What's on in Las Palmas (Gran Canaria), Spain through the year

Peak crowds — Carnaval de Las Palmas, Cruise and transatlantic season

• Hazard

  Calima

  15 Jan – 15 Apr · usuallyDust season

  Saharan dust rides in on an easterly several times a year, most often in late winter, dropping visibility and pushing the temperature up sharply for a day or two. Source ↗

• Festival

  Carnaval de Las Palmas

  23 Jan – 1 MarCarnivalCrowdedBook early

  Six weeks of galas in Parque Santa Catalina building to the night cabalgata and the burial of the sardine on Las Canteras. After Tenerife's, the biggest carnival in Spain. Source ↗

Still on: Cruise and transatlantic season (15 Oct – 15 Apr), Winter-sun season (1 Nov – 31 Mar)

Peak crowds — Carnaval de Las Palmas, Cruise and transatlantic season

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Calima (15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)), Carnaval de Las Palmas (23 Jan – 1 Mar), Cruise and transatlantic season (15 Oct – 15 Apr), Winter-sun season (1 Nov – 31 Mar)

Peak crowds — Carnaval de Las Palmas, Cruise and transatlantic season

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Calima (15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)), Carnaval de Las Palmas (23 Jan – 1 Mar), Cruise and transatlantic season (15 Oct – 15 Apr), Winter-sun season (1 Nov – 31 Mar)

Peak crowds — Cruise and transatlantic season, Semana Santa (Easter) holidays in Spain

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Calima (15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)), Cruise and transatlantic season (15 Oct – 15 Apr)

Busy — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

• Season

  Trade winds and the north cloud

  1 May – 30 SepWind seasonRisk

  The alisios blow along the north coast all summer and drag low cloud, the panza de burro, over the city while the south of the island stays clear. Las Canteras is the sheltered side of town.

Peak crowds — Fiestas Fundacionales de San Juan, Summer holidays in Spain

• Festival

  Fiestas Fundacionales de San Juan

  15–25 JunMajor festivalCrowded

  The city's founding is marked around 24 June with concerts in Vegueta and bonfires on Las Canteras at midnight on the eve. A local public holiday, so the beach is full by afternoon. Source ↗

Still on: Trade winds and the north cloud (1 May – 30 Sep)

Busy — Summer holidays in Spain, school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Sea at its warmest

  15 Jul – 30 Nov · usuallySea warm enough

  Las Canteras has a natural reef breaking the swell, so it is swimmable most of the year and genuinely warm from late summer into November, when nobody else in Europe can say that.

Still on: Trade winds and the north cloud (1 May – 30 Sep)

Busy — Summer holidays in Spain, school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Trade winds and the north cloud (1 May – 30 Sep), Sea at its warmest (15 Jul – 30 Nov (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Spain, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Trade winds and the north cloud (1 May – 30 Sep), Sea at its warmest (15 Jul – 30 Nov (usually))

Busy — Cruise and transatlantic season, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Cruise and transatlantic season

  15 Oct – 15 AprCruise seasonCrowded

  The port is the staging post for the winter cruise circuit and for the yachts crossing to the Caribbean in November. Vegueta takes the day-trip load when the big ships are in.

Still on: Sea at its warmest (15 Jul – 30 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Cruise and transatlantic season, Winter-sun season

• Season

  Winter-sun season

  1 Nov – 31 MarCrowded

  This is the busy half of the year, and the city version of it is long-stay northern Europeans and remote workers rather than the package resorts in the south.

Still on: Sea at its warmest (15 Jul – 30 Nov (usually)), Cruise and transatlantic season (15 Oct – 15 Apr)

Peak crowds — Cruise and transatlantic season, Winter-sun season

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Cruise and transatlantic season (15 Oct – 15 Apr), Winter-sun season (1 Nov – 31 Mar)