Candelaria: The Pilgrimage Town on Tenerife's East Coast

Twenty minutes south of Santa Cruz, Candelaria is where Tenerife's history and faith meet. The town that gave the island its patron saint is compact, walkable and full of character — an easy and rewarding day trip.

The Basilica of Candelaria

The great white basilica dominates the seafront. It houses the venerated image of Our Lady of Candelaria, the patron saint of the Canary Islands, whose feast day on 2 February draws pilgrims from across the archipelago. The story connects directly to the island's Guanche past — the Guanche kings were among the first to venerate the figure they found on the shore.

The bronze kings and the seafront

On the plaza in front of the basilica stand nine bronze statues of the Guanche kings, the menceyes who ruled the island before the conquest. The promenade runs north past lava-rock coves and the small Ermita de San Blas, with the east-coast beaches a short walk away. The town's own beaches are dotted along the same shore: golden Playa de la Arena, the sheltered marina beach of Playa de Radazul to the north, the darker, quieter Punta Larga stretching east, the small family El Charquito at the town's edge, and the little-documented El Moro, the calm warm Playa de Tabaiba with its sunken wreck and the family-friendly Playa de La Nea on the El Rosario coast beyond, while further south towards Güímar the black-sand Las Lajas sits below the Malpaís lava fields — the whole Güímar stretch is covered in our Güímar guide.

Getting there

A bus from Santa Cruz or La Laguna drops you in the centre; driving takes about 20 minutes with easy parking. Combine it with a south-coast day or the city sights of the capital — Candelaria slots neatly into any east-side itinerary.

When to go

Weekday mornings are calm; 2 February (Candlemas) is the great festival, and the fiestas calendar marks it with processions, music and a packed esplanade. Outside that, the town is a quiet, sunlit place — a proper hidden gem of the north-east.