Christmas and New Year in Tenerife 2026: what is open and what to book

More than most people expect. 25 December and 1 January are national public holidays in Spain, and Epiphany on 6 January was a holiday in every region in the official 2026 calendar, but the resort coast keeps working. Tickets for Siam Park and Loro Parque are on sale for every day of the fortnight, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day included, and Siam Park’s own site says it opens 365 days a year. The two big whale boats from the south coast, Whale and dolphin watching, no chasing and the Travelin' Lady whale and dolphin trip, are on sale every day too, and so is Sunset and stargazing above the clouds in Teide National Park.

The table shows what we found on 13 November for the five dates people ask about. Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and 5 January could be booked for every experience on the list. The gaps are on 25 December and 1 January: the kayak tour, the try dive, the Los Gigantes boat, the jeep safari, the banana farm and the Sea Trek walk all showed no availability when read on 13 November 2026 for both days.

The Teide cable car is the one big sight with a fixed closure. Its operator says it opens all year and closes only on 25 December. The published timetable runs from 9am to 5pm, last ascent 4pm, every other day to 31 December 2026. The operator’s booking calendar, read on 10 November, had tickets for 24, 26 and 31 December and for 1 and 6 January.

Warm enough for the beach by late morning, cool enough for a jumper at dinner. Taking every day from 20 December to 6 January across the last five winters, the median afternoon high on the Costa Adeje seafront was 21.8°C and the median overnight low 16.4°C. At 9pm, when you are likely to be walking to a restaurant, it was 18.4°C.

The south is the safer choice for sun. Its afternoons were mostly clear on 58% of those days, about ten of the eighteen, and only 8% of days had 1 mm of rain or more. Puerto de la Cruz in the north was barely cooler by day at 21.2°C, but had clear afternoons on 37% of days and rain on 32%, roughly six days of the eighteen. The north is greener for that reason, and an easy day out from a base in the south.

The sea averaged 21.5°C off Costa Adeje over the same fortnight in the last four winters, ranging from 19.9°C to 22.5°C. That is fresh but fine for a swim from the boat, and the small yacht trip includes a snorkel stop. Days are short: on 25 December the sun rises at about 7:55am and sets at about 6:18pm in Costa Adeje, so plan boat trips and the cable car for the middle of the day and keep the evening for the stars.

Three things: the Teide cable car, a whale trip on the day you want, and anything small. A boat with ten places fills sooner than one with two hundred, so the small trips are the ones to reserve first.

Start with the mountain. Our guide to Teide cable car tickets found morning places still open for the days between Christmas and New Year on 10 November, and with 25 December closed the days either side are the ones to take. Book the cable car at least two weeks ahead for a morning slot. If the weather closes it, the operator says it emails or texts you at about 8:30am, and you can change or cancel free of charge.

For the evening, Sunset and stargazing above the clouds is the pick of the whole fortnight: rated 4.7 from 3,802 reviews, on sale every night including Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, and the long nights mean the stars come out early. Bring a warm coat for the mountain after dark.

On the water, Whale and dolphin watching, no chasing (4.6 from 15,902 reviews) and the Travelin' Lady whale and dolphin trip (4.7 from 19,874) are on sale every day and are the ones to choose for 25 December and 1 January. If you would rather share the boat with nine other people than ninety, Whale watching and snorkelling on a small yacht takes ten at most, is rated 4.8 from 527 reviews and was on sale every day of the fortnight when we looked.

For Siam Park and Loro Parque, a dated ticket bought ahead means no stop at the ticket office. Both are rated on thousands of reviews: Siam Park 4.5 from 19,368 and Loro Parque 4.8 from 15,181. Save the water park for one of the clear afternoons; Loro Parque, in the cloudier north, works in any weather.

In Spain the family meal is on the evening of 24 December, Nochebuena. Ask your hotel whether it serves a Christmas Eve dinner and whether it is included in your rate before you book, and reserve a restaurant table for the 24th and 25th early if you are self-catering.

