Canary Islands
Common Tips
The Canary Islands are the travel destination we visit by far the most! The traveling time is fair (4-5 hours), the climate is perfect for me (almost always spring weather) and the islands are exotic enough to allow the holiday feeling to develop.
You'll find a very good infrastructure almost everywhere and the standards are European - what more could one want?
Since this is our 'standard holidays', I mostly don't write a diary - although there's so much to tell! So I started to summarize my lessions learned here.
The canary islands were one of the favorite travel destinations of the Germans since years, so you'll find lots of information information in German language (more than in English language) in the internet.
As example, you'll find a German speaking forum on XING, with information about topics like hiking, nightlife, emigration and so on.
A general hint regarding to the hotels: My tips here should be seen as suggestions. Most of our visits were some years in the past. On the canary islands (like in many other tourist regions), often only the freshly renovated hotels are recommendable.
After two ort three years, the erosion starts to impair the facilities. If the owners don't invest continually, two or three years are often enough to go from bad to worse! So the date of the last renovation is often a very important selection criteria...
Links: You'll find lots of information in German (see also here)! But if you give that sites a closer look, you'll notice that most of the pages do come from the same homes...
Information to the islands and regions
Teneriffa
Teneriffa is offering the most variety of all Canarian islands. The northern part is verdant green (comparable with La Palma and La Gomera), people looking for a beach holiday will prefer the southern part. If you lokk for an alpine landscape, you're also at the right place: the Teide is the highest mountain in Spain, with an elevation of over 12,000 feet! From sea level to here, it is only approx. 10 miles so you can imagine how extreme the landscape here is...
Many people did recognize the beauty of this island so it is not only relative densely populated, but in some areas also swarming with tourists. You'll find an excellent infrastructure (including some interesting theme parks like the world renown Loro Park and a good public transportation). And you will be able to find nice places no other tourist will ever see! Some of those are only accessible by feet (partly on a strenous hike), but hiking should be one of your hobbies if you do visit this island.
Thousands of German citizens do permanently live on this island, millions of German speaking tourists per year - not the same than on Mallorca, but lots of inhabitants do speak at least an broken German. At least in the tourist hot spots, here you will have no difficulties with some German and/or English!
Links: You'll find lots of information in German (see also here)! But if you give that sites a closer look, you'll notice that most of the pages do come from the same homes...
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Teneriffa - northern part
The northern part of Teneriffa is our favorite place on Teneriffa as well as on the Canary Islands. It will never become too hot, the surroundings are very green. The reason for that is the wet air from the sea, the trade wind accumulates this air and pushes it up to the Teide. At a greater elevation, the temperature is lower so you'll get fog and sometimes rain.
You can observate that very good from the Cañadas - from the crater rim (Teide, Guachara), you can see the clouds drift over the rim where they instantly will vanish. The photographs were shot on an elevation of more than 6,000 foot.
The mixture of sun, clouds and rain guarantees the perfect climate for tropical plants - they grow extremely and everywhere, get much greater than known from Germany (and also greater than on the other Canary Islands).
The steep coast is very rough, there are almost no sandy beaches. That and the not as hot temperatures guarantee that there are almost no 'typical' tourists (nothing than sunbathe at the beach). They prefer the southern part of the island, hikers and people looking for rest and relaxation have the northern part all to oneself.
Since there are more and more of those, you have to expect overcrowded streets (the extreme steepness doesn't allow building big roads) - you should start early (before 9 A.M.), then you will come through in a fair time.
The major towns are fully developed with busses, which are extremely cheap (you should buy a bonus card, €12 or €30). The tramway between Santa Cruz and La Laguna is matchless (here, driving car doesn't make any sense)!
Although the region is densely populated (what guarantees a very good infrastructure), you'll find lots of secret places. But most of those are accessible only by feet, partly via a strenuous walk.
Important towns: Santa Cruz (main town), La Laguna (big city with lots of history, UNESCO world heritage), Puerto de la Cruz (touristic capital, Loro Park), La Orotava, Icod de los Vinos, Buenavista del Norte
Highlights: Santa Cruz and La Laguna are two cities you should visit. The tramway (Tramvia) brings you from one town to the other in half an hour, so you can combine both. If you stay at the northern coast, you should drive to La Laguna with the bus, then take the ride to Santa Cruz with the Tramvia. Leave the tramway at the last stop (worth seeing!), you can start the way back in the midtown.
