Granada International Festival of Music & Dance - 3rd week of June for around a fortnight

There can surely be few better settings in which to listen to high quality music than some of Granada’s renowned venues. The annual International Festival of Music and Dance provides a perfect experience for lovers of music, dance and Granada.

Venues where events take place include the King Carlos V Palace, the open-air theatre in the Generalife Gardens, in El Patio de los Arrayanes in the heart of the Alhambra and various other of Granada’s historic churches and buildings.

The Festival can trace its beginnings back to 1883 when a series of symphonic concerts were held in the King Carlos V Palace during the Corpus Christi celebrations.

The festival started to grow in an unofficial manner until, in 1955, it came under the auspices of the European Association of Festivals and since that time it has developed into the major festival that it has now become.

The event now encompasses many differing styles and genres in its headline concerts but, equally as important for the thousands of visitors to the city are the late nights of Flamenco music and, indeed, music from all around the world, that can be unofficially listened to in the areas around El Albaicín and El Sacromonte, amongst others. The whole of Granada comes alive with the sound of not only typically Spanish guitars, castanets and flamenco dancers but also with the music brought to the city by its many visitors.