San Juan festival Tenerife
On the 23rd of June, Tenerife celebrates Noche de San Juan, to celebrate the arrival of summer and new beginnings. On Playa de Jardin in Puerto de la Cruz, this festival is celebrated amongst thousands of people. And since this is only a 10 minute ride from Nine Coliving, we will definitely be there too in 2019.
Come join us, we still have a few rooms available this month!
Big bonfires and thousands of people on Playa de Jardin
Noche de San Juan
Playa de Jardin in Puerto de la Cruz is divided in 3 bays. During Noche de San Juan every bay has its own crowd. On the beach of Punta Brava hundreds of teenagers are celebrating, with bonfires, camping, swimming and raving. Not the place where we might want to be, but it is definitely worth trawling by to take all the young energy in.
On the next beach over, people are having a more quiet evening, enjoying a glass of wine and a picnic, with little bonfires and swimming in the ocean.
But to really celebrate Noche de San Juan, you head over to the last beach, which is the beach closest to the city. There, hundreds of people are celebrating on the beach, with a huge bonfire made by the government and a concert from 8.30 to 12pm. Many people are camping on the beach and the gardens surrounding Playa de Jardin. If you want, you can put up your tent early in the day and enjoy the beach all day until the party starts.
Festivities around Noche de San Juan
The beach celebration is clearly the main event of Noche de San Juan in Tenerife, but in the days around it many other events happen in Puerto de la Cruz.
On the 22nd of June, habitants of Puerto decorate the streets and their houses with fruits and vegetables. They believe that Saint John (or San Juan in Spanish) is also the saint of prosperity of the fruits. During the day and evening you can walk around in Puerto de la Cruz to see all this art work.
On the 24th, the day after Noche de San Juan, the town celebrates the water festival. People believe that the water of San Juan is healing and benefits everyone. At playa el Muelle, goats, donkeys, horses and dogs are led into the water from 8am to 2pm. Many people are now trying to stop this activity, manly because it is very stressful for the animals. And in the last years it has become more of a tourist attraction than an actual holy celebration. Please keep this is mind if you decide to visit el Muelle this day.
If you have the chance to celebrate Noche de San Juan you really should. We hope that this little inside about Noche de San Juan in Tenerife makes you as exited as we are! Please leave your experiences with this festival in the comments. Because we know all over the world it will be unique in its own way.