What can visitors expect in Los Silos?
Los Silos, in north-west Tenerife, becomes a stage for storytellers in 2026. The 31st Festival Internacional del Cuento puts the lavanderas (washerwomen) at its centre.
It honours the women who did the washing in the lavaderos (public wash houses). Their working conditions were hard.
According to the programme, performances take place in public places in the village, in the middle of everyday life. Earlier editions used squares, churches, homes, shops and schools as stages.
Banana plantations and old convents have also served as venues. That makes a visit more of a stroll through the village than an evening in a hall.
The sources do not say how long the journey from the south takes. They also give no details on parking or traffic during the festival.
When does the festival take place?
The organiser's website gives the programme period as 16 November to 7 December 2026. Another published listing speaks of 4 to 7 December 2026.
It is not confirmed why the dates differ. A warm-up programme from 16 November with core days in early December is possible, but no source says so.
Two single dates are certain. From 12 to 14 November, a spin-off of the festival runs in Granadilla.
On 19 November comes “Jueves y Aparte en la Placeta” at the Placeta de la Constitución in Los Silos. There Fray Marcos de Ayalón tells the story “El juguete del alcalde”.
Anyone planning a special trip should ask the organiser for the exact core days first. The festival office is at Calle El Olivo 43 in Los Silos.
How much does it cost and where can you get tickets?
According to the programme, many events are free to attend. The organiser sells tickets for paid performances through the Tomaticket platform, which is reachable from the official site.
The organiser has not yet published any prices. The programme and the ticket link are on cuentoslossilos.es, and news appears on Instagram at @cuentoslossilos.
The full 2026 programme, with artists, times and venues, was not available at the time of writing. It is equally unclear whether the tribute to the washerwomen will take place at the Lavaderos de Susana.
There are no euro figures for the budget. An overview lists the Gobierno de Canarias (regional government), the Cabildo de Tenerife (island council), the councils of Los Silos and Granadilla de Abona and two foundations as supporters, without a year or amounts.
What did the 30th edition offer in December 2025?
The 30th edition ran from 5 to 8 December 2025 and counted around 129 activities. More than 60 artists performed, with storytellers from Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, France, Venezuela and Spain.
The organisers named María Teresa Andruetto, Antonio Rodríguez Almodóvar, Liliana Cinetto, Emilio Lome and Eric Chartiot as guests. The exhibition “Palabras ilustradas” by Ramón Freire was also on show.
Venues included the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de La Luz, the Plaza de La Luz and the Casa de la Cultura. Children had their own space in the Sala Callejón, and TeatroSilos staged ghost stories near the cemetery.
Recurring formats included the “Tertulias al olor del pan” on 7 December from 09:00 to 12:00. “Desayunos de cuentos” and “Letras para merendar” followed on 8 December from 16:30.
It is not confirmed whether these formats will return in 2026. They do show how dense and down-to-earth the programme is.
Where does the idea of the washerwomen come from?
On 7 December 2017, the festival held a session at the restored Lavaderos de Susana in the Agua ravine. The wash houses were built in 1924 as a communal laundry.
The local press describes them as a place where women told stories while they worked. The council and the festival put up a commemorative plaque there.
Rodríguez Abad told forgotten stories that day, including Lorca's “Mariquilla” from 1934. Around 30 guests received socks with stories hidden inside, as a nod to the washerwomen.
That session is an earlier model for the 2026 theme, not a pointer to this year's programme. No further local sources on lavaderos in Los Silos itself turned up.
Who is behind the festival?
The Asociación Cultural para el Desarrollo y Fomento de la Lectura y el Cuento has run the festival every year since 1995. It is regarded as the most important festival of oral storytelling in the Canary Islands.
Director Ernesto Rodríguez Abad is a writer, an oral storyteller and a professor at the University of La Laguna. The 2026 poster was designed by the illustrator Álex Falcón from Gran Canaria.
Each year brings a new theme, such as bestiaries, the poet Luis Feria or trees in the past. The storytellers keep their own artistic style throughout.