Christmas Day itself is a beach and boat day. The two big whale boats and the small yacht, both parks and the stargazing tour were all on sale for 25 December. The island’s own tradition is the Ports of Tenerife Christmas Concert, when the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra plays in the open air on the quayside in Santa Cruz. Last year it was held on 25 December 2025 at 7:15pm at the Dársena de Los Llanos, and the tourism board listed tickets at €5. The 2026 concert had not been announced when we checked, so treat that as last year’s pattern.

For something indoors, the Candlelight concerts in La Laguna, Tenerife play at the Espacio Mutua Tinerfeña in the old town. The best-rated programme, Queen vs. ABBA (4.8 from 333 ratings on Fever), has a session on Friday 18 December 2026 at 7pm, from €37.28 a ticket with Fever’s fee. La Laguna is the old university town in the north and a World Heritage site. La Orotava, nearby, builds a nativity scene outside its town hall; the one pictured here was photographed in December 2012.

New Year’s Eve could be booked for every experience we checked, so the simple plan is a whale trip in the morning and a party at night. Spaniards eat twelve grapes on the twelve chimes of midnight. Councils publish their programmes in December; Adeje’s council has already allocated fair stalls on Calle Grande, in Adeje town, for its New Year’s Eve fiesta 2026.

If your hotel holds a gala dinner on 31 December, ask for the price when you book the room and whether it is included in your rate.

The quiet alternative is the mountain. Sunset and stargazing above the clouds was on sale for 31 December, and the evening runs three to five hours from a sunset at about 6:20pm, so you are back on the coast before midnight. On 1 January the big boats, the parks, the cable car and the stargazing tour were all on sale, while the kayak, dive, jeep, Sea Trek and Los Gigantes trips showed no availability when read on 13 November 2026.

In the Canaries the presents arrive with the Three Kings, and the evening of 5 January is the biggest night of the season for children. Towns across the island hold a parade, the cabalgata, with floats and music. In 2027 the 5th is a Tuesday and the 6th, Epiphany, a Wednesday.

The 2027 routes were not published when we looked, so the table gives what happened on 5 January 2026. For visitors in the south, Los Cristianos is the easy one: the council counted more than 25,000 people along its route last time. In Santa Cruz the Kings arrive at the football stadium for a show before the parade crosses the city centre to Plaza de la Candelaria. Arrive early for a kerbside place and expect road closures along the route from the afternoon; in Santa Cruz the tram stop at Weyler was closed from 6pm until about 9:30pm.

Everything on our list was on sale on 5 January, so a morning boat trip and an evening parade fit in one day. On 6 January itself only the banana farm visit showed no availability when read on 13 November 2026.

Stay in the south-west, between Costa Adeje and Guía de Isora. It has the sunshine, the whale boats leave from its harbours, Siam Park is minutes away and the Teide road starts behind it. Our guide to Tenerife north or south has the drive times from each coast.

Bahía del Duque is the classic choice, on the beach in the photograph at the top of this page, with several restaurants on site. Royal Hideaway Corales Beach in La Caleta is the adults-only choice for couples, a few minutes' walk from the village’s fish restaurants. Further up the coast, Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora suits families, with two kids' clubs and enough restaurants that nobody has to plan, and The Ritz-Carlton Tenerife, Abama is the grand resort with its own cove. Both are a short drive from the Los Gigantes cliffs.

If you want the Canarian Christmas more than the beach, choose Hotel Botánico & The Oriental Spa Garden in Puerto de la Cruz. It is in the same town as Loro Parque, with La Orotava and La Laguna a drive away, and our hotel page rates it better value than the south in the same weeks.

Christmas and New Year are peak weeks for every hotel on this list, priced well above their low-season rates, so book the hotel before anything else, ask whether any gala dinner is included, and then add the cable car and the boat.