La Orotava is also watchable but the distances are too big for a short walk and the traffic is horrible...
In Puerto de la Cruz, the Loro Parque is a 'must see' (detailed homepage: here). It is nearly impossible to see all highlights of this theme park in only one day!
The botanic garden is also very nice, allow at least one or two hours to get enough photographs. The highly praised poolside (Lago Martianez) is pretty nice but not my cup of tea.
In Icod de los Vinos , you'll see a fantastic dragon tree - and the butterfly museum. Here you can make photographs and films as long you want - not cheap, but a real experience!
Another must is a visit of the wine museum in El Sauzal - the wines here are a great experience and well worth the money!
There are lots of walks and small hikes, we recommend for example the walks at the coastline (Playa del Socorro or up to the Cafe Vista Paraiso). There are also some strenous hikes in the rainforest (valley of La Orotava) or in the Anaga mountains. The Teno mountains is also good hiking areas (here, you'll find also some adventurous hikes - Punto Teno or Masca, what counts to the southern part of the island).
In the Cañadas, you'll find some walks and lots of hard hikes in a high mountain range.
Tip: If you hire a car, you'll get also some coupons for cheaper entrance to the theme parks in the southern part of the island. In normal cases, you shouldn't need to pay more than 50% of the standard price! In most cases, you have to buy the tickets when hiring the car. That has the advantage that you don't have to stand in the queue...
Restaurants:
In and near to Puerto de la Cruz, the Cafe Vista Paraiso near Santa Ursula (great cakes, giant vista - you'll know it from post cards!) and the Rincon del Mar in Punta Brava, some meters from the Loro Parque (fish and seafood) are very recommendable.
In Santa Cruz, we always must visit great Tapas bar: The Ricatapa! In La Laguna, we found a very good restaurant, the Posada Los Mosquederos (three musketeers). But here, maybe you will have difficulties without some words of Spanish!
Hotels: My clear favorite location is Puerto de la Cruz, preferred outside the totally overcrowded midtown. Most of the hotels offer a shuttle service to the midtown (to the Centro Comercial de Martianez), but sometimes not at the weekends. Walking by feet is strenously because of the steep roads and footpaths. That is great, you'll stay physically fit!
I stayed at the Hotel Maritim for several times, one mile away from midtown. To the Loro Parque, it's only some minutes by feet. The hotel offers the perfect location, directly on the rim (50 yards above sea level). You'll have an impressive sound of the sea - if you like this than me, you'll become hooked on! I sometimes slept on the balcony...
Another highlight of this hotel is the garden, more than a million square feet! There's some animation, but depending on the season this can suffer from too less participation.
The hotel La Quinta Park in Santa Ursula was alos a good experience, good located and a great garden together with good food - great for hikers, but not optimal for the others: The outlying hotel offers tranquility, but a bad infrastructure (not recommendable without car).
In La Laguna, the Nivaria is recommendable. A pretty good city hotel!
If you search for tranquility, the Maritim as well as the La Quinta Park are not too bad. But you should also consider the option to stay in one of the bananeras here in the region!
Those are located in the rural areas in the surroundings of Puerto de La Cruz, far away from each popular tourist destination! Rincon or - even better - Rambla del Mar would be my first choices.
In Puerto de la Cruz, the hotels of the Hotasa chain offer a very reasonable price. In thew Hotasa, Canarife Palace and another one you can expect a good service, comfort and some animation as well as a pretty good food.
Best season: The whole year! In the winter season, it can become pretty cool, no chance for swimming in the sea!
Extreme rain can occur, leaving the roads partly impassable. The flights to/from Tenerife (especially to the northern airport) can be a real advantage! But most of the flights go to the southern airport, what means at least one hour of transfer.
In the winter season, the hiking trails can be a real adventure. Outside the season, there's no maintenance (and any rainfall can stand for devastation)!
Visited: 2008, 2010
Links: See above!
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Teneriffa - southern part
Important towns: Playa de Las Americas (touristic capital), Los Christianos (touristic capital), Los Gigantes (upcoming touristic capital), Masca, Adeje, Arona, Granadilla, Guimar, Villaflor
Highlights: In the southern part of Teneriffa, just one village is really recommendable: Masca (a former pirate station)! Here you can also find one of the most beautiful hikes on the whole island, the Masca canyon. This hike was a real adventure several years ago (you had to climb at several passages), now most of that difficulties are defused. So the secret hike became a very popular one, lots of tourists.
