The village on Granada's Costa Tropical lovingly decorated by local residents

La Garnatilla is a village in the Costa Tropical province of Granada that has installed lights, themed scenes and decorations. It attracts many visitors each year, earning the title “the most festive village along the coast”.

In La Garnatilla, Christmas is an activity that involves everyone. It begins almost immediately after the previous project ends. Children, grandparents, parents and newcomers are all involved.

This is the culmination of many months of hard work. We spent entire afternoons folding fabric, cutting wooden, knitting wool, and recycling bottles. We met after long work days and were always looking for ways to surprise our visitors.

Alhambra beer tree

The streets have been transformed once again into a spectacular Christmas scene. Among the many new features is the two-and-a-half metre tall tree made from Alhambra beer cans. The green, symmetrical and shiny structure has become a great Christmas reference.

The creator is Ana Vílchez, a lifelong resident, who admits that the inspiration came about almost by chance: “We saw that 1925 beer was celebrating its 100th anniversary and we thought it would be nice to do something special, a tribute to a brand that is so much a part of Granada and so much a part of us,” she says as she puts one of the last bottles in place.

The tree took shape in July. Ana and her family collected bottles for several months, cleaning and placing each one one at a time until they had three hundred. Cecilia Vilchez lives a few meters from the tree. Her talent is crocheting and working with glass. Cecilia proudly displays her picture, made from glass collected on the beach. It depicts a nativity and a cozy place with a fire. She also crocheted two metres of tree decorated with dahlias.

Snowball fight

Rocío Ortega and her family have taken it upon themselves this year to decorate their street like a snowy landscape, with snowmen, little houses and a small corner that looks like it has been taken straight out of Lapland, while the Grinch sits on a chair looking grumpily at passers-by.

Shelly’s decorations are one of the original ones. Shelly has been living in Costa Tropical for over 30 years. This year, she wanted to recreate a piece of childhood winters. Hers is an “innocent” scene depicting two children fighting snowballs made by hand out of eight-litre plastic bottles.

Alfredo Ortega claims that locals meet every afternoon in September. The recycled materials are used to make everything: water bottles become goats, sticks found in the countryside are transformed into trees, old fabrics into scarves, fruit boxes become train carriages. La Garnatilla will be decorated throughout the holiday season.