Christmas in Tenerife: Lights, Warm Seas and Three Kings

If you want a Christmas that is the opposite of snow and jumpers, Tenerife delivers: palm trees strung with lights, 21°C afternoons and a festive season that runs all the way into January with the Three Kings parade. Here is what a Tenerife Christmas actually looks like.

The season

The lights go up in early December and the island's main towns — especially Santa Cruz — turn into open-air festive sets. Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) is the big family dinner: lamb, seafood and turrón nougat late into the night. The scene is lively but relaxed, and the winter-sun guide covers the climate in detail.

What to do over Christmas

• Beach Christmas Day — many families in the resorts swim on the 25th; the sea is around 19–20°C, bracing but doable, and the beaches are quieter than summer.
• Siam Park — the world's best water park runs all winter with heated pools, a festive highlight for kids.
• The nativity scene — the island's most famous Belén is the one in Santa Cruz's main square; the things to do guide has the rest of the highlights.
• Nochevieja — New Year's Eve with the traditional twelve grapes at midnight, best enjoyed from a beachfront restaurant in Costa Adeje or Puerto de la Cruz. See our New Year's Eve guide for the full lowdown.

Into January

The season does not end on 6 January. Reyes (Three Kings) Day brings the island's biggest parade of the festive season, and in mid-January Adeje holds its patron-saint fiesta — the South's traditional opening of the year. The carnival build-up starts almost immediately, so a late-December trip runs straight into the carnival season.

Practical notes

Hotels are busy from Christmas to New Year — book the where to stay pick early, and expect higher prices than early December. Flights from northern Europe around the holidays are the year's most expensive, but the budget guide has strategies. Restaurants need reservations for Nochebuena dinner. This is also a lovely season for families and couples — and the best time to visit page explains why December is one of the smartest months of the year for a day trip schedule. And if you're planning ahead, our November guide covers the calmest month before the festive rush.