Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival 2018 in Canary Islands

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival 2018 dates

• Election of the Tenerife Carnival Queen – 7 February 2018
• Coso – 13 February 2018 at 4 PM in Avenida Francisco La Roche huge open-air Carnival party has lots to offer, music, latin dancing and colourful costumes all around. Tuesday 13th of February is a official public holiday in Santa Cruz, so take in consideration that so many shops, restaurants, banks and another business could be closed.
• Burial of the Sardine – 14 February 2018 at 10 PM. Dressed in black and with great sorrow, groups of people gather to accompany a giant sardine made from paper and cardboard on its way to being burned. That extravagance event but very funny.

Taking as its theme this year the “Fantasy”, the Tenerife capital’s most iconic celebration will once more fill the city streets with fancy dress, music, rhythm and colour. The whole city will be decorate according this topic.

Costumes are a must!

Rule number one of Carnival: never show up at the street party in normal clothes. Normal clothes plus a fake wig is not an option either. You are going to feel weird and out of place from the very moment you step in the bus. Spend some time finding a decent costume and remember: always wear sneakers.

When to start the street party

Music performances start every night around 8pm, but the real party begins a few hours later. Turning up at the street party before midnight is too early. Leaving before 4am is too early as well.

The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2018 is a riot of colour and celebration held in February 2018 on the largest of the Canary Islands, Tenerife. Alongside the music, dancing and incredible floats which proceed through the streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there are many special traditions like the crowning of the carnival queen, piñata, and the burial of the sardine, or ‘entierro del sardino’ as it’s known locally. The burial of the sardine is one of the oldest traditions and is held on the last day of the carnival. A giant paper sardine is carried through the carnival by dancers dressed as nuns, bishops and priests representing a funeral march. The big fish-shaped effigy is then burnt as sacrifice for the coming Lent celebrations.

Tenerife’s carnival is the second most popular of its kind in the world after the Rio de Janeiro carnival in Brazil, which Santa Cruz de Tenerife is twinned with, and dates back hundreds of years to the island’s earliest European settlement in the late 15th century. Each year more than 250,000 people descend onto the pretty capital city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the carnival and in 1980, it was made a Tourist Festival of International Interest by the Secretary of State for Tourism. Then in 1987 singer Celia Cruz went to the Carnival Chicharrero with Billo’s Caracas Boys; attended by 250,000 people, the concert was registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest gathering of people in an outdoor plaza to attend a concert. In 2000 it was voted the Carnival Capital of the World over Rio de Janeiro and London’s Notting Hill Carnival.

How to get Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival

Going by car is not a good idea. You are way too optimistic if you have any hopes of finding a parking space in Santa Cruz during Carnival. The only reasonable option is getting there by bus – unless you are willing to pay for a private parking garage or a taxi. Check out the time table of Tenerife TITSA bus. Once you arrive in Santa Cruz, just follow the mass of dressed up people. They will lead you to the heart of Santa Cruz, where magic happens.