Festival Tendencias 2026 (35th edition)

Thirty-five years in, Salobreña's summer festival still keeps things small and a little leftfield, which is the whole appeal. Three warm evenings, three different corners of the old town, all of it after dark. On 30 July, flamenco shapeshifter Niño de Elche takes the Auditorio José Martín Recuerda at 10pm with "Cante a lo gitano", fourteen cantes pulled somewhere stranger than tradition usually allows. The following night, Belgian composer Wim Mertens brings his trio to the Paseo de las Flores, again at 10pm, those hypnotic, looping piano lines drifting out over the rooftops.

The opener on 29 July is quieter: a presentation of "Zapatos de piel de caimán", Juan Jesús García's chronicle of popular music in Granada from 1957 to 2000. Pack a light layer for the late starts, and note the free shuttle running on the 31st from Plaza Goya to the Paseo de las Flores.