The short version: Dijous Bo, “Good Thursday”, is the great autumn fair of Inca, the town in the center of Mallorca that has held markets and fairs for centuries, and the town hall calls it the most important fair on the island. In 2026 it falls on Thursday, November 19, with the night before, Dimecres Bo, as its opening act. It is a farm, livestock and trade fair in one, and this guide explains where it comes from, what you see, how to get there and what Inca is like the rest of the year.
What Dijous Bo is
Inca is the capital of the Raiguer, the area between the Serra de Tramuntana and the central plain, and most of the year it is a working town of shoe brands, shops and a weekly Thursday market. One Thursday in November it becomes something else. The town’s tourism office describes Dijous Bo as a market drawing people from all over Mallorca, with exhibitions, livestock competitions, concerts and sport, and the center turned into a giant open-air market. The town hall calls it the most important fair in Mallorca, and its motto for 2026 is Dijous Bo, la fira de les fires, “the fair of fairs” (Ajuntament d’Inca; Inca Turística).
The 2026 date is confirmed twice. The town hall’s call for the official 2026 poster requires the words “Dijous Bo 2026” and “19 de novembre”, and the Balearic Government’s calendar of local holidays lists Friday, November 20, as Inca’s holiday, “the Friday after Dijous Bo”. The same calendar shows two neighboring municipalities, Selva and Mancor de la Vall, taking Thursday, November 19, as their local holiday (Govern de les Illes Balears). For an American, the closest comparison is a county fair, a farmers’ market and a Main Street festival rolled into one day, with five centuries of history behind it.
A fair with five centuries of documents
Gabriel Pieras Salom’s history Dijous Bo, un fet històric, published in 2002 with the support of the town hall and held in the digital library of the University of the Balearic Islands, explains why the calendar looks the way it does. In 1543, the town of Llucmajor obtained a royal privilege to hold its own fairs; Inca went to court, and the lawsuits ended in 1546. From then on, Inca held its fairs after Llucmajor’s: on the first Sunday after Saint Luke’s Day, October 18, and the two Sundays that followed, with Dijous Bo as the fourth and final fair.
The same book transcribes the town’s ordinances of 1849, which describe the fairs as held “since the most remote antiquity” on the three Sundays after October 18, and place Dijous Bo on the second Thursday after the last of them. The 2026 calendar follows that pattern: the third fair ends on Sunday, November 8, and Dijous Bo comes eleven days later. A royal order of 1924, also cited in the book, declared Inca’s fairs traditional. For some historians, says the Government’s tourism site, it began as a medieval market where farmers from across the island traded livestock and goods (illesbalears.travel).
The three autumn fairs that lead up to it
Dijous Bo closes a season. In 2026, the town hall’s program sets out three themed fair weeks (Fires d’Inca 2026):
- Fira de la Terra (October 19 to 25): flowers and plants, traditional trades, a lamb auction and a fair of local associations.
- Fira de l’Esport i l’Oci (October 26 to November 1): a motor show, a record fair, a leather festival and a mule and donkey show.
- Fira d’Època (November 2 to 8): a medieval market with street parades, a design and crafts market, an equestrian show and falconry.
The week before Dijous Bo has its own rituals: in 2025, the pregó, the opening speech, at the Teatre Principal on the Friday; the Dijous Bo car rally, bonfires and a fire run with devils on the Saturday; and, on the Sunday, a gathering of giant figures and a solemn Mass at the church of Santa Maria la Major with the town’s Cossiers dancers (Ajuntament d’Inca, Dijous Bo 2025).
What you see on Wednesday and Thursday
The 2026 program had not been published at the time of writing; in 2025 it went online on November 4. Across Wednesday and Thursday, the 2025 edition included:
- The farmers’ market, the mercat pagès, through the old streets from the Plaça del Bestiar to the train station. Presenting the 2013 edition, the town hall required stallholders to wear traditional farm dress and use wooden or old-style stalls, selling food, cured meats, vintage clothes, kitchen linen, crafts, vegetables and tools.
- The livestock show in the Plaça del Bestiar, the “livestock square”: the breed competition of the Mallorcan black pig, the porc negre, local farm animals, native poultry and birds of prey with flying displays.
- Machinery and vehicles: farm machinery on the Gran Via de Colom, and car, truck and heavy-machinery dealers on the industrial estate.
- Horses: dressage, jumping and carriage-driving displays in the Plaça de la Font Vella.
- Trade and tradition: a merchants’ trade show and the xeremiers, Mallorca’s traditional pipers, playing through the market.
The Government’s tourism site lists what fills the stalls: leather goods, olives and pickles, jams, olive oil, cheese, ceramics, Mallorcan embroidery, stone and woodwork and jewelry. In 2013, the town hall counted more than 500 street stalls, about half in the farmers’ market, over more than six kilometers. The official 2024 poster summed it up in one image: a traditional basket overflowing with Inca’s landmarks, its giant figures, sobrassada, an ensaïmada, Quelitas biscuits, animals, cars and shoes.
