Tenerife in May
One of the island's busiest months for fiestas, with flowers on Teide and almost no rain.
The weather
- Average high
- 24°C
- Average low
- 17°C
- Rain
- Almost none
- Sunshine
- About 8 hours a day
Tenerife South airport, AEMET averages 1981 to 2010.
May is close to dry. In the south the average high is about 24 degrees, nights are around 17, and there are about 8 hours of sun a day.
It's flower season on Teide. Most plants in the national park flower in May and June, and the red tajinaste sends up a tower of red flowers that can reach 3 metres.
The sea is warming up from its late-winter low.
The May fiestas
Santa Cruz takes its name from a cross planted by Alonso Fernández de Lugo on 3 May 1494, and it has celebrated its founding with the Fiestas de Mayo since 1890. Around 3 May, crosses are decorated with flowers in streets across the city.
Dates for the diary
- 1 MayLabour Day, a public holiday across Spain. El Tanque holds its Romería de San Alejo.
- 2 MayThe Baile de Magos in Santa Cruz, when people in traditional dress eat outdoors with food brought from home. In 1999 about 8,000 people set a Guinness record for the largest open-air dinner. In Los Realejos, people decorate their wayside crosses with flowers.
- 3 MayThe Día de la Cruz, Santa Cruz's birthday, and a local holiday in Puerto de la Cruz. That night two streets in Los Realejos, Calle del Medio and Calle del Sol, compete with rival fireworks displays, described as among the largest in Europe.
- During MayThe Los Realejos paragliding festival, when pilots and skydivers from around the world land on El Socorro beach.
- 27 May 2027Corpus Christi. See below.
- 30 MayCanary Islands Day. It marks the first session of the Canarian Parliament, held in Santa Cruz on 30 May 1983, and is normally a public holiday on every island, but in 2027 it falls on a Sunday and there's no day off on the Monday. Candelaria holds a Baile de Magos, with food at decorated outdoor tables and bands playing isas, folías and malagueñas.
- Last Sunday of MayThe Romería de San Isidro in Los Realejos, held without a break since 1676.
Times and details can change from year to year, so check with the town hall before you set off. A public holiday that falls on a Sunday can sometimes move to the Monday.
Corpus Christi and the carpets of La Orotava
Corpus Christi moves with Easter. In 2027 it falls on Thursday 27 May, and in many years it's in June.
La Orotava's street carpets go back to 1847. For Corpus, a huge carpet made of coloured earth and sand from Teide's Las Cañadas is laid in the town hall square. It takes about a month to make, the artists get almost 300 shades from 7 natural colours, and the soil goes back to the national park afterwards.
On the Thursday of La Orotava's celebrations, about 35 flower carpets line the old town's streets and a procession walks over them. The Friday is a Baile de Magos, on the Saturday the livestock are blessed, and the Romería de San Isidro closes everything on the Sunday. It has been a Festival of National Tourist Interest since 1980, and the town sets its own dates, so check its programme.
La Laguna's Corpus procession is said to be the oldest in the Canary Islands, and La Guancha lays carpets of coloured earth, flowers and salt.
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