Santa Cruz Virtual Carnival Galas 2021

The Tenerife Recinto Ferial hosted the recording of ‘Santa Cruz, the heart of Carnival’ with Enrique Camacho directing. A unique carnival television show that you can see on Sunday 7 March from 9:30 p.m.

This weekend we come to the climax of the Santa Cruz Virtual Carnival Program 2021 with the three televised galas: 'La Canción del Siglo' (Song of the Decade), being televised on RadioTelevisión Canaria on Friday 5 March at 22:15; 'La Noche de las Comparsas' (The Night of the Comparsas), on Saturday 6 March at 21:30 and ‘Santa Cruz, Corazón del Carnaval’ (Santa Cruz, Heart of Carnival) on Sunday 7 March at 21:30.

On Friday 5 March at 22:15 it will be the turn of 'La Canción del Siglo' (Song of the Decade), a show performed from the set of the Recinto Ferial in which the best murga song of the last decades will be chosen by popular vote. 

One day later, on Saturday 6 March at 21:30, the show 'La Noche de las Comparsas' (The Night of the Comparsas) will be broadcast, choosing the most brilliant choreography of the last decades, through a live voting system in which the public will be able to choose between: Bahía Bahitiare 2018 In Search of Treasure; Canarian Dancers 2017 Black Gold, Latin and Brazilian Mix; Los Cariocas 2020 Varied Potpourri Cariocas; Los Rumberos 2008 The Magic; Orinoco River 2017 Legend; Tabajaras 2020 Un Giardino Di Colori; Tropicana 2018 Quimbara and Valleiros 2012 Looking to Africa. Los Joroperos will also be present at this gala, although they will participate with a performance outside of the competition.

The events scheduled in this virtual edition of the Santa Cruz carnival, conclude with the ‘Santa Cruz, Corazón del Carnaval’ (Santa Cruz, Heart of Carnival) gala, on Sunday 7 March at 21:30 on Televisión Canaria (hoping this will also be streamed via CarnavalTVC) and Televisión Española; in which the three Guardians of the Sceptre will be chosen, a group of custodians that will be made up of former carnival queens, in the adult, child and senior categories. This show of approximately two and a half hours will be punctuated by good humor and many surprises; in addition to appealing to nostalgia and the feeling of hope to once again recover the essence of carnival in the streets of the capital.

Mexican Singer Carlos Rivera
Image: Marty Berryman
Some rights reserved

One of the most anticipated surprises will be the presence of the international singer Carlos Rivera, who joins the more than 30 Canarian artists and the numerous members of murgas, comparsas, rondallas and musical groups that participate in the different musical numbers. 

A total of nine renowned presenters of radio and television  will be part of the gala that will unveil the Guardians of the Scepter, "Santa Cruz, el Corazón del Carnaval" (Santa Cruz, Heart of Carnival), along with more than 30 local artists and Mexican singer Carlos Rivera, including: journalists Pilar Rumeu y Alicia Rodríguez, Televisión Canaria; Bene Fuentes, Antena 3; Guillermo García, Cadena COPE; Manolo Artiles, Mírame TV; Sergio de la Rosa, Radio Nacional de España; Manoj Daswani, Radio Club Tenerife; Carolina González, Televisión Española en Canarias and Miguel Ángel Daswani, presenter of Canarias Radio. Each have each recorded their intervention in the show that will be broadcast on March 7 by Televisión Canaria, in different time blocks: a strict recording format adapted to current sanitary measures.

Eight Musical Groups that participated in the filming of the gala were Chaxiraxi, Caña dulce, Sabor isleño, SiBoney, Teiderife, Salsabor, Cantares Luz de Luna and Los yuppies. Each of the groups is represented by two of its members to limit the number of people present.

