Some come to Rototom for the reggae. Some come for the beach. Some are looking for a family holiday. Some want to dance until dawn. Some need to stop, breathe, and slow down. Some travel to this Mediterranean corner to discover other cultures. Some seek answers to issues that concern them: from the housing crisis to the climate emergency or human rights. Some look for a festival where their children can have as much fun as any adult. And some, quite simply, want to feel free. For all of them, there is a place. One festival, but with a thousand ways to live it. Welcome to The Place to Be.
In its 31st edition, the Rototom Sunsplash slogan is an invitation to be and to belong, reaffirming the festival’s essence as a space for coexistence and a cultural refuge where another way of enjoying leisure time is possible. For one week, starting this Sunday, August 16, with the Welcome Party, and running until next Saturday, August 22, this global, inclusive, and multifaceted ephemeral city gets underway, where music is just one of the many ways to take part in the experience. At Rototom, there is no single predetermined path: with a map of activities stretching from the morning on the beach, continuing from the early afternoon in the extra-musical areas, and extending until dawn between stages, each person can design their own a la carte experience. How will you live your Rototom 2026? We’ll tell you all about it.
Above all, be yourself: The Place to Be Yourself
If there is one thing that defines the Rototom community, it is its diversity. Every summer, audiences from over a hundred nationalities (110 in the last edition) and all ages meet in Benicasim: nearly 17,000 minors and over 11,000 people over 65 lived the experience in 2025, according to official data. Amidst this amalgam of generations, cultures, and accents, one thing is clear: there is no dress code here, nor a single way to experience the festival. There is respect and freedom to choose your own pace, your own plan, and your own way of enjoying yourself.
If you are looking for shared time: The Place to Enjoy with Your Family
From here, which festival route should you choose if you are travelling as a family? For those who see holidays as shared time, Rototom proposes a family experience that starts long before the concerts, debunking the myth that festivals are not for children. Its family areas offer a whole universe of learning and fun as a team.
Magicomundo once again becomes a space for learning, creating, and playing. It innovates with the Cuentoteca, a corner for reading and book swapping, and will bring forward proposals such as Tales of the World to Be and Dream (Monday 17), a journey through the history of ska and reggae with Josele Ska (Tuesday 18), and the Pájaros al Viento workshops (Wednesday 19), featuring music, instruments, body percussion, and activities linked to nature and the Rototom seed bank.
At the festival, teenagers also have their own world: Teen Yard invites them to meet, express themselves, and enjoy urban culture. Throughout the week, there will be workshops on parkour (R-Evolution School), social basketball (Zineb Social Basket), graffiti, breakdance, and rap production (BlackUhuru Educación), as well as more reflective proposals, such as the one on anti-racist language by Afrodiccionario. The highlight will come on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 with the Batalla de Promesas International Edition for young lyrical talents.
Specially aimed at young audiences, another of this year’s new features emerges: Reggae Jamroom, dedicated to improvisation and live reggae, which will bring together veteran musicians and new talents in sessions where Jamaican classics are reinterpreted in real time.
As night falls, RototomCircus will bring together national and international companies to stage clown, juggling, and acrobatic shows. A show every night at 9:45 PM, and to get things warmed up, circus workshops from 6:30 PM. Minutes before, collective batucadas will fill the venue with rhythm in their daily parades, which this year will converge in front of the Lion Stage, the first stage to raise the curtain.
Slowing down: The Place to Be Healthy
For those looking to slow down and find a moment of calm and reconnection, the Pachamama space proposes a different speed: sessions of yoga, acroyoga, biodanza, conscious movement, and body listening will coexist daily with workshops on health, nature, and agroecology. The programme also invites you to learn and relate to the environment in a different way, from water purification and making natural cosmetics to seed extraction and tasting, or the sampling of wild plants brought by Gastrobotánicas. A space to breathe, learn, and enjoy a holiday with more time and less haste, which this year also debuts a six-petalled hexagonal structure to provide shade for the most popular activities.
For foodies: a culinary journey through Senegal, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, or Jamaica
The venue turns into a large international gastronomic market with 25 proposals from every continent. The route includes everything from authentic Jamaican recipes and Argentine grills to new additions like Japanese cuisine from Asoko, customisable Indian recipes from Little India, social inclusion proposals from the Abarka cooperative restaurant, coffees and matchas from Kokoá Kulture, or craft hemp beer from Alba di Montegibbio. All this with extensive vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free alternatives.