Most of those do only the hike downwards, with a trip back to Los Gigantes on the ship. We make our picnic, have a bath in the lovely bay - then we hike back (what is really strenous, lots of sun). A elevation of above 2,000 feet sounds not too difficult, but don't underestimate that! Even the ride to Masca is a great experience, the mountain road is one of my absolute favorites (come early, otherwise lots of cars and busses will spoil the party)!
There are some other attractive hikes (table mountain, Barranco del Infierno and others) - but none of those gets close to the hike in the Masca canyon!
The walk between Parque Mar and Caleta (near Adeje) is also very recommendable.
Here in the south, you can find some recommendable theme parks. The Birds of Prey park in Arona (Aguilas Jungle Park) and the Aqua-Park (Europes biggest water adventure park - blongs to the Loro Parque so you can purchase attractive bundle tickets!
You can have lots of fun during a quad bike tour!
Restaurants: In Los Abrigos, there are some good restaurants, we recommend the Restaurante El Mirador de los Abrigos (fish and seafood).
In Los Christianos, the tapas bar Baldo close to the harbor is our first choice (if we find a free parking place).
In Playa de Las Americas (particularly in San Eugenio, close to the Aqua-Park), you'll find the Molino Blanco (the mill building is easy identifiable).
In Masca, we always visit a basic restaurant, the Bar Blanky Casa Fidel (beside the entrance to the Masca Canyon) - try one of the freshly prepaired fruit juices!
Hotels: In Playa de las Americas, we were two times very satisfied with the Park Club Europe. Nice facilities, great food (the freshly prepared pizzas from the stony pizza oven were perfect) and a good animation made this club to our first choice here in the south. But maybe this now has changed (friends had a less positive experience).
The Los Hibiscos was also a good choice for me - the varying animation was perfect for me. My companion had less luck, some of the desired animation was cancelled because of a ill host.
Our room towards the pool was a bit of noisy because of the animation (high life often even after midnight). The outlying rooms were calm, but were in danger of burglaries.
Two hotel facilities are on our 'to do list': The Bahia Principe in Playa Paraiso /Principe (Adeje) and the Santiago in Los Gigantes.
Best season: The whole year! In the winter, trips to the northern part are sometimes not useful (you have to expect road closured due to heavy rainfall) - in the midsummer, it can get terribly hot.
In the winter season, the hiking trails can be a real adventure. Outside the season, there's no maintenance (and any rainfall can stand for devastation)!
Visited: 2008
Links: See above!
Fuerteventura
This island is almost of the same size than Teneriffa, but much less populated. The road network is very good, the infrastructure in the tourist areas is satisfactory.
The island has less and not as high mountains as most of the other Canary Islands (below 3,000 feet => less fog and rain) and is therefore almost bare. You'll see palms only at one place (or when mankind waters the land).
On the first view, the island offers not much - just the famous beaches. So it is clear that most of the tourists prefer a pure beach or club holiday, most of the hotels offer all inclusive and/or animation for many years (the other islands started this only the last years).
On the 2nd view, you'll find much more on this island: lots of hikes and adventure give boredom no chance! If you leave the touristic heartland, you should be able to speak some words in Spanish...
Important towns: Moro Jable (touristic capital), Costa Calma (touristic capital), Corralejo (touristic capital), Puerto del Rosario (main town), La Oliva, Antigua
Highlights: In the past, the peninsula Jandia was closed off (private property, Villa Winter). The last years, they started to catch up (lots of new buildings) but you'll still find lots of nature.
The sandy beach between Morro Jable and Costa Calma is still an absolute highlight. Even when more and more new buildings are constructed, you'll find several miles of unspoilt beaches - to walk along this beach is terrific!
On your way, at flow you'll have to climb at some passages (but this is no problem). The beach offers fine sand and is very flat so it is perfect for small children!
There's a great drifting sand dune (it's fun to run down it!) and a huge lagoon (with windsurfing school and other attractions).
