Santa Cruz Carnival already looks to 2026

The dust has not even settled on this year’s Carnival in Santa Cruz but the organisers are already looking to 2026’s celebrations.

An estimated 400,000 people turned out for the last big night of this year’s festivities, thronging the streets of the Tenerife capital on Saturday until the small hours to bid farewell to the Africa-themed Carnival.

One of the final pieces of business of this year’s event was the announcement of the theme for next year, which has been chosen by popular vote. The winning proposal for 2026 has just been revealed as Latino Beats, which will bring an even more South American flavour to a Carnival already reminiscent in many respects of its counterpart in Rio. Latino Beats earned all most 30% of the votes cast in the ‘Pick the Theme’ poll run by the organisers at the city council, beating other suggestions such as Myths/ Legends and Hollywood, who finished second and third respectively.

The organisers led by Festivities Councillor Javier Caraballero and his team are already working on details of next year’s Carnival, which – once the preliminary competitions have concluded and the Carnival Queen chosen – will take to the streets on 13 February with the Opening Parade and end on 22 February.

Photo: carnavaldetenerife.com