El Carnaval virtual afronta su última semana con la elección de las Guardianas del Cetro

Teno Alto doesn't want so many visitors

The hamlet of Teno Alto with a vista of Mount Teide

Neighbors complain about excess traffic, invasion of spaces, parking and cleaning problems caused by visitors. Residents in this hamlet in the north west of Tenerife are asking the council to mark parking areas, put up informational signs and increase the police presence to prevent the lack of civility of some visitors from complicating circulation, harming livestock activity, deteriorating the ethnographic heritage and affecting the daily life of the few inhabitants of this nucleus, especially during the weekends.

In the hamlet of Teno Alto, in Buenavista del Norte, only 65 people reside permanently. It is one of the most isolated and remote nuclei of Tenerife that has traditionally lived on livestock and subsistence agriculture. Located outside the tourist circuits of the masses, in Teno Alto they are used to living with a tranquillity that they now see threatened. 

The place has become fashionable and every weekend many hikers and visitors come with their vehicles to walk, take pictures, fly drones or spend some leisure time. Neighbours complain of problems with traffic, parking, rubbish, trespassing, and lack of civility. 

They've had enough and do not want so many visitors.

The residents have approached the Buenavista Council to take measures to prevent the attitude of some visitors from affecting livestock activity, ethnographic heritage and their quality of life. The mayor, Antonio González Fortes (Sí se Podemos), other councillors and the head of the Local Police met with neighbourhood representatives last Tuesday to “evaluate the situation generated by the increase in visitors to the village, which is notorious every day, but it becomes more pronounced on weekends, which causes discomfort”.

The increase in traffic is what worries them most, since the road to Teno Alto does not have space for two vehicles throughout its route. In addition, from the area known as Los Bailaderos, the roads that connect the different nuclei of Teno Alto only allow, for the most part, the passage of a single vehicle. Added to this situation is the disorder in the parking area, which is why, as a first measure, it has been agreed to signpost the parking areas next to the Teno Alto square.

The lack of civility of some people who visit the village is a source of problems: there are hikers who abandon the marked paths and invade private properties with the aim of taking photos or resting. There are farms that seem abandoned, but they are used to graze goats and the transit of groups of people affects livestock, as do drone flights, "which is a prohibited activity in the area."

The hamlet is dotted with buildings of great ethnographic value that, for the most part, are privately owned but attract the attention of visitors who come to them to get to know them up close. Sometimes they do so without respecting their integrity or the privacy of their owners. This lack of civility is also reflected in the appearance of garbage on the roads and even excrement in tagoras (Semicircular wall of dry stone that is made in the field to protect from the wind) and other buildings.

The mayor clarifies that "visitors are always welcome in Buenavista, but they should not forget that traffic regulations also apply in rural areas and a visit cannot interrupt the normal development of life in this enclave." The council is committed to improving signage, especially in relation to parking; reinforce the police presence, and initiate an awareness campaign with the support of the Cabildo. 

Teno Alto no quiere tanta visita

Ruta del pastor, Teno Alto - Tenerife

Santa Cruz en Carnaval 1987

Carnival Queen Costume 'Tajaraste' from 1987, on display in the Casa del Carnaval

Carnival Poster 1987

Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1987 was a moment of crucial importance in the island's and the celebration's history for a variety of reasons.

It was the first year that the carnival festivities had a theme, which in 1987 was Roma (Rome), for which the perimeter of the Plaza de España was encircled by a colonnade, joined two by two, evoking the Ionic style and giving it the appearance of a circular Roman temple. The lintel of each pair of columns was adorned with two chicharros (Atlantic horse mackerels), call 'em sardines for ease, crowned with laurels.

Most of all, 1987 was the year that the carnival made history by getting into the Guinness Book of Records, with the dance on Shrove Tuesday becoming "the largest gathering of people in an outdoor plaza to attend a concert".

Carnival Queen in 1987 was Mónica Raquel Estévez Martín, then 16, in a costume entitled, 'Tajaraste', designed by Leo Martínez and inspired by the typical costume of Tenerife, representing Almacenes El Kilo.