For me, the Costa Real (royal coast) is a must - the name 'royal' is deserved, it is magnificent! The coastal line is not easily accesible (only per feet, you'll have to climb on several passages) but the superb view is worth it and you'll mostly have the monopoly on it! I often walked and sat here for hours...
There are great hikes on this island: long walks along the beach or strenous tours in the mountains, through the desert and so on - variety is the spice of life!
I strongly recommend renting an all-terrain vehicle! There are lots of tracks at all levels, but most of them are manageable even by ambitious rookies.
Several tracks are unpaved, but you can use them with standard cars. Examples are the 'American Star' (a cargo ship stranded on the coast - accessible via a military area, don't let the signs deter you from driving through) and the Villa Winter:
a castle-like house built by a German with a private airport nearby. All that on a rigorously isolated peninsula, so no wonder that there were lots of rumours (construction of a Nazi-German submarine harbor, aiding an escape for the Nazis to Latin America, ...)!
Restaurants: Since here (other than on most of the other Canary Islands) most of the tourists prefer all inclusive, you'll find not much restaurants. I can recommend only one: The El Camello in La Pared.
Hotels: My first visit on the Canary Islands was here, in the Club Costa Real in La Pared - still one of my traveling highlights. But this is a long time ago (15+ years). The great location is guaranteed, but I don't have actual information about the rest.
We always select hotels between Morro Jable and Costa Calma, for example in Marabu or Risco del Paso. The beaches here are priceless!
The Ambar Beach was a great experience at our first visit in this hotel (2000), but one year later it was somewhat run down (we had a poor smoker's room). As in many tourist regions, the date of the last renovation is an important selection criteria!
The nearby hotels Fuerteventura Princess and Jandia Princess offer an even better location. All of those offer good food and some animation.
From the outside, the Robinson Clubs both make a good impression as well as the Club Aldiana. They also are well located. But the best location of all the hotels (for those who are looking for rest and (not in) peace) is offered by the Melia Gorriones close to the lagoon (just some minutes to the drifting sand dune).
Best season: The whole year! If you are not too sensitive to cold, you'll be able to swim in the sea even in the winter season; at midsummer, it can become pretty hot.
Visited: Google Maps
Links: XING-Forum
Youu'll find lots of information in German Language (see also here) plus a rare number of sites in Englisch language.
Lanzarote
Similar to Fuerteventura, this island is relatively flat and almost bare. Even the road network and the infrastructure are comparable.
But up to now, I didn't find too much entertainment options than in Fuerteventura so this island for me is only an option if I look for a club holiday. There's lots of animation and the tourists do participate! So even soccer and other team sports are possible most of the days...
Important towns: Arrecife (main town), Playa Blanca (touristic capital), Puerto del Carmen (touristic capital), Teguise
Highlights: First of all, there's the vulcano Timanfaya where you can experience the fieriness (barbecue in a dugout)!
There are some nice hikes and some wineries to be visited (taste the wines, they are good!) - up to now, I didn't find too much entertainment options. On this island, you'll find lots of clubs (most of them all inclusive), I visit that island when I look for sports and relaxation.
Restaurants: No recommendation (here, we always have all inclusive)!
Hotels: We've always selected the Calimera near Playa Blanca - this club offers a good animation program, good food and a good location.
Nearby, the new built H10 Rubicon Palace from outside makes a good impression as well as the Timanfaya Palace closer to the harbor - both could be alternatives.
Best season: The whole year! If you are not too sensitive to cold, you'll be able to swim in the sea even in the winter season; at midsummer, it can become pretty hot.
Visited: No diaries
Links: There's some Information in German language. But if you give that sites a closer look, you'll notice that most of the pages do come from the same homes...
You'll also find some informationen in English language.
La Gomera
The island is much less overcrowded with tourists than the more popular ones (Teneriffa, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote) and thus has a much less developed infrastructure.
It is much smaller, but not less in elevation - so it is much more extreme (steeper, more rugged and greener). Many parts of the island can be compared with the Masca canyon or the Los Gigantes on Teneriffa.
So this island offers lots of phantastic views. But you shouldn't expect too much infrastructure:
Even the trip to some of the attractions can get some kind of adventure, driving a car can be 'hard work' (there are almost no streets without incline or lots of curves, the rare places offering 100 yards without a curve are the only chances to pass other cars).
