Picture gallery

Few places in the world have the opportunity to celebrate the festive season with spring-like temperatures, guaranteed sunshine in most parts (particularly in the south) and the chance to swim in the untamed yet calm Atlantic Ocean at a delightful temperature.

A place in the world equipped with the best infrastructures in terms of accommodation (with a wide range of choice of categories and prices), transport (sea, air and overland), general services (with European standards of quality and service), first rate health services and high levels of safety, and above all friendly locals and an exceptional natural environment permeating and enveloping it all as if it were one great big Christmas present. That place is the Canary Islands; our Islands; an archipelago at the southern border of Continental Europe and a bridge between Europe, Africa and Latin America.

Christmas in the sun is still full of the Christmas spirit in all aspects of faith, beliefs, customs and traditions, tolerance and integration. Many and varied communities coexist in our Islands and each of them celebrates the festive season in its own way. British, French speakers, Germans, Scandinavians and Latin Americans (many of them tourists who are spending Christmas in our Islands), celebrate this special season according to their customs, while other communities (Muslims, Jews, Asians, Indians and so on) watch the celebrations with respect and tolerance even though they do not share the same systems of beliefs.

In the Islands every district, every village, every town and every city, big or small, takes on the sights, flavours, sounds and fragrances of Christmas. Nativity scenes, religious plays, the processions of the three kings, Christmas parades and a large number of events and activities fill the streets of the Islands and spread the spirit of Christmas, in a setting with an ideal average temperature allowing visitors and locals alike to take a walk through the streets and enjoy all these activities both during the day and at night.

At the same time there are performances by folk groups and traditional music groups, municipal bands, concerts and so on in the open air in the public squares and along the seaside walkways. All of the groups prepare their best songs for this very special time of year.

In the same way, a number of cities in the Islands have displays of very distinctive nativity scenes, such as the ones made out of sand at several of the beaches. These are true sand sculptures which struggle against the elements to remain intact until the end of the festive season.

We therefore invite you to visit our Islands at this time of year and to enjoy a different kind of Christmas: a Christmas in the sun. At the same time you can enjoy all the hundreds of other options available in the Canary Islands in order to have a happy Christmas holiday and even to see in 2009.

From the Canary Islands and their Tourist Board we wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Links

• Nativity scene presentation on a beach in the Canary Islands (1,1Mb)