Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: five weeks, a seven-kilometre parade and a sardine on Las Canteras beach
It's Sunday, and the procession escorts the sardine down to the shore of Las Canteras beach. There it is burned, and with that, carnival is over. In 2025, according to the official report, thirty thousand people were there. By the time it gets this far, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria carnival has five or six weeks behind it, and that is what sets it apart from most Canary carnivals. Here, Ash Wednesday isn't the end: the programme carries on after it, big parade included.
When it usually happens
Las Palmas is the long carnival. The pattern, from the programmes of recent years:
In late January or early February it starts, with the opening proclamation (pregón) and a parade that announces the carnival.
Carnival Tuesday is a public holiday in the city. Since 2016 there has been an open-air daytime party on this day, the Carnaval de Día.
After Ash Wednesday the programme carries on for another week and a half to almost three weeks.
On the last weekend comes the Gran Cabalgata, the big parade.
On the last day, a Sunday, the burial of the sardine (Entierro de la Sardina) brings it to a close.
What this looks like in practice: in 2025 the carnival ran from 8 February to 16 March, even though Ash Wednesday fell on 5 March. In 2026 it started in late January, and the sardine was burned on 1 March, after five weeks.
Ash Wednesday depends on Easter, so carnival moves from year to year. The exact programme is published by the organisers. As soon as it's out, we add it to our agenda.
What we know about 2027
The carnival's official website has already published the outline of the 2027 calendar. According to it, the carnival runs from 22 January to 28 February, and its theme is "La música", that is, music. The main dates:
Friday 22 January: the parade announcing the carnival, and the proclamation,
Monday 8 February: the Queen's gala, deliberately moved to the Monday before the public holiday,
Tuesday 9 February: Carnival Tuesday, a public holiday,
Saturday 20 February: Gran Cabalgata,
Sunday 28 February: the burial of the sardine.
In 2027 Ash Wednesday falls on 10 February, so as usual the programme runs well past it.
The Gran Cabalgata
The carnival's biggest parade covers more than seven kilometres through the city, usually on the last weekend of the fiesta. The official event page gives the route as running from the Plaza Manuel Becerra to the Parque San Telmo. Whether it will be the same in a given year, check in the programme.
The drag gala
Abroad, this is the Las Palmas carnival's calling card. The official website describes the Gala Drag Queen as the drag contest with the longest tradition, and in the history of the carnival it calls 1998 a turning point, because that was when the first gala of this kind was held here. The format itself came from Maspalomas, where it started in 1986, under a different name. We write about that on the page for the southern carnival: Carnival of Maspalomas: a sardine on the beach, a gala for tourists and the season's last parade.
The other galas
According to the official website, the gala where the Queen is chosen takes place in front of more than four thousand spectators and is broadcast live on television, on both Spanish and international channels. Alongside it, the 2027 draft programme lists the Gran Dama gala and the transformistas' gala, the children's Trono Infantil, and the murga contest, for the carnival's satirical singing groups, with heats and a final.
The burial of the sardine
On the last day the procession sets off from the Metropole swimming club and escorts the sardine along the Las Canteras promenade to the beach. There it is burned, and with that the edition officially comes to an end.
This is also when the next year's theme is usually announced. In 2025 it was on the day of the burial of the sardine that the next theme was revealed as Las Vegas, and in 2026, on 1 March, after the sardine was burned, it was announced that 2027 would belong to music.
A different theme every year
The theme is chosen by the public, through a free text-message vote. In 2025 it was the Olympics, in 2026 Las Vegas, in 2027 music.
Where it came from
Today's street carnival was revived in 1976, and its cradle is the La Isleta neighbourhood. In 2023, in the middle of that year's edition, it was awarded the title of Festival of International Tourist Interest (Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional).
Practical information
The main venue isn't fixed. The carnival's central stage can move somewhere else from year to year: in 2024 it had to move to La Isleta, and in 2026 it was in the Parque Santa Catalina. Always check the current one in that year's programme.
You can ask questions, too. On the official website the organisers also have a separate international email address (international@lpacarnaval.com).
How to pair it with Maspalomas
On Gran Canaria, carnival comes in two instalments: after Las Palmas comes Maspalomas, in March. In 2025 Las Palmas buried the sardine on 16 March, and Maspalomas presented its candidates on 19 March. In 2026 Las Palmas finished on 1 March, and the Maspalomas carnival was announced from 10 March. You can read about the southern carnival here: Carnival of Maspalomas: a sardine on the beach, a gala for tourists and the season's last parade.
If you'd like to explore the island as well as the carnival: What to See in Gran Canaria: The Essential Sights. And you'll find the calendar of every Canary carnival here: Carnival in the Canary Islands: where, when, and which one to choose.
Cover photo: a float at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria carnival, 2019, Bengt Nyman from Vaxholm, Sweden, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources: Carnaval de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, official website · The history of the carnival · The 2027 dates and theme · The Gran Cabalgata · The 2025 burial of the sardine