Maids of Honour in 1987 were: 

1. Irene Hernández Morales with a costume entitled, "Origen de luz" (Origin of light), representing Calzados "Romea", designed by José Julio Rodríguez  
   
2. Elizabeth Suárez Santos with a costume entitled, "Así pasó el cometa Halley" (This is how Halley's comet passed), representing the Casa de Venezuela en Canarias and designed by Miguel Ángel Castilla Abreu 
   
3. Sandra Lobenstein Recio with a costume entitled, "Cabañuelas de febrero" (February Cabañuelas), representing Casino Taoro and designed by Marcos Marrero 
4. María Candelaria Díaz Álvarez with a costume entitled, "XTRO siete punto omega", representing  Centro comercial Maya and designed by Justo Gutiérrez  
   

The senior carnival queen in 1987 was Alfonsa Rodríguez Fernández, with a costume entitled, 'Fantasía brasileña' (Brazilian Fantasy), representing the old folks home, Hogar del Pensionista Nº1 de S/C in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. 

Junior carnival queen in 1987 was María Guacimara Martín Peña with a costume entitled, 'Campanilla de los bosques' (Bell of the woods), designed by Pedro José Ortega and Juan de la Rosa and representing Almacenes Elle.

Video: Coronación Reina del Carnaval de S/C de Tenerife 1987

The Carnival Queen Gala took place in the Plaza de Toros (Santa Cruz Bullring). Further videos show the performances of the comparsas, Los Joroperos and Las Cariocas and a parade of all of the carnival personalities and vintage cars, also in the Plaza de Toros.

Mónica Estévez was interviewed 31 years later in 2018 and said that she had grown up in the next street from where designer Leo Martínez was located, surrounded with carnival from a young age. She would go there to see the girls and the costumes and was always saying she wanted to present herself as a candidate ... repeatedly. It seems that Martínez agreed to present her, pretty much just to shut her up. She didn't ask anything about the costume and never saw it complete until three days before the gala.

Santa Cruz Carnival Dance 1987

The multitudinous dance that went down in history with Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz with the Sonora Matancera and Billo's Caracas Boys led the lineup of an unforgettable Carnival Tuesday night in 1987 for the more than 240,000 attendees.

On March 3 1987, the dance on Carnival Tuesday put Santa Cruz de Tenerife into the Guinness Book of Records after gathering the astonishing number of people (240,000 was the number officially recorded by the notarial deed) dancing in the street to the songs of Celia Cruz with Sonora Matancera, Billo's Caracas Boys and Tenerife orchestras Maracaibo and Guayaba, in a show never before seen on the islands with 40,000 watts of sound and spectacular lighting. On the night of Monday to Tuesday of Carnival the last orchestra left the stage at 06.30 hours, but the audience, almost as numerous as at 11.00 at night, continued to dance to recorded music in the kiosks. Many partied on in various parts of the capital and others went to Las Teresitas to take a dip in the sea.



Video: Carnival Main Parade in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1987

Neither the heat nor the fatigue of the previous night prevented 200,000 people from concentrating to watch the cavalcade that began at 3:30 pm on the Tuesday afternoon. The number of spectators, facilitated by the Local Police, was significant, since the population of the city at that time was 210,000 inhabitants. Some 25,000 people participated in the parade, in addition to 119 groups, 20 floats and more than 100 decorated cars. The fireworks display finale was the prologue of the great dance. The City Council's intention was that this dance be the busiest in the world and with the Celia-Billo's duo, success was assured. Almost half the island of Tenerife met in Santa Cruz that Carnival Tuesday to experience an environment impossible to describe. The Plaza de España and Candelaria, the Alameda del Duque de Santa Elena, and all the surrounding streets, were full to bursting.

Celia Cruz in Tenerife in 1987

Celia Cruz was already a living legend when she came to Tenerife

Her powerful voice opened the doors to the whole world with songs like Bemba colorá, Usted abuso, Nadie se salva de la rumba, Que le den candela, La vida es un carnaval… Until her death in 2003, Celia was the best ambassador of Tenerife's carnival. Her connection with the island became so strong that she confessed that she calmed her longing for Cuba among the islanders, and performed in a trance-like state, as if she had returned to dance and sing in her native island.