If you do like hiking and driving on varying, narrow and steep roads, you'll like it (the others maybe not)!
If you search for tranquility, that could be your island. If you look for parties, beaches or animation, you should prefer one of the other islands.
Here, 'slow down' gets an important slogan and you'll hear the word 'mañana' (tomorrow) more than most of the other words. The organization is more British than German, no, often even worse. But maybe this is the real value of visiting this island?
The 'typical' tourism is concentrated to the Valle Gran Rey, here the tourists can stick with one's kind. Here you'll find a good infrastructure, the boat trips (dolphin watching, Los Organos and others) do start from here. But you need not to be afraid, that is no mass tourism!
Only a rare number of people do speak German (or try it) - outside the Valle Gran Rey, you shouldn't expect any German speaking person. With English, it is slightly better but some words of Spanish would be a real advantage.
At some places, you can recognize that they start to adapt to tourism. Some information boards in several languages (including English and German) at important places in the main town or in one of the national parks are a first step. No surprise that the shops, car rentals and so on are not opened at Sundays!
Even in the winter season, it can become pretty hot at the sea. In February 2010, we had up to 85°F! Most of the hikes do include some strenous rises, the strong sun and the potentially high temperatures have to be considered!
In the more elevated parts of the island (more or less all without the coastal line - starting from 2,500 feet), you will have lots of fog - on some of the hikes, this is most appreciated! But be sure: it will not protect from the barely avoidable sunburn! Outside the rain forest, sun blockers with a sun protection factor far above 20 are mandatory!
Important towns: San Sebastian de La Gomera (main town), Valle Gran Rey (touristic capital), Playa del Santiago (touristic capital and airport), Vallehermoso, Agulo
Highlights: On this island, you must like to hike! Mountains, rain forest and so on - lots of variation are guaranteed. The island is less overcrowded than the others, so on most of the hikes not too much other tourists do spoil the party. The rain forest round El Cedro (with a recommendable restaurant) was our favorite.
The Los Roques offer a great view to the island and Teneriffa - if there's no fog!
The main town San Sebastian is recommendable. You can visit two other nice villages, Vallehermoso and the Valle Gran Rey.
That are not too much recommendations - looks like if this island isn't too interesting? No! This island is very attractive and something like a complete artwork!
Restaurants: Restaurant La Vista in El Cedro (rain forest)
Hotels: We were very satisfied with the Jardin Tecina in Laguna (near Playa de Santiago). It offers lots of comfort and great food for a very valuable price.
If you expect a good infrastructure roud your hotel, you should go to the Valle Gran Rey.
Best season: The whole year! In the winter season, it can be pretty cool - swimming in the pool or sea is not always possible.
Strong rain can lead to closed roads. On this island, there's often no dertour!
In the winter season, the flight could become thrilling (the small airport directly at the coastline has a high crosswind sensitivity). In the winter season, the hiking trails can be a real adventure. Outside the season, there's no maintenance (and any rainfall can stand for devastation)!
Visited: 2010
Links: Google Maps,
hikes found by Silke,
several Information in German language and some information in English language
La Palma
The island is similar to Teneriffa as well as La Gomera. You'll find a great landscape with a spectacular coastline. The vulcanos are more extreme than on the other islands, the highest has an elevation of over 6,000 feet and a diameter of approx. 5 miles and is thus one of the largest in the whole world.
There are lots of great hikes, but you'll find less forest than on La Gomera - and the ones you'll will find are less densely wooded. There are almost no big hotel facilities, the hotel we've visited (approx. 900 rooms, see below) is one of the rare exceptions.
All in all, the island is very attractive. But you should think of the best lacation for your stay! There's only one relatively well constructed circular road along the coastline and two roads crossing the island. So a ride to the other side of the island can mean a long drive (sometimes over two hours, even for fast drivers like me).
If one of this roads is blocked (what we experienced in winter 2010), it can be worse if anything gets out of hand. No hints, you'll be left alone. So we recommend to select a hotel in the area where you plan to spend most of your time. In 2010, we once had two closed roads, our distance increased by much more than 100%...
You should consider the time of the year. In early March 2010, we had two days with 85°F - according to the locals, in midsummer the temperature can increase far above 100°F! In the winter season, you can experience severe weather, then hiking could get difficult: the landscape is extreme, flooding and landslide are common.
