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Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tuesday 3 February, 2026. The week has come when they choose the Queen and the group of Ladies in Waiting who will accompany the monarch in her parades and acts. This will be on Friday, 13 February, at the end of a gala which will see 13 contenders parading on the catwalk in their spectacular costumes. The designs worn by the Queens in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria are not just costumes or outfits inspired by a theme, they are huge structures that reproduce dream worlds and eclipse the audience with their brilliance, feathers, beading, colour, elegance and the savoir faire of those who bear them, the candidates.

A huge week for Carnival

Without a doubt, this is a huge week for Carnival; it’s over half way through, it coincides with Carnival Tuesday (a local holiday), and the street parties begin: the parades which bring together groups and fans, the Queens Elect of the Children’s, Adult’s and Veteran’s categories and their Courts, in this case. There will also be the 12 Drag Queens who have made it to the final, and who will be judged in the Drag Queen Gala on 20 February, as well as the Children’s Parade which is scheduled for the morning of Tuesday 17 February.

Carnival Nights, Children’s Carnival and Senior Carnival

Other types of encounters will take over the spaces allocated to this great event: the stage at Santa Catalina Square, the stage in the area behind, the recently designated stage in Manuel Becerra Square and the one on Poeta Agustín Millares Sall Street; these last two are zones which will be particularly vibrant in the night-time revelries on 13 and 14 February; but there are also new locations which will join in on the fun on Sunday 15 to celebrate a Children’s Carnival with all the family in the Plaza de la Feria Square, and a Senior Carnival, that same day, but in Plaza del Pilar Square, in the popular Guanarteme neighbourhood.

Body Painting Contest

Late on Sunday 15, the Carnival enclosure will throb with the excitement of the Body Painting Contest, human canvases clothed in talent, hours of work and creativity. Amazing too is the patience of the models who will then show off the artistic talents of the make-up artists through movement, dance and choreographies which they will perform with little dancing troupes.

Carnival Tuesday

Bearing in mind that the city comes to a halt on 17 February with Carnival Tuesday, activity related to the festivities will be at boiling point everywhere and will once more invite everyone to nights of rhythm: on the night of February 16, the eve of Carnival Tuesday, at the designated spaces, and on the great Tuesday which brings little boys and girls out onto the streets in the company of their families for the Children’s Parade, and for a day of music in their Daytime Carnival in Santa Catalina.

The organisers remind you to keep an eye on the lpacarnaval.com schedule, both in its Spanish version and the English one, where information will be posted about the details of every event on each version’s home page.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Monday 26 January, 2026. The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival is with us until 1 March, setting the pace in Santa Catalina Park, the epicentre of the galas and competitions. The lively inauguration of the programme last week with the opening proclamation, the presentation of contenders and the draw for order of participation, the Children’s Choreographic Festival, the Children’s Murgas Competition, and the first grand gala, for the Children’s Throne, confirmed the start of Carnival celebrations where the keynote has been images of capacity crowds and a stunning following from the general public.

Drag Queen Preselection and the Adult Fancy Dress Competition

A trend which can only go from strength to strength, if we bear in mind that the second week of the festive calendar will see such significant acts going up onto the stage as the Drag Queen Preselection or the Adult Fancy Dress Competition – glorious fun and abandon. Acts which connect directly with the audience, with values which are the Carnival’s very own: respect, tolerance and transgression. Both of these competitions show a picture of sell-out and capacity crowds: the Preselection sold out online within 10 minutes and in the ticket office, the last ticket sold two hours and ten minutes after it opened.

Cross-Dresser Gala

The same as for the Cross-Dresser Gala, an event which delights audiences with its sass and reminds us of the origins of these celebrations, when 50 years ago these were the people who had to dodge repression, reclaiming the liberty denied them beyond the imposition of the Carnival mask.

Children’s Party

There is still room in the diary for a Children’s Party, for the little comparsas that will show such ingenious choreographies, a display of imagination in costumes and the enthusiasm that these girls and boys work with. There are five groups, namely Brisa de Volcán, Rayo de Luna Junior, Yurimagua Junior, Tropicana Infantil and Lianceiros Junior, who work year-round with their hopes set on the Santa Catalina stage.

Murgas Competition and Comparsas

All of these as the prelude to a third week which lends the spotlight to the Murgas, 19 groups which draw from satire, irony, witty words and tone to offer social criticism or criticism of the status quo. They will take over the Carnival venue from Monday 2 to Saturday 7, with a day allotted for the dances of the Adult Comparsas, 7 groupings who will put themselves in the hands of the audience on February 6.

Dog Carnival

On Sunday 8, Carnival ratifies a lovable contest, the Dog Carnival, a diary date where the prize is what matters least: what is important is to see the pets having fun with their owners in a morning event where dogs are welcomed onto this special stage. And that day ends with such a delightful evening, with the 11 older ladies contending to show off the Grand Dame’s crown, the unquestionable proof that Carnival doesn’t care about age.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Monday 19 January, 2026. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival celebrates the 50 years it has been in existence after its revival following the ending of the Spanish dictatorship. And the fact is that this fancy dress party par excellence, despite being kept alive clandestinely, returned to the streets on the death of the dictator, even before the configuration of a new democracy, a new political model for coexistence and the passing of the 1978 Constitution.

The holding of the event highlights the particular character of the celebrations which, since 2023, have been recognised as a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest and, officially, one of the major attractions of Brand Spain overseas.

From 23 January to 1 March, therefore, the Gran Canaria capital will be the setting for a large number of galas, competitions and street celebrations where freedom, irreverence, respect and good humour make up a fundamental part of the Carnival’s identity.

The theme for this occasion will see the Carnival’s enclosure and its competitions turned into grand spectacles equalling the level of the city in Nevada, since “Las Vegas” will be the theme running through each one of our events. So, there will be glamour, luxury and musicals; figures such as Elvis, Sinatra, Mariah Carey and Céline Dion; neon lights and majestic hotel fronts will feature alongside each other in the festival of the flesh.

Visitors to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will be sucked into a world of fantasy and will enjoy a wide programme, which includes the famous galas. Details of the programme are to be found at this URL. Access to events in the majority of cases is free until capacity it reached, with the exception of the Drag Queen Preselection event, The Carnival Queen Gala and the Drag Queen Gala: tickets for these events will be put on sale via ticket platforms a few days prior to the holding of each event. Events can also be followed on screen, with the public channels RTVC and RTVE, depending on the event, broadcasting content on their digital platforms.

The organisers recommend you keep a close eye on your Social Media. There will be information in English on FB, at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival; and on X, @lpacarnival.