Celia passed like a whirlwind through Tenerife. She arrived on the island on February 27 and the Cuban Association of the Island was waiting for her at the South airport. Staying at the Hotel Botánico, Celia and her inseparable Pedro Knight, enjoyed the parade on Friday from the Town Hall, receiving the love and recognition of the carnival groups that noticed her presence. Thousands of people gave her a standing ovation at the two previous concerts held in the Plaza de Toros (Santa Cruz Bullring), and she continued in ecstasy singing Bemba colorá for 20 minutes. That double success attracted more anticipation for the performance of Carnival Tuesday. The queen of salsa continued in a trance and dedicated to the audience the Pasodoble Islas Canarias a cappella in one of the most memorable moments of an unbeatable[1] Carnival.

El multitudinario baile que pasó a la historia con Celia Cruz

[1] Daytime carnival in 2019 almost doubled the 1987 crowd, but was not officially noted.

Corporation of the Island Council of Tenerife

Cabildo Building in Santa Cruz de Tenerife Koppchen, CC BY 3.0

The Corporación del Cabildo Insular de Tenerife (Corporation of the Island Council of Tenerife), simply known as the Cabildo de Tenerife, is the governing body of the island of Tenerife. Constituted on March 16, 1913 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in a session held at its Town Hall, where the first Corporation was also elected. The Tenerife Council, like the other councils of the Canary Islands, has a series of its own powers established in the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands as well as a series of powers delegated to the other territorial administration bodies. It is a governmental and administrative form typical of the Canary Islands, which in addition to the functions of the island government provides services and exercises the competences of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. 

In 1957, it was agreed between the Island Council of Tenerife and the Brotherhood of La Candelaria de Sevilla, since the Virgen de la Candelaria is venerated as the patron of this brotherhood in this Andalusian city, as it is in Tenerife as patron of the Canary Islands, as the patron of the Corporation of the Island Council of Tenerife.

Koppchen, CC BY-SA 3.0

Its current headquarters alongside the Plaza de España, designed by the architect José Enrique Marrero Regalado, houses departments of the Cabildo which also has other decentralized offices in various locations and with different headquarters in other parts of the metropolitan area. This building stands out for its large tower crowned by a clock, one of the most representative symbols of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Inside there is a very attractive art collection, which includes the murals that completely adorn the Noble Hall popularly called the "Sistine Chapel of the Canary Islands", with paintings made in 1960 by the painter José Aguiar, declared a Site of Interest Cultural de Canarias (BIC) in November 2011.

At present the Cabildo is the reference entity of the island, its authentic insular government.

EL EXCELENTÍSIMO CABILDO INSULAR DE TENERIFE

Cabildo de Tenerife: Plaza de España, s/n, 38003 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. Phone: +34 901 50 19 01 and +34 922 23 95 00. Official website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Tenerife in March 2021

View of the sea through a window in Tenerife

March 2021 is probably going to be the quietest on record. Even if life had continued as normal, carnival in Santa Cruz would have been over and with Easter not until early April, there are no public holidays and no municipal holidays during the month. 

All we have is an online or television window through which to view these events: This year virtual carnival events take place between 17 February and 7 March, with 'La Canción del Siglo' (Song of the Decade), where ten murgas elected by popular vote will compete for first place, and the troupes will do the same with 'La Noche de las Comparsas' (The Night of the Comparsas), broadcast on 5 and 6 March respectively, culminating in a television gala, ‘Santa Cruz, Corazón del Carnaval’ (Santa Cruz, Heart of Carnival) on March 7. 

Los Gigantes is holding a Virtual Carnival 2021. There's no news yet at time of writing on the carnival of Arona/Los Cristianos, that usually follows it and be likely have taken place this month - they haven't even said that they aren't holding it - but I think we can confidently assume that it's not taking place, or will only do so in some audiovisual format. 