In the mountains, the temperature will be much less. We had mostly below 50°F and once below 30°F. As a common rule, 300 feet of elevation equal to a temperature decrease of 2°F (the mountains here are more than 7,000 feet high)!
The German language is not sufficient for this island (at least there are some German expatriates), with some words of English it will be a little bit better. But outside the touristic hot spots, you should speak some words of Spanish! That's important even in the tourist offices and the bodegas.
Long sleepers will not see too much of this island. Even when the island is not too big in size, the rides to the attractions will need some time (often up to two hours unidirectional). The weather often changes fast, in the afternoons fog and even rain are common. So you should leave the hotel not after 9 a.m.!
Don't forget the 'siesta', you shouldn't expect too much between 1p.m. and 4p.m. ...
If you visit this island, you definitely should taste the local wines! You'll find a wide variety of them, partly the wines are really excellent. The dry malvasia from Fuencaliente is superb, but has its price (like most of the malvasia wines). You get what you pay for!
Besides the wines, the level of prices is fair (expections in the tourist hot spots prove the rule).
Important towns: Santa Cruz de La Palma (main town), Los Llanos de Aridane / Tazacorte (touristic capital), Fuencaliente, El Socoro (touristic capital), San Andres y Sauces, Barlovento, Llano Negro / Santo Domingo
Highlights: Again, the hikes are the first to be named. You can find lots of rich green, even the forest fires can't change that durable.
The main town Santa Cruz is really recommendable, you should plan some hours!.
The crater (one of the largest in the whole world) is a 'must see'. But be early at the national park Caldera de Taburiente since the number of visitors per day is limited! You have to register in the visitor centre at the departure from the main road.
Also, the Roque de los Muchachos (astronomical observatory) is very interesting. Here it can become very cold (we had temperatures below 30°F and lots of fog)!
The national park Volkanes del Sur offers more nice outlooks and insights. At the southern end of the island, there's a sea reservation,
a lighthouse and a saline (the salt from the sea is really great!).
Nearby, wine lovers will be happy with attractions like the wine museum and the good bodega (winery) Teneguia.
You'll also find the in my eyes most beautiful beach on the whole island in Puerto Naos. Here, you'll get your holiday feeling - guaranteed! ;-)
(Believe it or not: the palms on the picture a real!)
Restaurants: The Cafe Aloe is a great goal of a short hike in the northwestern part of the island (near Las Tricias). Very alternative! ;-)
The El Bernegal in Santo Domingo is a very recommendable seafood restaurant (raised standard) and our reference on this island!
In El Socorro, one of the typical tourist destinations, the Sadi delivered much more than expected.
Hotels: The Teneguia Princess at the southern end of the island is a very big facility - nicely located and with a good comfort, but not different to the facilities on the other islands.
In Puerto Naos, not far away, there's a pretty good infrastructure ans some hotels which from the outside seem to be attractive.
Best season: The whole year! In the winter season, it can be pretty cool - swimming in the pool or sea is not always possible.
Strong rain can lead to closed roads. On this island, there's often no dertour!
In the winter season, the flight could become thrilling (the small airport directly at the coastline has a high crosswind sensitivity).
In 2010, traveling to this island was a real adventure. In the winter season, we had lots of wind and rain. before our arrival on Teneriffa, the airport Teneriffa north was closed for some days, later most of the flights were delayed and some were cancelled.
We came from La Gomera and wanted to flight to La Palma via Teneriffa. But our flight from Teneriffa to La Palma was delayed more than 30 hours!
The first day, they tried to do the flight but the touchdown was canceled (some fet above ground). Later, we checked in to all in all six flights which all were cancelled! Now we are the experts for security checks... ,-)
Not as nice: We had to pay for the hotel, meals, taxi and so on (the two flights with the same company - Binter Air - were not accepted as one transfer flight)...
Since this conditions lasted for weeks, this seems to be 'normal' in the winter season. If you suffer from aviophobia, you should remove this island from your to do list! Under such circumstances, the ferry is also not recommendable.
In the winter season, the hiking trails can be a real adventure. Outside the season, there's no maintenance (and any rainfall can stand for devastation)!
Visited: 2010
Links: Google Maps,
hikes found by Silke,
public tourism site (English translation),
information about the national parks,
trekking
Overview in Google Maps
Zoom map