The Place to Feel: a line-up without borders
And, of course, there is the music. The reason why thousands of people make the journey to Benicasim every August. In its 31st edition, the festival unfolds a line-up that connects the roots of reggae with its present and opens the genre to new sonic routes: from the spirituality and legacy of roots reggae by legends like Alpha Blondy, Luciano, The Itals, Bushman, or Twinkle Brothers, to the contemporary energy of Major Lazer Soundsystem, Shenseea, Protoje, Kybba, or Mr Vegas. The history of Jamaican music will also be represented by The Skatalites, the foundational band of ska, while names like Queen Omega, Dub Inc, Biga*Ranx, Greentea Peng, Hollie Cook, or Alpha Steppa widen the map of reggae, dub, and their multiple branches. And, true to its vocation of being a line-up without borders, Rototom opens up to other scenes and languages with artists like Lia Kali, Lady Leshurr, Eskorzo, Las Ninyas del Corro, or Natalia Doco, as well as unique proposals like the supergroup G-5, formed by Kiko Veneno, Muchachito, El Canijo de Jerez, Tomasito, and Diego ‘Ratón’.
The musical agenda of the Welcome Party joins in, adding an extra day of experience this Sunday, August 16, and will be free for Benicasim residents and for those with a festival pass or ticket. It will offer eight uninterrupted hours of music, from 8:00 PM to 4:00 AM. On the Lion Stage, the spotlight will be on the three winning bands of Rumbo a Rototom 2026: Mountain Tops (10:00 PM); Sotabosc (11:15 PM), and Iyaman Pablo & Irie Reggae Vibes (12:30 AM). Sessions by Leon Selector and two hours of sound from Fakeguido (from 1:15 AM to 3:15 AM) will complete the programming for this space. Meanwhile, the Dub Academy will vibrate from eight in the evening with three hours by Dub Academy All Stars, followed by Good Over Evil (11:00 PM) and a jungle-rhythm closing by OTO Old School starting at 2:00 AM.
And to enjoy the line-up without missing any of the concerts, the best ally is the Fest app: you can check the programme, save your favourite artists, and receive a notification before each concert starts to always have your essentials at hand and not miss anything happening at Rototom.
Social and environmental activism: The Place to Be Conscious
Rototom’s programming fuels activism and social commitment. The Social Forum (held at the Teatre Municipal de Benicàssim) will address current major challenges in four free-access sessions, such as the housing crisis (Tuesday 18) and the climate emergency (Wednesday 19), the latter with the online participation of ecofeminist leader Vandana Shiva and young Colombian activist Francisco Vera. Within the Jamkunda space, the Ataya Social Café cultural square will bring together African diaspora collectives such as United Souls, The Lab Oratory, Afrodiccionario, and Top Manta to share literature, art, and anti-racist reflection.
The solidarity dimension extends to the four social projects that Rototom will support in 2026 through the symbolic 10-euro single contribution from the inclusive passes: Fundación Ateneu Castelló, Payasospital, UNRWA Spain, and Stand Up for Jamaica. The commitment to Palestine will also be present in the daily life of the venue: Palestine Cola will be the soft drink brand sold exclusively at the festival this year.
In environmental activism, Rototom takes another step forward in the reduction of fossil fuels with new photovoltaic systems at the Lion Stage and one of the camping areas, which will avoid the consumption of over 6,000 litres of diesel and the emission of 7.7 tonnes of CO₂, reducing the use of fossil fuels in both spaces by 90%.
This spirit of care for the environment is also expressed through the market offerings, with 42 stalls featuring products from independent designers and small artisans, African tailoring, natural cosmetics, and responsible proposals, as well as merchandising produced with sustainable materials and under certified ethical standards.
The Place to Return
The true essence of Rototom is that there is no single Rototom. There is the Rototom for the reggae fan. The one for the family. The one for the traveller. The one for the activist. The one for those who need to dance. The one for those who prefer to listen. The one for those who arrive alone and end up finding a whole community. Rototom Sunsplash condenses the whole world into seven days in Benicasim, shaping an emotional and human destination ready to open its doors this Sunday, and to leave that mark that makes you want to return.