There are, of course, still no romerías, fiestas or other mass events because of the pandemic and the resultant restrictions in place. The Palo Blanco Hillclimb is scheduled to take place on Saturday 27 March, but we cannot say whether public will be permitted.

Friday, 19th March 2021 is Día del Padre (Father's Day) in Spain. In Catholic Europe, it has been celebrated on March 19 (St. Joseph's Day) since the Middle Ages.

Tenerife, placed eighth in the ranking 'the best of the best' destinations in Europe by the United States and Canadian markets

Councillor for Territorial Planning, Historical Heritage and Tourism of the Cabildo, José Gregorio Martín Plata, has pointed out that Tenerife has been placed eighth in the ranking 'the best of the best' destinations in Europe, by popular vote in the North American market by travel portal TripAdvisor, which places the destination after London, Rome, Paris, Crete, Barcelona, ​​Istanbul and Florence; and before Lisbon and Edinburgh. 

The councillor attributes this to the success of an advertising campaign on the portal aimed at making the island known in the United States and Canada markets. "We are pleasantly surprised with the result of the promotional campaigns, which we had to postpone due to COVID and which, finally, we launched in the last month of 2020", explained the councillor.

In 2020, a total of 6,172 tourists from the US stayed in Tenerife; most between January and February, before the pandemic. The previous trend had been upward; in 2019 a total of 26,441 (16.5% more than in 2018), while a year earlier there had already been an increase of 7.5% over 2017; the total number of guests from the United States that year was 22,692.

Tenerife, octavo destino europeo preferido para el mercado de Estado Unidos y Canadá

The most beautiful road in Spain is in Tenerife

Image by Frank Nürnberger from Pixabay

Travel portal Civitatits has drawn up a ranking of the most beautiful roads in the national geography and, of the thousands and thousands of kilometres of roads in Spain, have designated the access road to Teide via La Orotava in Tenerife as the best. 

According to the portal, whose website receives an average of 200 million page views per year and more than 700,000 opinions, the Tenerife highway even surpasses the roads that cross landscapes as recurrent as the lakes of Covadonga or the access to Cabo de Gata. Although the TF-21 crosses a good part of the island from La Orotava to Granadilla de Abona, it has been the sections that run in the middle of the Teide National Park that have convinced the Civitatits portal. There are two main aspects that have made the island highway rank at the top of the ranking. On the one hand, its route through the middle of the Teide National Park, leaving on both sides the landscape of volcanic flows, endemic vegetation and the view of different geographical strata that are quite a spectacle to behold. On the other, the imposing appearance of Teide itself, crowning the road with its 3,715 meters high and generating even more impact among visitors.

It is the only Canarian road that manages to sneak into the ranking. The rest of the list of the tourist portal is completed by the roads of the lakes of Covadonga, in Asturias; of the swamps, in Madrid; Sa Calobra, in Mallorca; Cala D'Hort, in Ibiza; the lighthouses of Mola and Barbaria, in Formentera; Cabo de Gata, in Almería; the Jerte valley, in Cáceres; Cape Fisterra, in Galicia; and access to the so-called Devil's Bridge, in Tarragona. 

La carretera más bonita de España está en Tenerife

Teide National Park Tenerife - scenic road (TF-21)

Tenerife Bluetrail 2021

Tenerife Bluetrail. Photo: Jordi de la Fuente

The race will be held from June 3 to 5 with special protocols due to Covid-19.

The registration period Tenerife Bluetrail 2021, the mountain race from sea level almost to the top of Spain's highest peak, Tiede, organized by the Cabildo de Tenerife, opened last Friday February 19, through the website www.tenerifebluetrail.com. 

