Basilica of Our Lady of Candelaria

Bronze statues of the Guanche kings, the menceyes, line the seaward side of the square, and behind them stands the shrine of the Canary Islands' patron. The Virgin of Candelaria is a black Madonna. The story runs that Guanche herders found her on a beach near here in 1390 and took her for their mother of the gods, Chaxiraxi, before the conquerors claimed her as Mary.

Inside, murals of angels and Canarian saints cover the altar, the Vatican flag stands to one side, and the Virgin's statue rises above it all. After mass the Camarín, the room just behind the altar, opens and brings you close to the wooden figure. The Sala de las Velas by the main door smells of the wax from the candles people leave there with their flowers. In the Capilla del Sagrario, José Aguiar painted the Last Supper, and the windows tell the apparition to the Guanches.

• The Camarín, where you get close to the Virgin, opens only after mass, so time your visit around a service.
• Free public toilets stand about 110 m from the basilica. There is no drinking-water point nearby, so bring your own.
• A map board for the SL-TF 292 Samarines footpath stands about 100 m from the basilica.
• Achbinico Cave (Cueva de Achbinico), where the Guanches first venerated the statue, is in the same town and carries the earlier chapter of the story.

Candelaria sits on the coast some 20 km south of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and the basilica faces its seafront square, the Plaza de la Patrona de Canarias. Drivers have two car parks within about 140 m in a straight line, one of them about 116 m away, and wheelchair-accessible parking is available. By bus, the stop is Colegio Principe Felipe, about 370 m away; the rest is on foot through town to the square.

Best: Tuesday to Sunday, timed to arrive as a mass ends, so the Camarín is open.

Avoid: Monday morning, when the basilica is closed, and 14–15 August or 1–2 February unless you come for the feasts themselves.

Mid-August brings the patron's feast, with a romería and a re-enactment of the apparition on the 14th and a solemn Mass and procession on the 15th; Candlemas adds a torchlight procession around the basilica on 1 February and a Mass and procession led by the Bishop of Tenerife on the 2nd, and on all four days the square belongs to the pilgrims.

The basilica is a working sanctuary and pilgrimage church, with masses held every day. During a service, stay at the back or come back once it ends; walking the aisles to look at the murals while mass is on is out of place. The Capilla del Cristo de la Reconciliación is the penitential chapel, used for confession, and the Sala de las Velas is a place of offerings: keep your voice down in both.