Travel Guide
Festivals & fiestas
Andalusia lives out loud, and its calendar of festivals is one of the great reasons to time a visit well. From solemn candlelit processions to plazas carpeted in flowers and a week-long fair with a dragon at its head, the fiestas around Cortijo Bujio turn ordinary weeks into unforgettable ones. Here is what happens, and when.
The most dramatic week of the Andalusian year. During Semana Santa, some 32 cofradías (religious brotherhoods) of Granada carry huge, ornate floats — pasos bearing sculptures of Christ and the Virgin — slowly through the streets, accompanied by penitents in tall pointed hoods, drums and the mournful, improvised flamenco prayer called the saeta. In the narrow lanes of the Albaicín and Realejo, by candlelight, it is genuinely spine-tingling, whatever your beliefs. The dates move each year with Easter.
Granada's happiest festival. On 3 May, the city's plazas, patios, balconies and courtyards fill with crosses covered entirely in flowers — the Cruces de Mayo — each one decorated by a neighbourhood or association competing to be the finest. Add sevillanas dancing, wine, tapas and the scent of carnations everywhere, and it becomes one long open-air party. It is perhaps the loveliest day of the year to be in Granada.
Corpus Christi, whose date is set by Easter and usually falls in June, is Granada's biggest fair — a full week of festivities. It has two faces. The playful one begins with the Tarasca on the Wednesday: a procession led by a mannequin of a woman riding a dragon, followed by gigantes y cabezudos (giant figures and big-heads) representing characters from the city's history, such as the Catholic Monarchs. The solemn one is the Corpus procession itself. Around them swirl a fairground, bullfights, concerts, flamenco and days of celebration. It is Granada at its most exuberant.
Your nearest town celebrates in its own, more intimate way:
Fiestas are the best and the busiest time to visit — book early, especially for Semana Santa, the Día de la Cruz and Corpus. Because Cortijo Bujio is out in the countryside, you can dive into the crowds and colour of Granada by day and return to peace and stars by night. Ask us and we'll tell you exactly what's on during your stay.
What is the biggest festival in Granada? Corpus Christi, usually in June, is the city's largest fair — a week of processions (including the dragon-led Tarasca), bullfights, concerts and celebration.
What is the Día de la Cruz? The Day of the Cross, on 3 May, when Granada's squares and patios fill with flower-covered crosses, dancing and tapas — one of the city's most joyful festivals.
When is Semana Santa? Holy Week, in spring (the dates move with Easter). Granada's 32 brotherhoods stage dramatic candlelit processions through the old city.
Does Montefrío have its own festivals? Yes — the patron-saint festival of San Sebastián on 20 January (with its famous ribboned, belled costumes), plus Santiago in July and a month-long August festival.
Cortijo Bujio is 45 minutes from Granada's fiestas and 15 from Montefrío's. Read on about flamenco & the Sacromonte, Lorca's Granada and Granada & the Alhambra.
Sources: Turismo de Granada (Corpus Christi, Día de la Cruz, Semana Santa); LoveGranada and Spain.info festival guides; Wikipedia / Turismo de Montefrío (San Sebastián and August festivals).