The Carnival in Marbella in 2024 will have activities spread in different parts of the city. If you are in Marbella someday between February 03 and 18, 2024, you are probably going to be close to some festivity; time to join the fun!
Marbella’s city council has released two programs for this carnival: one for Marbella as a whole, divided by area, and one specific for San Pedro Alcántara. Clicking on the links takes you to the original programs published by Marbella, in Spanish. We’ll see the events of both programs in this post, translated to English, as well as the routes of the parades and the locations where some of the events will take place. 😉
Table of Contents
If you can’t come (or even if you can!) you can still watch some of the events of the Carnival in Marbella on RTV Marbella or on their You Tube channel, Radio Televisión Marbella.
Marbella
Saturday, February 3
09:00 p.m. Proclamation of Carnival 2024, at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella
– Reading of the Proclamation of Carnival 2024, posthumous proclamation in honor of Mr. Francisco Blanco Suárez “El Butano”.
– Imposition of the “Golden Shield” of the 2024 carnival to Fco. Javier Cerván Jiménez.
– Presentation of the Venus, Nymphs and Dios Momo of Carnival 2024.
Venus: Inmaculada Rodríguez Macías Nymph: Mercedes Tejero Macías Nynfa: Sanaa Amhouco Dios Momo: Antonio Sánchez Urdiales
– Performance of local carnival groups: “Mejor me callo”, “This year we barely came out”, “La Joya” and “Los Refugiados”. Closing, anthology of the Carapapas Brothers “La cuadrilla”
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c / José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
Above: directions to Teatro ciudad de Marbella, where many activities will happen during the carnival in Marbella, 2024.
Sunday, February 11
From noon to 03:00 p.m. Children’s Carnival proclamation in the Parque de la Represa (next to the Antonio Gil “El Nejo” plaque), with the following activities:
– Reading of the children’s proclamation by Rocío Gil Mateo.
– Choice of Venus, Nymphs and God Momo for children of the carnival (by lottery). All children who wish to participate, aged between 5 and 12, must complete their application at the Parque de la Represa and deposit it in their corresponding ballot box.
– Children’s animation show.
– Inflatable castles, mechanical bull, jumping, trampolines and many more surprises.
Above: Parque de la Represa
Tuesday, February 13
10:00 a.m. Semifinal of the children’s chirigotas* competition to be held at the Adolfo Suárez Congress and Exhibition Palace in Marbella with the participation of educational centers in our municipality.
09:00 p.m. Semifinal of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition that will take place at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
* The chirigota is a carnival-style choral musical group that sings mainly in the streets offering humorous songs to the city. The songs performed by these choral groups are also generically called chirigotas.
Above: Adolfo Suárez Congress and Exhibition Palace
Wednesday, February 14
10.00 a.m. Semifinal of the children’s chirigotas competition to be held at the Adolfo Suárez Congress and Exhibition Palace in Marbella with the participation of educational centers in our municipality.
09:00 p.m. Semifinal of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition that will take place at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
Thursday, February 15
10:00 a.m. Final of the children’s chirigotas competition to be held at the Adolfo Suárez Congress and Exhibition Palace in Marbella with the participation of educational centers in our municipality.
09:00 p.m. Semifinal of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition that will take place at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
Friday, February 16
09:00 p.m. Final of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition that will take place at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
The winning children’s group of the 2024 chirigotas children’s competition will perform in the Final of the Carnival Groups Competition.
Saturday, February 17
05:00 p.m. Marbella Carnival humor parade
Route: Ricardo Soriano Avenue (Siebla gas station area), Ramón y Cajal Avenue, Severo Ochoa Avenue and ending at the intersection with Nabeul Avenue.
During registration and throughout the route, the jury will view and choose the best costumes in the individual, couples and group modalities of the adult and children’s categories.
Registration for the adult and children’s costume contest will take place one hour before the start of the parade (old Urban Planning area).
Registration closes at the end of the Parade (ages from 14 years old for adult category).
Carnival entertainment show and the awards ceremony will happen on the stage located on Nabeul Avenue.
08:30 p.m. Carnival performances in the Parque de la Represa (next to the Antonio Gil “El Nejo” temple) with the participation of the following groups:
– Comparsa* “The Black Sheep” by Antonio Martínez Ares
(lyrics, music and direction: Antonio Martínez Ares)
– Chirigota “El Grinch de Cai” by the sheriff
(lyrics: Juan Manuel Braza Benítez “sheriff”, Roberto Fabio Gómez Durán and Juan Pérez, music : Juan Manuel Braza Benítez and direction: José Sibón Pereira).
– Comparsa “And we continue singing”
(lyrics: Antonio Jesús Pérez Fuentes and Sergio Guillén Bancalero, music: Sergio Guillén Bancalero and direction: Juan Antonio Macías Álvarez).
* A comparsa is a group of people who, dressed in a similar way, often with joking or sarcastic intentions, participate in a popular festival.
Sunday, February 18
Noon – XXIV Carnival Mejillonada (mussel feast) and Antonio Rubia “El Extranjero” Memorial organized by the Peña Carnavalesca Los Nocheros, in the Parque de la Represa.
Free mussel tasting for all attendees and performance by carnival groups.
Carnival group competition with prizes for best presentation, best pasodoble, best cuplé and chorus and best medley.
