In February 1999 my friends and I decided to book flights to Tenerife as we wanted to spend a great time at the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Before the trip we had created extraordinary costumes for our participation in that special event. We really enjoyed having parties in the streets, dancing to music of Caribbean rhythms, drinking Sangría and meeting people from anywhere. There were many interesting bands and orchestras playing in the streets. The atmosphere was just brilliant! I guess you can imagine we did not sleep too much. My personal highlight was DJ Armand Van Helden´s performance at the Santa Cruz Dance Carnival on Monday of Carnival.

Tenerife is a fantastic vacation place for nightlife in general. We liked the evening programs in our hotel in Playa de las Americas a lot. In the week after Carnival there was a karaoke show for everyone, and me and my friends sang a song which was originally recorded by the Spice Girls.

Playa de las Americas is the perfect location for going out. We spend a lot of time during the nights in the clubs. My favourite one was Tramps, the most popular night club of the island. I admit it was not cheap at all. However, some of our Canarian friends knew one of the guys working there, and so we got entrance and at least a few drinks for free. One night we were not into dancing that much, so we decided to spend some time at Brannigans, a small pub where the DJ played Indie music most of the time.

If you still look for a place where to spend your next party vacation, do not hesitate and a book a flight to Tenerife – it is a real nightlife paradise.

The splendid gala to nominate the annual carnival-queen is among the most impressive moments fullo of rhythm, colours and fun without limit.

Thousands of joyfully celebrating dressed ups are dancing on the streets and enjoy themselves till the early morning hours.

The carnival of Tenerife is a great spectacle, which you should’nt miss in any case, surely you will be impressed.

The so called queen of the Canary Islands guarantees temperatures of over 20 °C in winter as in summer with many sunny days to take a sunbath. Over all the south of the island is well known for nearly any cloudy or rainy day. Most beaches are situated near the holiday centres like Los Christianos or Playa de Las Americas.

The holiday-maker has a lot of hotels and a perfect tourist infrastructure with appropriate restaurants, amusement parks and much more on his disposal.

It is a quite special experience for every tourist to visit Santa Cruz during the carnival time the months of January and February. Thousands of people dressed up with colourful costumes dancing and celebrating on the streets of the capital of Tenerife.
The carnival is accompanied by Salsa, Merengue and Samba rhythms. The carnival of Santa Cruz is after the one in Rio de Janeiro the most popular worldwide.

So, you see, you have many possibilities to escape from the cold winter months in Germany.

Some of the smaller towns and villages try to organise their events so as not to clash with the two giant events. But for all of them, carnival follows a traditional pattern of groups of music, dance and sumptuous costumes.

The burial of the sardine is another ritual conducted everywhere, though those in Los Realejos, La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz are considered to be the best.

Each of the cities, towns and villages sets a theme for its carnival celebrations, this year’s being the ‘World of Fashion’ in Santa Cruz and ‘Paris of the 1920s’ for Puerto de la Cruz.

In La Orotava, the theme for 2007 is ‘Fiestas in Egypt’. The grand parade is on Tuesday, February 20. A parade of vintage cars begins the day’s actitivities at 10am from Plaza de la Constitución.

The carnival parade at 4pm sets out from Cruz del Teide to Plaza de la Paz. The partying carries on long after the parade has finished.

Thursday, February 22 sees a Drag Queen Festival at 9pm in La Orotava, featuring some of the best drag acts from Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

This year’s carnival theme in Los Realejos is ‘Atlantis – the Lost Continent’ and it runs from February 9-21, while in Los Gigantes it runs from March 1-5, the theme for 2007 being Mexico.

Los Cristianos stages one of Tenerife’s smaller carnival celebrations, though it’s still the biggest in the south of the island, from February 20-24, events including a masked ball, children’s carnival queen competition and a parade of horses.

Just as everywhere else, celebrants adorn themselves in the ridiculous, the daring and the unashamedly outrageous, converging on the streets and squares to the rhythms of congas, sambas, rumbas and the more traditional Spanish zarzuela – providing a good chance to take in some songs and dances indigenous to the island.

Some of the biggest and best of the celebrations are in the island’s northern resort of Puerto de la Cruz, which traditionally acts as an appetiser for the main event in the capital, Santa Cruz, generally regarded as ranking second only to Rio de Janeiro in world carnival terms.

It may all sound a bit sedate judging it purely on the list of events, but that would be to forget the Canarian appetite for having a good time and their stamina in making the celebrations last well into the wee small hours for the duration.

Make no mistake, ‘Carnaval’ in the Canaries is a raucous and riotous fortnight of revelry to be survived by only the strongest of constitutions.

