As a ten year old boy, flying anywhere was exciting. This was the mid 80's and few people flew anywhere more than once a year. Our main holiday as a family revolved around one of two alternating destinations: the Balearic Islands or Canary Islands, both Spanish-owned territory but relatively autonomous in how they were run day to day.
Importantly, for that ten year old boy stepping off the all-new Air Europe 757 on the tarmac at Tenerife's then new airport, this was exciting stuff. It's somewhere that struck a life accord. I've been addicted ever since.
Pic: me climbing Mount Teide, Tenerife
CANARY ISLANDS - KEY FACTS
- Eight main islands formed from volcanic eruptions
- The islands sit just 62 miles west of Africa
- Largest city: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
- The drink to try: Barraquito Coffee - an authentic Canarian layered coffee drink made with Licor 43, Spain's number 1 liquor
The islands of the Canaries
Why the Canary Islands?
It's a question that I have asked myself many times over the years. I have settled on one key factor: the weather. For anyone who has ever been to the islands, will know that it can be windy, very windy. You are after all dealing with a series of unprotected islands that sit so close to the equator that the dry heat, combined with the winds, can at times make the climate unbearable for a pasty white skinned Northern European like me. That said, it's that delicious heat that brings me back time and time again. Hardcore Canarian's like me will tell you that the best time to visit isn't in fact August. Unless you want to bake hotter than the best of Delia Smith's cakes, the calmer months of May and September are the sweet spots.
Sounds great..and pricey..
Well yes, right now, as the world releases the pent up fury of nearly two years lockdown, prices have shot up and are now the most expensive that I have ever seen. Pre-Covid I could take a two night trip, stay in a five star hotel, flying BA Club Europe, for less than £1,000. The flights alone are now in the region of £1,200 as airlines like BA seeks to dampen demand on what is very limited seat availability across the industry.
That said, it's not impossible to find decent deals.
Just this week (mid July), I booked a 3 night package staying at the Lopesan Villa Del Conde resort in Gran Canaria, in a Junior Suite, for just under £1,500. The Lopesan is a very nice hotel in the upmarket Maspalmos part of the island. The rooms are spacious, as is the resort, and their wifi is great (handy when you spend the majority of your downtime editing videos, holding various Teams calls with potential brand sponsors and writing up blogs). I'm never far from my work here at Moments In The Sky. Well, I kind of enjoy it!
If you ever thought that I spend my time in the Canaries relaxing, trust me I don't. It's not really my thing anyway!
Then there are the cancellations. Cancellations can be your friend. I managed to snag a last minute cancellation to La Graciosa, one of the smaller islands, on the basis that it was an unspecified hotel, but guaranteed to be a minimum 4-star standard - and I managed to figure out which hotel it was as websites such as Lastminute and Secret Escapes usually (lazily) copy the hotels description word for word into their own supposed anonymous hotel description. Ever seen the £99 5-star "secret deals" at "an unspecified Heathrow hotel, attached to Terminal 5" Guess what? It's the Sofitel, which never sells for less than £200 a night if you are buying direct from Accor. The hotels sell heavily discounted rooms to room-shifters such as Lastminute and it's really nothing more than a family having to cancel at the last minute. The last thing hotels want is unsold inventory.
£1200 for a four hour flight..are you mad?!
Well, it has been suggested in the past. In all seriousness, you don't need to fly Business Class for a relatively short 4h30m flight. The truth is that unless you fly BA, you're not going to even have the Business Class option anyway. I fly BA whenever I can, as I do like the Club Europe product. But, equally, when flying to the Canaries, you have a lot of choice and it is a very competitive route. These days I mostly fly from Manchester to the Canaries and from there you have no fewer than four airlines competing for your hard earned.
Arriving at Tenerife South (TFS) airport
Earlier in 2022, I reviewed some of the key players on my vlog. Click on any of the airlines to see what I thought.
Overall, Ryanair is the best for a number of reasons. I like Jet2 and easyJet also flies from Manchester to the Canaries. I tried out TUI but they are more set up for the package holiday passenger rather than the seat only customer that I was. I really didn't enjoy the experience either. TUI was by far the most expensive but offered the least flexibility in terms of cabin baggage. Want to take a second bag on board? Nope, they won't even let you pay for that.
Ryanair works best on this route because of its simplicity. For a much lower fare than its competitors, you can get an extra legroom seat, breakfast, two cabin bags and a modern jet and to be fair to them, amongst the best punctuality in the industry. They, along with Jet2, have also had some of the fewest cancellations in the post-Covid world, as airlines have struggled to deal with the surge in demand for travel.
So equally, don't overlook Jet2 - their crews are amongst the friendliest I ever see, and they still operate that industry stalwart Boeing 757. In fact they operate some of the oldest passenger 757's in the world. Testament to an amazing aircraft.
I'm giving easyJet, TUI and BA a wide berth, at least for the rest of 2022, as they have struggled awfully since travel restrictions were dropped. It's not the just the number of cancellations they've made, it's the nature of them. Flight's being cancelled with passengers actually boarded is not unheard of with these three airlines.
That all sounds amazing..but you still haven't told what the appeal of the Canaries is..
It is often difficult to say what specific thing draws you to a place time and time again. Weather is certainly a factor here. It is true that the Canaries can be windy so flying my drone isn't a guaranteed thing. You also get rain, which many doubt, but rain really is a thing even that close to the equator. The one thing that is guaranteed though is a decent climate most of the year. There is no specific 'avoid' month as you would get in places like the Caribbean.
You also have a huge choice in just about everything. My own channel car hire partner, CICAR, is the one of the biggest car hire chains in the islands and they can hire you everything from a Fiesta to a Range Rover - and at reasonable rates too.
You also have a vast choice of not only islands, but also the the type of place you want to stay. Fancy a busy, clubbing type place? Then head to Playa de Las Americas in Southern Tenerife.
Fancy somewhere a bit more upmarket? Then in my view you can't really beat Adeje..just a short walk from PDLA as it happens, but oceans apart in terms of the experience.
Crave the quiet life to to sit and write blogs or that travel book best seller? Head to one of the quieter islands, La Gomera. La Gomera is a short 45 minute ferry ride from Tenerife with Fred Olsen Express
Then there are the abandoned buildings. Oh my god, the number of abandoned buildings and structures across the Canaries is mind boggling. I've written up some of my favourites here, such as the abandoned satellite dish of Granadilla, or the sprawling mass that is a long since abandoned leper colony in Abades. There are so many to choose from and all of them fascinating places to see.
If you really want to get away from it all, then the smaller islands such as La Palma or La Graciosa are firm favourites of mine. On these islands there aren't many chain-type hotels, only smaller independents where service is paramount, but prices remain affordable. These places are also quiet, very quiet - mostly because direct flights from Europe are few and far between and certainly on La Graciosa, the authorities have a very tight control over land development.
The food is pretty good too. It's not expensive and once you get out of the main tourist drags, it's good quality.
To me, the Canary Islands have it all. It's one of those places to try at least once. Pop it on your bucket list.
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