The capital of the Canary Islands, Las Palmas, plays host to the International Festival of Theatre, Music and Dance. The festival is in its fourteenth edition from 8 July to 14 August and has been gaining in strength and recognition every year. Las Palmas is a candidate for the prestigious award of European Capital of Culture for 2016, spurring large investments in everything cultural happening within the city.

The festival has grown in reputation since involving the Las Palmas choir, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Great Canary and the Chamber of Classical Music of the Canaries. To theatre, contemporary dance, outdoor performances, street theatre, ballet, and traditional Spanish dance a wide variety of contemporary visual arts are coupled in a way to showcase the international creative panorama.

The festival opens on the 8th of July in the park of Santa Catalina with outdoor performances by the Italian theatre company Studio Festi. At the end of July, the Catalonian company Dagoll Dagom presents Night of San Juan. A musical hiatus follows two weeks of theatre, where the Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra presents an array of chamber music including the oeuvre Carmina Burana directed by Tony Suarez. The dance repertoire begins with a complete placard by the Italian company TPO and its fascinating and innovative spectacle of digital graphics, visual theatre and contemporary dance, titled Baroque. It continues with the presentation of a number of Spanish companies, including the Antonio Gades company performing Carmen, Anniversaries of Blood and flamenco Suite.

The line-up of this festival closes with the family orientated performance The Great Fele Circus and their work Tarzan. The New York City Ballet that present their 'private' Homage to Ray Carles and the last notes will sound with the Chamber of Classical Music of Canaries and Javier Negrin at the piano, with a classical program which includes pieces from Mozart and Beethoven.

The Canary islands, known for their splendid beaches, kilometres of traditional beach-side restaurants, trendy bars and clubs are reinventing themselves as a more complete holiday experience where beach, partying and culture can happily coexist. If you fancy endorsing the capital's bid for European Capital of Culture for 2016, flythomascook operates regular flights to Las Palmas from several UK airports.