Dimecres Bo: the night before
Dijous Bo starts on Wednesday. In 2025, the official opening, with pipers and folk dancers, was at 5:30 pm in the Plaça del Bestiar, and the farmers’ market stayed open until 10 pm. From late afternoon, bars and clubs in the center ran special Dimecres Bo nights with DJs until 5 am. At 5 am the music stops so the stalls can be set up for Thursday, as the town hall explained in 2013.
For residents, the two days feel different: Wednesday evening is the fair as a night out, busy and loud; Thursday is the fair as a market, from morning to evening. In 2013 the town hall asked visitors to spread out over the 48 hours rather than all arrive on Thursday morning.
Getting there: the train
Inca’s station is on all three lines of the island’s train network, T1, T2 and T3, from Palma’s intermodal station at the Plaça d’Espanya, and the farmers’ market reaches the station itself (Inca Turística). The Government’s tourism site points to the train as the way to avoid the day’s traffic jams and parking problems. SFM, the island’s rail company, announces any special services on its special services page; in October 2026 it did not yet list any.
By car, OpenStreetMap routing puts the center of Inca, in free-flowing traffic, about 26 minutes from central Palma, 33 from the airport, 45 from Campos and 54 from Ses Salines. On Dijous Bo it is anything but free-flowing: each year the town hall sets up a special traffic plan with extra parking around the center; in 2013, it closed more than 60 streets from Wednesday midday until late on Thursday (Ajuntament d’Inca).
What we tell a first-time visitor
Four things we say to clients who ask about Dijous Bo. Take the train from Palma: on that day the roads into Inca and the parking are a mess. Go on Thursday, early: Wednesday night is the fair as a night out in the bars, and the fair itself is Thursday morning. Spend your time on the authentic part, the livestock, the farm machinery and the farmers’ market, rather than on the fairground stalls. And eat in one of Inca’s cellers, booking ahead or arriving early, because lunch in a celler is part of the day.
Inca the rest of the year
The tourism office traces shoemaking in Inca to the 13th century, guilds to the 15th, and the move to industry to the late 19th century, accelerated by electricity in 1915 and by the railway. Lottusse, Camper, Heymo, Carmina and Fàbrica Buades are still in Inca, several with outlet stores, and the Museu del Calçat i de la Indústria, in a pavilion of the former General Luque barracks, tells the story to the present day (Inca Turística).
The weekly market fills the center every Thursday morning, from the train station to the Plaça d’Orient, and the Plaça del Bestiar holds a Sunday market of produce and second-hand goods. Then there are the cellers: tall old wine cellars where wine was made and stored in large barrels until phylloxera ended the vineyards in the 19th century, now restaurants; the tourism office names Can Ripoll, Ca n’Amer and Sa Travessa among them (Inca Turística). In spring, Inca has a second “good Thursday”, Dijous Gros.
To place the center of the island next to Palma, the coast and the south-east, see our guide to where to live in Mallorca.
What you need to know
When is Dijous Bo 2026?
On Thursday, November 19, 2026, according to the Ajuntament d’Inca. The night before, Wednesday, November 18, is Dimecres Bo, and Friday, November 20, is a local holiday in Inca.
What does Dijous Bo mean?
“Good Thursday” in Mallorquín. It is the name of Inca’s great autumn fair, held on a Thursday in November after the town’s three Sunday fairs.
Is Dijous Bo the biggest fair in Mallorca?
The Ajuntament d’Inca calls it the most important fair in Mallorca, and the Balearic Government’s tourism site describes it as one of the largest markets on the island.
How do you get to Dijous Bo from Palma?
By train, on lines T1, T2 or T3 from Palma’s intermodal station at the Plaça d’Espanya. The farmers’ market reaches Inca station, and the train avoids the day’s traffic and parking.
What is there to see at Dijous Bo?
A farmers’ market with traditional stalls, a livestock show with the Mallorcan black pig, farm machinery, horse displays, crafts, leather and food stalls.
Where we work
We work across Mallorca from our base in the south-east, where you can browse homes in Santanyí, homes in Ses Salines and homes in Campos. If the center of the island or any other area is on your list, contact Villas y Fincas Mallorca and we will answer in English.
Updated October 2026. The 2026 dates come from the Ajuntament d’Inca and the Balearic Government’s calendar of local holidays; program details are those of the official 2025 program and may change in 2026. Historical facts come from Gabriel Pieras Salom’s Dijous Bo, un fet històric (2002) and the official tourism sites of Inca and the Balearic Islands; driving times come from OpenStreetMap routing. All sources were consulted in October 2026; this guide is for general information only.
