Plan your trip to coincide with fabulous festivals, fairs and fiestas throughout the year.  Here is just a sampling

XII Festival de Jerez/12th Festival of Jerez (Feb 22-Mar 8)  Showcasing of stellar flamenco (including certain artists featured in the New York Flamenco Festival), as well as the city's treasured Andalusian horses and its sherry (jerez) producing wine cellars (bodegas).   www.festivaldejerez.es     

Carnaval de Cádiz(Jan 31-Feb 10)  with festivities, extraordinary costumes, processions and street fairs in this seaport city, the oldest in Western Europe.   www.carnavaldecadiz.com

Semana Santa / Holy Week (Mar 16-23)  Opulent and dramatic processions.

Feria de Sevilla / Seville’s April Fair (Apr 7-13)  Andalucía's capital city is festooned with flowers and regalia. Women in vivid  flounced dresses and men in traditional riding habit parade together on horseback and in horse-drawn carriages. Hundreds of casetas (private pavilions, most by invitation) compete for best decoration, food, wines, and flamenco singing, dancing and guitar. 

Festival de los Patios Cordobeses / Córdoba Patio Festival (May 1-11)  In the old-quarter’s labyrinth of narrow streets and whitewashed houses, homeowners proudly compete  for the most beautifully decorated patio.

Romería del Rocío / Rocío Pilgrimage (May 7-11)  Annual pilgrimage, since the 15th century, of Andalucía brotherhoods exalting their patron saint, La Virgen del Rocío. They travel on horseback and walking through Doñana National Park biosphere reserve (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Singing and dancing flamenco along the way, they converge at the shrine of Rocío in the town of Almonte (Province of Huelva) for festivities and processions. Rocío (“morning dew”) is also a favored name of Andalusian women and pervades in flamenco lyrics.

Feria del Caballo de Jerez / Jerez Horse Fair (Apr 27-May 4)  Hundreds of hosted casetas outshine each other in décor, theme, cuisine and, of course, flamenco music and dance. Spectacular parades on horseback, and competitions in dressage, classic carriage driving, roping and doma vaquero (country dressage). Galas at the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre (Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art) with exquisite intricate four-legged choreography to classical Spanish music that resonates flamenco rhythms.   www.realescuela.org       

Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada / Granada International Festival of Music and Dance (Jun 20-Jul 6) Among the most prestigious of Europe, this annual performing arts festival once featured a historic cante jondo contest organized in 1922 by granadinos Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca.   www.granadafestival.org

Festival de la Guitarra de Córdoba / Córdoba Guitar Festival (Jul 2-14)  The world’s great virtuosos convene to perform and teach all genre: flamenco, classical, jazz, and modern. Courses and seminars on guitar playing, composition, construction and history. www.guitarracordoba.com 

XVI  Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla 2008 (Sep 10-Oct 11)  Held every two years, in the even year. This 16th edition offers a month of absolute supreme flamenco with several events daily, ranging from ad libitum fiesta-style juergas to sophisticated concerts.   www.bienal-flamenco.org

Previewing 2009:

Málaga en Flamenco (all September, 2009, dates to be announced)  A biennial (every two years, in the odd year) this extraordinary performing arts festival, inaugurated in 2005, showcases Málaga's own artists and its flamenco expressions, styles and genres from the province, such as malagueñas and the festive pandas de verdiales (musical groups from the countryside).   www.malagaenflamenco.com