Tenerife

Tenerife attractions: the floral tapestries of La Orotava

You already know that owning a property at Abama Resort lets you enjoy many Tenerife attractions. The climate, the landscape, the ocean breeze, and an exuberant natural environment make our resort the perfect residence for those who want to disconnect, play golf, or simply relax on a terrace with unparalleled views. And you can have all these things without renouncing the luxury of multiple first-class services and facilities. But what you may not have realized when you settled on Tenerife is that its wonders go far beyond the natural; the cultural and historical riches of the island will surprise you time and time again. Today we bring you one of the unique gifts of Canary Islands tradition: the floral tapestries of La Orotava.

The yearly festival in La Orotava is celebrated in honour of Corpus Christi, Saint Isidro Labrador and Saint María de La Cabeza. It’s the largest Corpus celebration in the Canary Islands and one of the largest in all of Spain, and has consequently been declared a celebration of national tourism interest.

During the infraoctava of Corpus Christi, the Thursday after the Sunday on which the religious holiday of Corpus is celebrated, which this year falls on the 27th of June, La Orotava decks itself and its streets in colour with beautiful floral tapestries. It’s a celebration that has been repeated every year since 1847, when a few members of the Monteverde family, under the influence of Leonor del Castillo, created a floral tapestry to celebrate the passing of the Andas del Corpus procession in front of their home.

Soon all the townspeople took up the custom of decking the streets with beautiful flowers and colours, to which they added an enormous tapestry of sand and earth from the ravines of the Teide that completely covers the plaza of the City Hall of La Orotava.

Over time, the elaboration of this enormous tapestry of volcanic sand, which takes nearly one month to create, has gained in renown and significance, coming to be one of the most popular of Tenerife attractions. In fact, it is considered a celebration of national tourism interest. And that’s not all. It has also earned a Guinness World Record for being the largest-surface-area tapestry in the world and will soon begin the process to be declared a World Heritage Cultural Site by UNESCO.

Have we awoken your curiosity? Mark your calendar for this 27th of June and prepare yourself for of the most impactful visual spectacles that you’ll ever come across. It’s not every day that you can enjoy an event with such record-breaking proportions so close to your property at Abama Resort. La Orotava is only an hour away by car, so if you happen to be able to enjoy a few days at Abama during this time, you can’t miss it!

Let yourself be taken in by the softness of the petals and the intense ochre and grey tones of the sands of the Teide visible in one of the most amazing Tenerife attractions. It’s a fascinating combination that fully justifies leaving the comfortable pleasures of your luxury home in Tenerife to surrender to the charms of ancient tradition. Learn about other Tenerife destinations that are worth discovering.