I've never been to the mainland for Caranaval but I was lucky enough to be in Tenerife one year and Gran Canaria another. This much I know, supposedly " God turns his head for two weeks" and the people pretty much do as they please. And although it's officially only a two week deal, it almost seemed to me that the people started carnaval about two weeks early and ended about two weeks late. At least that was my perception of it. My wife's uncle is some kind of costume designer in Las Palmas, anyway, he spends a great part of the year designing Carnaval Costumes, and even does costumes for the Reinas de Carnaval. They are spectacular costumes!

'Los Carnavales' are just around the corner!!!....

A couple of more facts:

I heard on a tv report the other day that Tenerife's Carnival is considered to be amongst the best in the world, along with Rio's or Venice's, etc.

I guess the highlight of this event is the costume contest(at least for the rest of us Spaniards who always watch it on tv).
In this contest they choose the Carnival Queen. The girls are usually very young and gorgeous('Las canarias' are known to be quite beautiful in general), and their dresses are amazing!, sometimes their wear headdresses¿? that weight around 10 kilos, poor girls!
On a side note, in these modern times they also hold a contest for Drag Queen of the Carnival.

In Tenerife there are also 'chirigotas' (these, someone explained in a previous post), but they're called 'murgas'.

Now, in my opinion, one of the most peculiar traditions in Spain is 'el entierro de la sardina'(the sardine's burial), it's part of the Carnaval's rituals. I'm sorry I'm not really "an expert" on it; would anyone knowledgeable elaborate on that?

Sad news:
It looks like I'm going to have to wait for another year for Carnaval in Cadiz. My car got run into last Tuesday and it's in a Body shop being repaired; so I must postpone my trip to Cadiz.
Good news: I would have been flying Standby on a reduced rate parent's ticket - I don't lose any money on a non-refundable ticket.

To Spaniards Regarding Carnaval, do any of you go to parties and dress-up or is it only for those people in parades?

Eddie, what a shame!!!!! I'm so sorry to hear you won't be going to Spain this year. It's a shame about your accident -- hope YOU'RE in better shape from it than was, obviously, your car.

Upon reading this, your first of two paragraphs, it seemed as if you intended to DRIVE to Cádiz! I was going to suggest you OVERinflate your tires for the marine portion of your trip.

But seriously folks, it is always a shame to hear people have to cancel travel plans to Spain for whatever reason. Take care, Eddie.

Sadly, MadridMan

Although Madrid is not the best place for Carnivals, since I finished the university (we always had exams on February), I try to dress-up every year with a different costume with my friends and go to any place with some costume party.
Of course the best is going to other town.
Apart from Tenerife and Cadiz, in Ciudad Rodrigo is probably the oldest tradition. There are documents even from the Reyes Católicos asking not to spend so much in the festivities. They are organized arround the encierros and bullfights

MMan,

Now I can answer to your question after having gone out during Carnival in Madrid for the first time, (at least I can't remember any other occasion)

On Friday I had some friends come over at my place and somehow the dinner turned out to be a themed one, and we all dressed up as different things.

Last night I went out with the same group of people to a party at CAMP, because a girl in the group is good friends with the owner who is a Belgian-American. On our way there from the calle Estudios, we went through La Plaza Mayor, although the concert there hadn't started yet(at past midnight!) and saw some great costumes like one of Scarlett O'Hara's maid, etc...., and also we passed the entrance of El Círculo de Bellas Artes, and there were people entering the big ball wearing some pretty elaborate disguises. BTW, I was dressed as an angel, with wings and a halo. At Camp, the owner was a very gracious host and decided to give us a tour around Chueca, 'cause "that's really where the action was", so amongst a group of his friends we procceded to stop by several places, starting at one called La Luna, (and I can't remember the name of the rest), in our group was a girl wearing a ladybug costume, and many gay folks would say to her "Oh! how appropiate!" (get it?); anyway, we saw loads of: witches, demons, cow-girl-drag-queens, nurse-drag-queens, bimbo-drag-queens,....and also; bishops, popes, school uniforms, Scottish kilts, etc,....

Upon returning home at around four, I could hear a lot of noise and music coming from Huertas Street, and kind of saw a little parade going on there.

A couple of more facts I've learned about Tenerife's "crazyness";

The Carnival there lasts three weeks.
Not only there's the queen and drag-queen of the Carnival's pageant, but also one for older(I guess 60+) women.
The average weight of the dresses wore by the younger contestants goes from 40 to 60 kgs.!

In response to hombre_gizon´s post:

Domingo de Resurrección --> Easter Sunday
Domingo de Ramos --> Palm Sunday
Miércoles de Ceniza --> Ash Wednesday

I thought Carnival (Mardi Gras) ended on Tuesday (Fat Tuesday) ??