Registrations during the mussel feast.
Conditions of participation:
– Registration open until half an hour before the start of the contest.
– Number of components per group: minimum 12 components with instrumentation (snare, bass drum and guitar)
– Performance: minimum performance of a complete repertoire (performance, two pasodobles, two cuplés and medley).
– Maximum performance time: 30 minutes.
– Participating groups: maximum 8 groups.
Prizes at the end of the contest.
Nueva Andalucía
Sunday, February 4
12:30 p.m. Carnival party at IES Nueva Andalucía, with children’s entertainment, bouncy castles and:
02:30 p.m. Costume contest for 3 categories: children, adults and groups
03:30 p.m. Performance by carnival groups.
Above: IES Nueva Andalucia
Thursday, February 8
05:00 p.m. Carnival Party at CPA Nueva Andalucía with a costume contest.
Above: CPA Nueva Andalucía
Sunday, February 11
04:00 p.m. Carnival Party on Avenida Las Palmeras (Colonia El Ángel)
Children’s entertainment and several inflatables.
carnival contest with the following categories: children, adults and groups.
Performance by carnival groups.
Above: Colonia el Ángel, Nueva Andalucía (but I couldn’t find the Avenida las Palmeras!)
Tuesday, February 13
10:00 a.m. CEIP José Banús Carnival Parade through the streets of the Nueva Andalucía District.
Las Chapas
Saturday, February 3
Noon – Las Chapas 2024 carnival party at the Platero school with the following scheduled activities:
Noon – Children’s workshops and bouncy castles
12:30 p.m. – Children’s entertainment 1:15 PM – School performance dance by Karina Parra
01:30 p.m. – Costume contest (children, children, adults and groups categories).
02:30 p.m.- Carnival sausage
03:15 p.m.- Performance by carnival groups
Above: Platero School
San Pedro Alcántara
The cover of San Pedro de Alcántara’s carnival program says it goes from February 9 to 11, but… good news, it actually goes till February 16! More party!!
Friday, February 9
11:00 a.m. Children’s Carnival Parade with the participation of various educational centers in San Pedro Alcántara through the main streets of the center: Plaza de la Iglesia, Lagasca, Jerez, Marqués del Duero and Plaza de la Iglesia.
Upon completion, a children’s entertainment show will take place.
Route of the Children’s Carnival Parade
05:00 p.m. Children’s carnival party on San Pedro Alcántara Boulevard with the following activities:
– Children’s costume contest
– Entertainment show.
– Bouncy castles, mechanical bull, jumping, trampolines and many more surprises.
This event will have a bar with popular prices run by the San Pedro Alcántara Carnival Cultural Association.
Above: a little bit of the beautiful Boulevard San Pedro Alcántara
Saturday, February 10
05:00 p.m. Humor parade of the San Pedro Alcántara carnival
Route: Avenida Virgen del Rocío (J. Tineo roundabout), Boulevard San Pedro Alcántara, Pepe Osorio, Avenida Oriental, Revilla and ending at the church square.
During registration and throughout the route, the jury will view and choose the best costumes in the individual, couples and group modalities of the adult categories.
Registration for the costume contest (adults) will take place one hour before the start of the parade (Children’s Park area of Avenida Virgen del Rocío). Registration closes at the end of the Parade (ages from 14 years old for adult category).
Carnival entertainment show and awards ceremony will take place on the stage located in the Plaza de la Iglesia.
Sunday, February 11
Noon – San Pedro Carnival on the Boulevard stage with the participation of the following groups:
– Local carnival groups: Chirigota “María del Monte”, Chirigota “Better I shut up”, quartet “This year we barely came out”, Comparsa “La Joya” and Comparsa “Los Refugiados”.
– Comparsa “El Joyero”
– Comparsa del Jona “Los Sacrificaos”
– Chirigota de los Molinas “Los Chabolis”
This event will have a bar with popular prices run by the San Pedro Alcántara Carnival Cultural Association.
Tuesday, February 13
10:00 a.m. Semifinal of the children’s chirigotas competition at the Adolfo Suárez Congress and Exhibition Palace in Marbella with the participation of educational centers in our municipality.
09:00 p.m. Semifinal of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
Wednesday, February 14
10:00 a.m. Semifinal of the children’s chirigotas competition at the Adolfo Suárez Congress and Exhibition Palace in Marbella with the participation of educational centers in our municipality.
09:00 p.m. Semifinal of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
Thursday, February 15
10:00 a.m. Final of the children’s chirigota competition at the Adolfo Suárez Congress and Exhibition Palace in Marbella with the participation of educational centers in our municipality.
09:00 p.m. Semifinal of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
Friday, February 16
09:00 p.m. Final of the XXVII Carnival Groups Competition that will take place at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella.
Free admission upon invitation, that can be picked up at at the Festival Delegation (c/ Salinas 4, hours from 09:00 to 14:00) and at the ACCM headquarters (c/ José Iturbi), until capacity is reached.
Conclusion
Spreading the events of the carnival in Marbella 2024 in different areas guarantees that there will always be some activity close to the people of the city; spreading it in time – 3 weekends! – guarantees that those who want to participate in many events have the opportunity to see a lot. 😉 Marbella has prepared a well thought-through carnival, so all you need to do now is choose your costume!
