The day of the Virgen del Carmen is a very popular festival in Nerja and many other coastal communities in Spain that is generally celebrated over three afternoons, with a party open to all on the evening of the 15th and the most formal procession on day 16. The effigy of the Virgin is decorated with an assortment of flowers and escorted by local people dressed in a nautical theme that reflects the roots of this tradition. Arriving on the beach, assuming the sea is calm enough, the Virgin is loaded onto a flower-bedecked boat and escorted by a flotilla of boats along the coast, eventually returning to the beach of La Calahonda, where she is brought ashore and returned to the church of El Salvador, on the Balcón de Europa, with the event topped off by a fireworks display.

Programming of the Virgen del Carmen 2023:

July 15: The local people visit the church of El Salvador, Balcón de Europa, on the night of the 15th to make offerings to the Virgen de las Oraciones y Flores with the Peña Nerjeña choir accompanying, beginning at 7:30pm.

July 16: This day, the procession of the Virgin arrives in the streets. It begins with a mass in the church of El Salvador, on the Balcón de Europa, at 6:00 p.m., from where the procession begins an hour later and continues to La Torrecilla.

July 17: This day from 10:00 p.m. in Plaza de los Cangrejos, sardine skewers will be distributed free of charge and the drink will have a symbolic price of ?1.50 in order to collaborate with the brotherhood. In addition, we can find music groups such as the Nuevo Compas Orchestra.