of its cradles, and the bulería was born here. And there is the refinement particular to this feria: the aristocratic sherry families who move along its avenues on their horses.

The Feria del Caballo has many casetas that are open to the public. Anyone can walk in, buy a rebujito, listen to music. What you will visit are a few private casetas — the ones that belong to families, sherry houses, and social circles. Lunch in one of them, at a table among the family's own friends, is what Reyes has arranged. The horse-and-carriage ride is the same distinction. You can watch the Paseo de Caballos from the fence; but what this experience offers is a private carriage inside the procession, moving along the avenues among the riders and enganches of the sherry families. Jerez is one of the three cradles of flamenco — with Seville and Cádiz — and the bulería was born in the Gitano quarter of Santiago, among families who have passed the art down for generations. What you hear among friends, in a private setting, is the flamenco and the bulería that local families dance to. Reyes's relationships make this possible.

Reyes García is a cultural curator whose festival experiences share one principle: the parts of Andalusian celebrations worth traveling for are entered by invitation, through relationships built patiently over years. She ensures you feel welcomed and invited into a world that belongs first to its community, and that the families who receive you are properly cared for. The exchange runs both ways. Your host is a Jerezano who belongs to one of the city's families or brotherhoods. Their circle of friends are what this day is built around. In Reyes's own words: "It is thanks to friendship, trust, and my personal connections that doors are opened, allowing us to share deeply personal moments with people who, only moments before, were strangers. This is the essence I wish to transmit."

Dress: Ladies wear a full-length traje de flamenca, solid or polka dot; if you don't have one, Reyes can advise on sourcing (dresses are made to measure). Gentlemen wear a suit and tie; many men carry the tie and put it on only when entering a caseta. Shoes: Comfortable — you'll be on your feet for hours.