Puerto’s International Carnival, the theme for which this year is ‘Paris in the 1920s’, started with the choosing of the children’s carnival queen on Sunday (February 11) and continued with the election of the 2007 Carnival Queen on Thursday (Feb 15) in the Plaza de Europa.

The rest of the programme is as follows

Saturday Feb 17, 8pm: Parade through the town to officially announce the carnival; 10pm: First of the Grand Balls held every night in Plaza del Charco and its surrounding streets.

Sunday Feb 18, 4.30pm (all in Plaza de Europa): children’s dance groups perform; 5pm: Children’s fancy dress competition; 6.30pm: More children’s dancing; 8pm: Adult dance groups; 8pm: Adult fancy dress competition; 9.30pm: More adults dancing. 10pm: Grand Ball in Plaza del Charco and surrounding streets.

Monday Feb 19, from 6.30pm: Ritual Matar la Culebra, or killing of the snake, at various locations throughout the town centre; 8.30pm: Exhibition of carnival groups, Plaza de Europa; 10pm: Grand Ball, Plaza del Charco and surrounding streets.

Tuesday Feb 20, 1pm: Parade of veteran cars centred around Avenida Colon; 9pm: More carnival group exhibitions at various locations around the town; 10pm: Grand Ball in Plaza del Charco and surrounding streets.

Wednesday Feb 21 9pm: Entierro de la Sardina, or funeral of the sardine, procession through the town culminating in a huge fireworks display and the cremating of the giant sardine on a funeral pyre. 10.30pm: Grand Ball, Plaza del Charco and surrounding streets.

Thursday Feb 22 9pm: ‘Exhibition of Fanfare’, Plaza del Charco.

Friday Feb 23, 8.30pm: Enrolment and scrutineering of heels for the 13th running of the ‘Mascarita Ponte Tacon’, or Men’s Marathon in High Heels in Plaza del Charco; 10pm: Race starts (and finishes) in Plaza del Charco; 11pm: Grand Ball, Plaza del Charco and surrounding streets.

Saturday Feb 24, from 4pm: Grand Puerto de la Cruz International Carnival Parade; 8pm: Grand Ball, Plaza del Charco and surrounding streets.

Sunday Feb 25, 5pm: Exhibition by senior citizens carnival groups, Plaza del Charco; 6.30pm: Grand Ball, Plaza del Charco and surrounding streets.

Check back again for more information on carnival plans in towns across the island.

The judge put to an end a worrying few days for carnival organisers after the earlier court hearing ordered the ban after some residents claimed that the carnival was too noisy.

Local officials and the Spanish government sided with carnival organisers against a group of some 15 residents, who claimed that the all-night revelry stopped them sleeping and violated their constitutional right to domestic privacy.

Santa Cruz’s raucous carnival dates back over 200 years and has survived famine, epidemic and the Spanish Civil War to become one of the world’s best-known. In world terms, it is considered to be second only to the celebrations in Rio de Janeiro.

Worried island officials had calculated that banning or restricting the the night-time carnival activities could cost the local economy a massive 5,000,000 Euros and seriously damage the island’s tourism reputation.

The carnival was officially banned during the 36 years of dictator General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975. He outlawed carnival but many places, including Tenerife, openly defied the ban, continuing to stage the carnival celebrations but under a different name.

The theme of this year’s carnival in Santa Cruz is the world of fashion.

The celebrations in the capital always begin with the choosing of the Carnival Queen, a lavish all-night event which is screened live on television and attracts huge audiences across the island.

The carnival continues with wild street parties, loud music, dancing and thousands of people in costume. So numerous are the crowds that it seems at times that the entire population of the island is out partying.

Main events in the Santa Cruz Carnival are:

Wednesday Feb 14, 9.30pm: Gala Election Night of the 2007 Carnival Queen.

Friday Feb 16, 8pm: Evening parade through the streets of Santa Cruz formally announcing the start of the carnival celebrations. The parade is followed by a huge fireworks display.

Tuesday Feb 20, 4pm: The main event of the carnival, the Grand Parade, begins in the afternoon and continues for several hours. The parade is also televised. Another huge fireworks display follows at 9pm

Wednesday Feb 21, 9pm: Another big day in the carnival calendar, Funeral of the Sardine, when a giant papier-maché fish is paraded through the streets at the head of a mock funeral procession complete with a huge entourage of mourners in black and other celebrants in more garish costumes (men dressed as pantomime dames, for instance).

Saturday Feb 24, 6pm: Children’s Carnival Parade.

Sunday Feb 25, 10am: Morning parade of vintage cars; 12 midnight: Grand Fireworkds Display to conclude the carnival events.