The Tenerife Bluetrail, which will be held from June 3 to 5, 2021, will have seven modalities on its tenth anniversary: ​​the Ultra, with 105 kilometres; the Trail, with a distance of 71 kilometres, which also has a relay mode; Marathon, 42; Medium, 20 kilometres; the Bluetrail Challenge for people with disabilities, which includes three distances of 8, 3.7 and 1.2 kilometres, and the new vertical night race of 3.1 kilometres that will be held on June 3.

More than 1,200 runners who were going to participate in the last edition of the Tenerife Bluetrail -suspended due to the pandemic - have maintained their registration for 2021, which gives an idea of ​​the interest generated by the Tenerife test among athletes. The prices provided by the organization range between 130 euros for the Ultra and 30 for the Media.

Sanitary measures

The next edition of the Tenerife Bluetrail will be adapted to the sanitary measures necessary to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The limitation of the number of participants in each of the modalities; the reduction of 50 percent of the capacity of the event, the restructuring of the schedules to avoid the coincidence of athletes on trails and refreshment stations are some of the measures included in the Covid protocol of the race. For example, the start of the marathon modality from the Plaza de Aguamansa is delayed this year until 2:00 p.m.

In addition, it will be mandatory for all runners to carry a mask to use on official transport, departures, arrivals or where determined by the organization, taking into account health requirements. However, all protocols will be periodically updated according to the evolution of the pandemic and what the health authorities determine for the month of June.

La Tenerife Bluetrail 2021 abre hoy el plazo de inscripción

Tenerife Bluetrail | Climbing Spain's Highest Mountain

Cultural Carnival 2021 in La Laguna

In a program that is a recognition of the carnival groups and specialized artisans who for years have kept the tradition of La Laguna carnival alive, the city will host the second edition of the Cultural Carnival for a month, a celebration that was well received by the public and La Laguna groups last year, and with which the Department of Culture of ​​the La Laguna City Council wants to protect and promote the great intangible heritage that this tradition represents in the municipality.

Cultural Carnival 2021 Program

The program includes 21 activities that run from  Friday, February 26, until March 27 with exhibitions of the murgas of La Laguna; through the costumes of the carnival queens of the municipality, as well as workshops in percussion and the elaboration of carnival masks.

Activities start on Friday, February 26, with the inauguration of the Murga Exhibition in La Laguna, curated by historical figure of the Tenerife Carnival, Pedro Megíbar, and the historian, with several works on the Carnival, Ramón Guimerá. The exhibition includes key elements of the carnival, such as posters, costumes, whistles and musical instruments, the history of the murgas of La Laguna, as well as showcasing the men and women who, for years, have made it possible to maintain the activity of the murgas.

Also on Friday the Las Reinas de Dávila exhibition will open, in which visitors can enjoy costumes by La Laguna designer, Luis Dávila, a recognized figure of carnival in the Canary Islands, who for more than 40 years has designed costumes for groups, rondallas, murgas and queens, a job that has earned him professional recognition.

Both exhibitions will remain open until March 27 and can be visited in the Antiguo convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Calle Santo Domingo, 7, 38207 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain). From Monday to Friday, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The Teatro Leal (Calle Obispo Rey Redondo, 50, 38201 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain), which for many years was the epicentre of the La Laguna Carnival, will host a third exhibition in which the costumes of the La Laguna carnival groups will be exhibited. The opening hours will be from Tuesday to Saturday, from 11:00 to 13:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00. This exhibition will be open from March 2 to 6.

The Cultural Carnival program also includes a cycle of 18 workshops focused on carnival themes, specifically, the making of masks and percussion techniques. 

All the workshops will take place during the weekend of March 6 and 7.

On Saturday, March 6, at 10:00 a.m., the Plaza Hermano Ramón will host a Carnival mask-making workshop, while, at 12:00 p.m., will be a percussion workshop led by comparsa, Los Joroperos. At the Parque Tecnológico y Científico Las Mantecas (Las Mantecas Science and Technology Park), in La Cuesta, at 10:00, Las Valkyries will hold the mask workshop. At 12:00, the percussion workshops with Río Orinoco and Los Bambones will coincide. Also at 10:00 and 12:00, Las Marchilongas and Los Castorcitos will give a Carnival mask workshop and the percussion workshop, respectively, in the Sports Complex Polvorín de Taco. Las Pirujas will run the carnival mask-making workshop at 10:00 am at the Teatro Unión Tejina. At 12:00, it will be the turn of the percussion workshop by Los Valleiros.

