Search
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
French Guiana
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
DenmarkSpain
Finland
France
Greece
the Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
Portugal
the United Kingdom
the Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Canada
the United States
Mexico
the Dominican RepublicTurkey
South Africa
Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Popular festival · Santa Cruz de Tenerife
The capital of Tenerife’s Carnival, in the Canary Islands, with a monumental fantasy queen, murgas, comparsas and rondallas, the big Coso parade on Carnival Tuesday and balls that fill the squares and avenues of the center until dawn.
In the photo: Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife — Santa Cruz de Tenerife
At the end of winter, between February and March, following the movable Carnival calendar: the contests and the queen’s gala take place in the preceding weeks, and the streets celebrate from the opening cavalcade until the weekend after Ash Wednesday.
February/March
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the biggest festival in the Canary Islands and one of Europe’s best‑known street carnivals. For about two weeks the island’s capital is in party mode: there are competitions for musical groups, a gala to elect the queen, parades, outdoor balls and a crowd in costume in the streets, by day and by night. The Spanish government recognizes the event as of international tourist interest, and each edition has a theme that inspires the city’s decoration and many costumes.
Carnival arrived with the settlers and merchants, and Santa Cruz, a port city, has always celebrated it with balls and masks. During the dictatorship, when the festival was banned in much of Spain, the city kept its celebrations under another name, the Fiestas de Invierno. Over time, the Canary Islands’ ties with the Caribbean and South America influenced the sound of the festival, adding Latin rhythms, salsa and percussion alongside Spanish music.
The program starts on the stages. Murgas, groups of humor and satire, sing topical lyrics in eye‑catching costumes; comparsas dance and play Latin rhythms wearing feathered, glittering outfits; rondallas, the oldest ensembles, perform lyrical pieces with string instruments; and musical bands complete the lineup. The contests take place at the city fairgrounds. The highlight of the stage events is the queen’s election gala, when contestants parade in enormous costumes—structures many meters wide mounted on wheels—created by local designers over months.
Then the streets take over. The announcing cavalcade opens the festivities, with the queen, the groups and the floats parading through the center, and the following nights feature balls with orchestras and stages in the squares and avenues such as Plaza de España, Plaza de la Candelaria and Avenida de Anaga. There is also the Carnival de Día, with daytime dances in the center. On Carnival Tuesday, the Coso Apoteosis brings together all the prizewinning groups, the queen and the floats in a long parade along the seafront, on Avenida Francisco La Roche and the Marítima. On Ash Wednesday, the Enterro de la Sardina stages a mock funeral, with supposed widows mourning, ending with the burning of a giant sardine, and the party continues the following weekend with the Piñata and a final Carnival de Día.
Santa Cruz lies in the northeast of Tenerife, between the sea and the Anaga mountains, with a center of squares, parks and modern buildings such as the Auditorio de Tenerife. The Canaries’ mild winter allows outdoor celebrations by day and night, and the festival combines the scale of large parades with street balls where any visitor in costume can join in.
The queen election gala, with the candidates’ monumental costumes, watched from the fairgrounds or on screens in the squares. The announcing cavalcade that opens the street festival. A night of dancing in Plaza de España, Plaza de la Candelaria and other central spots to orchestras’ music. The Carnival de Día, with costumed people dancing in daylight. The Coso Apoteosis, on Carnival Tuesday, along the seafront, with all the groups and the queen. The traditional Tuesday concerts in Plaza del Príncipe, featuring the city’s oldest murga and a lyrical ensemble. The Enterro de la Sardina on Ash Wednesday, with the procession of mock widows and the burning of the sardine.
The contests and the gala take place at the fairgrounds and require tickets; the parades, concerts and street balls are open to everyone. For the Coso Apoteosis, arrive early along the route or look for the chairs and grandstands the town hall sets up along the avenues. Come in costume: on ball nights and at the Carnival de Día, almost everyone wears a mask. To get around the center, walk or use the tram, the tranvía, which links Santa Cruz to San Cristóbal de La Laguna; on parade days there are traffic closures and changes to bus lines, the guaguas. In late February the Tenerife coast generally has pleasant afternoons and cooler nights; bring a light jacket for the early morning. If you want a calmer atmosphere you can alternate the festival with visits to La Laguna, the Anaga rural park or Las Teresitas beach.
Accommodation in Santa Cruz usually fills up on the main days; book early or stay in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, connected to the center by tram. Tickets for the queen’s gala and for the contest finals are released weeks in advance and sell out quickly. Check the official website for the year’s theme and program, with dates for each event.
In the city
February/March
MarchFrom March 1 to 19, with the main days from March 15 to 19; the official opening, the Crida, is on the last Sunday of February.
Valencia’s festival, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in which hundreds of satirical monuments of wood, cardboard and cork are erected in the streets, visited for days and burned on the night of March 19 amid fireworks, music and flowers.
March/AprilIn the week before Easter, from Palm Sunday to Resurrection, in March or April.
During Málaga’s Holy Week on the Costa del Sol, the brotherhoods carry enormous floats through the city center, borne on the shoulders of hundreds of porters, accompanied by marching bands, daytime and nighttime processions, and moments unique to the city, such as the Legion’s landing at the port on Holy Thursday.
March/AprilFrom Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, in March or April depending on the date of Easter; smaller processions begin on the previous Friday, Friday of Sorrows.
During Holy Week, the brotherhoods of Seville, the capital of Andalusia, carry images of Christ and the Virgin through the streets on gilded floats carried by costaleros and followed by long lines of penitents, on routes that pass by the cathedral day and night, until the early hours of Good Friday.
Your questions
At the end of winter, between February and March, following the movable Carnival calendar. The contests and the queen’s gala take place in the weeks before; the street festival runs from the opening cavalcade until the weekend after Ash Wednesday.
It is the big Carnival Tuesday parade in Santa Cruz, along the city’s seafront, featuring the queen, the floats and all the groups that won prizes in the contests: murgas, comparsas and rondallas.
Only for the queen’s gala and for the contests at the fairgrounds. The parades, concerts and balls in the central squares and avenues are open to the public.
It is a mock funeral on Ash Wednesday, with participants dressed as widows who mourn the Carnival, culminating in the burning of a large sardine. The party continues the following weekend.
Festivals and events in Spain
JanuaryOn January 20, the feast day of Saint Sebastian, the city's patron: the celebration begins at midnight between January 19 and 20 and ends at the following midnight.
For 24 hours on January 20, San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, honors its patron saint to the sound of drums and barrels: uniformed companies parade through the city playing the marches of Raimundo Sarriegi, from the raising of the flag in Plaza de la Constitución until the lowering in the same square.
MayIn the first weeks of May, for about two weeks, after the Cruces de Mayo at the start of the month; the dates are set each year by the city council.
In May, residents of Córdoba in Andalusia open the patios of their homes—filled with pots of flowers—to the public in a municipal contest that has existed since 1921 and is on UNESCO’s list of intangible heritage; it takes place during the month of the Cruces de Mayo, the flowered balconies and the city fair.
MayAround May 15, the day of Saint Isidro Labrador, patron saint of Madrid; the program lasts about a week before and after the date.
Madrid’s patron saint festivities around May 15: Madrileños dressed as chulapos dance the chotis, have picnics on the Pradera de San Isidro, drink water from the hermitage’s spring and eat rosquillas, with concerts and traditional events in the Plaza Mayor, Las Vistillas and neighborhoods.