Santa Cruz de Tenerife hosts the largest, most remarkable and most stunning carnival in Spain and probably the best in the world after those of Rio de Janeiro. Preparations begin months in advance, but the proper festival begins a week before Ash Wednesday with the election of the Carnival Queen.

The carnival continues with La cabalgata (parade), which is a huge multi-color serpent made up of tens of thousands of Mascaras and musical groups. It carries on with El Coso, a second Cabalgata, which is even more outrageous than the first, a true avalanche of color and rhythm.

The "murgas" (comedy groups) are the most popular of the carnival groups of Tenerife. They are satirical groups, with about 40 members, who invent and sing critical songs about current affairs, which are accompanied with whistles and percussion instruments.

The carnival finishes with El entierro de la sardina, “The burial of the sardine” where a gigantic effigy of a fish is burned, representing the end of carnival madness, a farewell to the flesh and the death of the spirit of carnival.