The next day, Sunday, March 7, Plaza Hermano Ramón will repeat the same workshops at the same time as on Saturday. The Parque de Las Mantecas will repeat at 10:00 am the mask workshop by Las Valkirias and, at 12:00 pm, the percussion workshop directed by Río Orinoco. In the Polvorín de Taco, the Marchilongas will give the mask workshop at 10:00 am, while, at 12:00, Los Castorcitos and Los Bambones will coincide with the percussion. Finally, the Teatro Unión Tejina will be the setting for both workshops at the same hours and taught by the same groups as the day before.

All the activities included in the program are free and comply with the health security protocols established by current legislation regarding the control of capacity and other hygienic-sanitary measures to minimize the risk of contagion. 

Comienza la segunda edición del Carnaval Cultural para reivindicar la riqueza patrimonial de la celebración en La Laguna

Virtual hiking to maintain the essence of the Tenerife Walking Festival 2021

Tenerife Walking Festival 2021

The Tenerife Walking Festival 2021 will take place between March 12 and 19 and all lovers of nature activities and hiking can register for the event, to follow it from anywhere in the world. The Cabildo, through Turismo de Tenerife, announced last week the opening of registrations for the 'Tenerife Walking Festival' (TWF), which, in this edition, will be held in online format. The objective is to keep the interest in this event alive. 

The opening day, scheduled for March 12 starting at 4:00 p.m. (local time), will be streamed through the official Tenerife Tourism channels and on the virtual stage of the festival. The rest of the programming will take place between March 12 and 19 (the schedules are proposed to cover different zones, given the international nature of the event), and registrations, free of charge, can be made on the website www.tenerifewalkingfestival.com

The proposal for this edition combines the organization of webinars, created specifically for the event, in which topics such as environmental management or the positioning of destinations through unique routes will be addressed. This is the case of the spectacular route 040, which joins Playa del Socorro with Pico del Teide. The development of these activities in a sustainable framework will also be discussed, without forgetting the perspective of the current health crisis.

Virtual hiking to keep the essence of the TWF

In order to maintain the essence of this annual event, a virtual hiking module is offered, which will allow hikers to discover routes and learn about the characteristics and wealth of the area. There are three trails that can be travelled in this particular way; the circular route of Samara, a volcanic route with beautiful sunsets, together with Baracán-Teno Alto-Faro de Teno, a perfect combination between laurel forests and the sea. There will also be the route that connects the Montes de Anaga hostel with Antequera beach. A dizzying descent, which culminates with the return to Las Teresitas beach by motorboat.

In addition to this digital offer, there are also two face-to-face routes aimed at the local public on Sunday, March 14, which will be organized by the Cabildo, together with volunteer groups and companies from the sector.

The five previous editions of the Tenerife Walking Festival have positioned the event as one of the benchmarks for hiking throughout Europe. In the last edition, held in 2019, it brought together 200 participants of more than 10 different nationalities, including tour operators, travel agents, the media and the final audience. An annual event that has allowed Tenerife to be placed on the international map for the practice of this activity.

Hiking is the most popular sporting activity for visitors to Tenerife. In 2019, before the health crisis, some 580,000 tourists practiced it (9.7% of the total on the island). Some 28.5% of all tourists who go hiking are Germans. Other relevant markets are the national, the French and, to a lesser extent, the British. Teide National Park is the preferred location for 22% of hikers. The Anaga Rural Park is also an outstanding enclave of activity. 

El ‘Tenerife Walking Festival 2021’ abre sus inscripciones para su nueva edición ‘online’