Other places in Tenerife

Adeje Amarilla Golf Arona callao salvaje Chayofa Costa del Silencio El Duque El Medano Fanabe Golf del Sur Guimar Icod de los Vinos La Caleta La Orotava Los Cristianos Los Gigantes Palm-Mar Playa de las Americas Playa Paraiso, Puerto de la Cruz Puerto Santiago San Eugenio Tegueste

Get all gorgeous in Santa Cruz

I had dinner with Fidel Castro, Kermit the Frog and Michael Jackson last week. Before you ask, no, there weren't any magic mushrooms on the menu. I was in Tenerife's capital, Santa Cruz, to experience Carnival, where dressing up like your favourite dictator or pop star is obviously de rigueur.

Despite being one of the world's largest carnivals, with over 200,000 visitors annually, the inhabitants of Santa Cruz de seem to enjoy keeping the fortnight-long celebration a strictly local affair.
So there was bound to be controversy among the community when this year's organisers enlisted festival-director extraordinaire Rafael Amargo in from, gasp, Andalucia.
Confirming their worst suspicions, Amargo immediately set about bucking all the usual conventions. Firstly he refused to hold an open castings for the carnival queen contestants. Then he booked famous mainlanders to perform at the traditionally all-local 'Election of the Carnival Queen Night'.
Not that any of this was immediately obvious on the night to us non-Spanish-speaking Brits. We watched in blissful oblivion and actually joined in the jubilant cheering and exuberant foot stamping for famous Spanish band Dover. Only afterwards did we realise we'd actually been shouting: "fuente" or "get off". Oops.
The biggest genuine cheer of the night, went to the amateur clown group Ni Fu Ni Fa, one of the many Murgas, or comedy groups that make up amusing satirical songs about recent political events.
And the crowd perked up no end when it was time for the18 carnival queens to start strutting their stuff. Despite Amargo's insistence that the girls be pretty and thin, we discovered that neither were vital, winning criteria. Instead judges looked for how elaborate and innovative the costumes were, and how well the girls wiggled within them.
The eventual winner, Elisabet Garcia Garcia stood out straight away, with her neon flashing lights, James Bond theme tune and confident poise.
We next saw her and the three runners-up parading through Santa Cruz two nights later in the vibrant Carnival Parade. Families lined the parade route knee-deep with excitable children, all dressed in impressive fancy dress outfits - a Superman here, a shimmery mermaid there.
Not did the fancy dress end there. The parade is an opportunity for everyone to dress up, adults and children alike. Tonight you looked strange without an outlandish fancy dress outfit. Lucky I had my mask and feather boa then.
However, whatever the spectators wore literally paled into comparison with the hundreds of dancers, singers and bands that samba-ed through the streets until the early hours of the morning. There can't have been a single gold sequin, brightly coloured feather or shiny lurex catsuit left in any of the island's shops.
Group after group resembling extras from a Scissor Sisters video shimmied past us, each one performing a mini Fame-like dance routine to blaring music from loud speakers, or the deafening drum beat of accompanying musicians. The crowds danced along and everyone's spirits were sky high.
Drinking and dancing carried on till sunrise along the cobbled, pedestrianised streets of the town centre. Cocktails, beers and spirits were served in outdoor bars and the reliably warm Tenerife weather ensured that spirits weren't dampened by any unexpected rain.
As I wandered around leafy Park García Sanabria the next day, I was impressed to spot several hardcore party-goers, still in costume, still in high spirits, some still drinking beers as they swayed between sculptures.
Clearly, a little thing like Amargo the n taking the show over wasn't going to stop Tenerifians from letting their hair down and partying hard for another successive year.
After all, Carnival has been going nearly every year since 1496. Even during the Franco years when carnival was banned, it sneaked through by changing its name to The Winter Fiestas.
In fact, gently meandering through the sun-dazzled streets of Santa Cruz seemed the perfect way of walking off my post-carnival head. From Park Garcia Sanabria, I wandered down pedestrianised Calle Castilla, the main shopping street where Quiksilver, Zara and Massimo Dutti (its upmarket equivalent) were delightfully empty.
After some shopping I continued towards spacious Plaza de Espana where the Carnival Queen Election is normally held (this year, it was being refurbished). On the other side of the road is the palm-lined port and although Santa Cruz has no beach within the city, the Cesar Manrique-designed Lido is perfect to sunbathe, or join the locals who gravitate towards Teresitas, a 10-minute bus ride away.
My final stop was the historic old town of Santa Cruz, which dates back to the 18th century. Calle la Noria and surrounding streets are lined with traditional, one and two storey Canarian houses painted attractive terracottas and bright blues, perfectly off-set by the clear blue skies and wide cobbled streets.
Many have been converted into stylish bars and restaurants, serving Spanish and Canarian tapas dishes. A few hardcore locals nursed their hangovers al fresco with strong black coffee and even stronger black sunglasses.
As I sat down with a glass of local vino tinto in La Balsa Blues restaurant, it felt impossible to believe I was in Tenerife The British-run cafes, rowdy beach bars and lobster-pink Brits were nowhere to be found.
So if you're looking for a cultural, historic winter-sun holiday that will confound your expectations, Santa Cruz is the place to come.

• For more information about Tenerife visit www.webtenerife.com. For reservations at the Sheraton Mencey Hotel, see www.sheraton.com/mencey. Low-cost airline Monarch offers flights to Tenerife from Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Luton and Manchester. Single fares start from £62.50pp. Seee www.flymonarch.com or tel: 08700 40 63 00.

* If you like the sound of the Tenerife Carnival, you might like to visit:

Read more in our destination guide to Tenerife.