World Cheese Awards
The World Cheese Awards is the world's biggest cheese competition, held every year by The Guild of Fine Food, a British trade association for the fine food sector. The 2025 edition counted with 5,244 cheeses from 46 countries, a record for the competition.
It started in the UK in 1988 and now moves to a different country every year. The last three editions took place in Norway, Portugal and Switzerland, and in 2026 it's Spain's turn, with Córdoba hosting it as part of the International Cheese Festival Andalucía Gusto del Sur. Spain has hosted the competition before, in San Sebastián in 2016 and Oviedo in 2021, so Córdoba will be the third Spanish city to host it and the first one in Andalusia.
Hundreds of cheeses take home bronze, silver, gold and Super Gold medals, and there are also trophies for categories like best artisan cheese or best raw milk cheese, among many others. Every cheese is judged in a blind tasting by judges from around the world, and the top ones go through to a final that crowns the World Champion Cheese, the best cheese in the world that year.
Practical information
Edition
38th
Festival
November 12 to 15, 2026
Competition
Thursday, November 12, 2026
Venue
Centro de Exposiciones, Ferias y Convenciones (CEFC), next to Parque Joyero, Av. de la Fábrica, s/n, Córdoba
Programa interativo
Do you have to be in the cheese business to go?
A big part of the festival is aimed at people who work in the industry, but there's plenty on offer for those of us who just love cheese. And lots of people go! Around 15,000 visitors came to the 2021 edition in Oviedo.
Anyone can join the tastings and pairings, take a guided tour and shop for cheese from all over Spain and beyond at the festival market. The only thing you need a professional ticket for is watching the judging and the final up close on November 12.
The festival is split into different areas, each with its own activities, and a general admission ticket gets you into almost all of them. Here's what you'll find in each one.
Cheese Market
The festival's market, all about cheese. Around 50 cheesemakers from Spain and abroad sell their cheeses and related products.
Aula de Experimentación
The place for cheese tastings and pairings, open to everyone. Sessions run from November 13 to 15, and you sign up on the day at the festival information point.
Lactópolis
A space for talks and debates on food and farming topics, open to both professionals and the public.
Gusto del Sur
The stand for Andalusia's food quality label, which brings together all the region's certified products. As the host region, it has a stand in the Hall, on the first floor.
Exhibitors
The stands are spread over three areas. The Boulevard is home to all kinds of gourmet products, the Hall has regional governments and designations of origin showing off their local food, and the Arena, built around the competition area, brings together cheesemakers from different countries.
World Cheese Arena Tours
Tours led by judges that take you through each stage of the competition. You need to book online com antecedência.
Foro para la Innovación Lactoquesera
A forum with talks on science, technology and new projects in the dairy industry. It has its own separate ticket.
Tickets
There are four types of ticket, two for the general public and two for industry professionals or anyone who wants to follow the competition up close. They're all sold online through the official website.
General admission: €10
Valid for one day and includes a tasting of three cheeses from the competition, the Cheese Market, the exhibitor stands and the Lactópolis talks.
World Cheese Arena Tours: €20
Includes everything in general admission, plus a guided tour of the competition. Tours last around 45 minutes, run in Spanish or English, and are available on the afternoon of November 13 and all day on November 14.
Professional accreditation: €60
Gives you access to all four days, including November 12, when you can watch the judging and the final up close.
Foro de Innovación: €80
Includes everything in the professional accreditation, plus the forum talks on dairy innovation on November 13 and 14.
Keep in mind that general admission and tour tickets can't be refunded, and once you leave the venue you can't get back in on the same ticket. Children aged 8 and under get in free and must be accompanied by an adult.
FAQ
Here are the questions people ask most often about the festival, with quick answers to help you plan your visit and your trip to Córdoba.
The competition is on November 12, 2026, during the International Cheese Festival, which runs from November 12 to 15 at the Centro de Exposiciones, Ferias y Convenciones in Córdoba.
General admission is €10 and the World Cheese Arena Tours ticket, which includes a guided tour of the competition, is €20. For industry professionals, the professional accreditation is €60 and the Foro de Innovación ticket is €80. You can buy tickets on the official website.
Only with a professional accreditation or a Foro de Innovación ticket, because the judging and the final happen on November 12, which is for professionals only.
Not quite. On November 13 you can only get in from 2 pm, on November 14 you can go all day, and on November 15 only in the morning, since the festival closes at 2 pm.
Children aged 8 and under get in free with an adult. From age 9, they need a general admission ticket.
No. General admission and tour tickets are valid for a single entry per day.
General admission and tour tickets are non-refundable. The professional accreditation and the Foro ticket can be partly refunded, depending on when you cancel.
The easiest way is the AVE high-speed train. It's about 1 hour 45 minutes from Madrid, around 45 minutes from Seville and about an hour from Málaga. The closest airports are Seville and Málaga.
Yes. The festival has teamed up with AEHCOR, Córdoba's hotel association, to offer discounts at member hotels during the event. You'll find the list here.
The 2025 title, awarded in Bern, went to a Swiss Gruyère AOP aged for 18 months.
No. MiraEspanha isn't involved in organizing the event and doesn't sell tickets. All tickets are sold through the festival's official website.
