Canary Islands
Discussion
Lanzarote is quite a nice island and has a few nice places to stay and visit. We tend to rent villas which are quite reasonable out there. Personally I found Playa Blanca a bit dull but out of season, Puerto del Carmen can be dead and slightly north you have Matagorda which is quiet. Costa Teguise isn't bad but can be windy. In essence, Lanzarote is fully explorable by car from wherever you stay. Nice beaches at Playa Blanca and Puerto del Carmen though the much vaunted Playa papagayo reachable only by rutted track was over-hyped to say the least.
Fuerteventura is far less developed. Corralejo is the most touristy and I prefer Caleta de Fuste but again the whole island is explorable by car and along the north side is a flat rutted track where you're not supposed to take your hire car but what the hell - more surfing beaches up there.
Tenerife is more an island of two halves and far more mountainous than the flatter terrain of the other two above - the south and the north divided by the Mount Teide national park which is quite stunning and unlike the Lanzarote volcanic park, you can drive through it (Lanzarote is a coach only trip). It's greener and less touristy in the north. and the north-east (so more rain). Loro Parque is a lovely zoo in the north.
It depends what you want but for scenery, i thought Tenerife was by far the most interesting and has some reasonable beaches.
Not been to Gran Canaria so can't help.
Fuerteventura is far less developed. Corralejo is the most touristy and I prefer Caleta de Fuste but again the whole island is explorable by car and along the north side is a flat rutted track where you're not supposed to take your hire car but what the hell - more surfing beaches up there.
Tenerife is more an island of two halves and far more mountainous than the flatter terrain of the other two above - the south and the north divided by the Mount Teide national park which is quite stunning and unlike the Lanzarote volcanic park, you can drive through it (Lanzarote is a coach only trip). It's greener and less touristy in the north. and the north-east (so more rain). Loro Parque is a lovely zoo in the north.
It depends what you want but for scenery, i thought Tenerife was by far the most interesting and has some reasonable beaches.
Not been to Gran Canaria so can't help.
South Lanzarote and North Furteventura have the best micro climate of all the islands. That means either choosing either Playa Blanca or Corralejo.
None of the Canaries offer the ultimate holiday of a lifetime experience but if you want winter sun and a short flight at a reasonable price they are pretty much unbeatable.
Playa Blanca has several 4* hotels, and is a mostly clean and tidy resort much favoured by older people. There's a couple of man made beaches, a nice marina and a pedestrian walkway all along the seafront. Plenty of restaurants to choose from. The rest of the island is pretty especially in the north, Papagayo beaches nearby are lovely and El Golfo has some good seafood restaurants. Essential to go to the Timanfaya National Park and take the coach tour round some of the most unworldly scenerey you'll ever see. Personally I'm not too keen on the other resorts on the island, they are often overun with English and Irish football strip wearing beer and chips in the sunshine lowlife and parts of Puerto del Carmen suffer from aircraft noise. Costa Teguise is really windy and is going downhill fast. Essential to have a car and go exploring - you could go to Furteventura for the day on the ferry. H10 have 3 hotels in the resort - we usually stay at the Rubicon Palace just outside. We've found a better standard of food there than the rest too.
Corallejo is much more biased towards self catering and is a bit scruffy in places. Furteventura makes up for this by offering some of the most amazing beaches in the world and has a really laid back atmosphere. Scenery is stunning inland with incredible roads. Betancuria is worth a visit, but the highlight for us are the beaches. El Cotillo has both tiny sheltered coves to the north ideal for kids and a huge surfer's beach to the south, the Corralejo sand dunes now have much more restricted parking but you can still find a queit part of the beach and the huge beach towards Jandia is great too.
Have been to all the larger Canary islands over the last 25 years. I love both Lanzarote and Furteventura for different reasons - but if I had to choose out of all of them it'd be Furteventura. Las Marismas apartments just outide Corralajo are favourites. They are modern, very good value, usually quiet and have a high proportion of German and Swedish guests who behave themselves.
None of the Canaries offer the ultimate holiday of a lifetime experience but if you want winter sun and a short flight at a reasonable price they are pretty much unbeatable.
Playa Blanca has several 4* hotels, and is a mostly clean and tidy resort much favoured by older people. There's a couple of man made beaches, a nice marina and a pedestrian walkway all along the seafront. Plenty of restaurants to choose from. The rest of the island is pretty especially in the north, Papagayo beaches nearby are lovely and El Golfo has some good seafood restaurants. Essential to go to the Timanfaya National Park and take the coach tour round some of the most unworldly scenerey you'll ever see. Personally I'm not too keen on the other resorts on the island, they are often overun with English and Irish football strip wearing beer and chips in the sunshine lowlife and parts of Puerto del Carmen suffer from aircraft noise. Costa Teguise is really windy and is going downhill fast. Essential to have a car and go exploring - you could go to Furteventura for the day on the ferry. H10 have 3 hotels in the resort - we usually stay at the Rubicon Palace just outside. We've found a better standard of food there than the rest too.
Corallejo is much more biased towards self catering and is a bit scruffy in places. Furteventura makes up for this by offering some of the most amazing beaches in the world and has a really laid back atmosphere. Scenery is stunning inland with incredible roads. Betancuria is worth a visit, but the highlight for us are the beaches. El Cotillo has both tiny sheltered coves to the north ideal for kids and a huge surfer's beach to the south, the Corralejo sand dunes now have much more restricted parking but you can still find a queit part of the beach and the huge beach towards Jandia is great too.
Have been to all the larger Canary islands over the last 25 years. I love both Lanzarote and Furteventura for different reasons - but if I had to choose out of all of them it'd be Furteventura. Las Marismas apartments just outide Corralajo are favourites. They are modern, very good value, usually quiet and have a high proportion of German and Swedish guests who behave themselves.
Jaguar steve said:
Corallejo is much more biased towards self catering and is a bit scruffy in places. Furteventura makes up for this by offering some of the most amazing beaches in the world and has a really laid back atmosphere. Scenery is stunning inland with incredible roads. Betancuria is worth a visit, but the highlight for us are the beaches. El Cotillo has both tiny sheltered coves to the north ideal for kids and a huge surfer's beach to the south, the Corralejo sand dunes now have much more restricted parking but you can still find a queit part of the beach and the huge beach towards Jandia is great too.
Agree that El Cotillo is lovely. When we visited there was a big 'lagoon' at the back of the surfer's beach that the kids loved. Just a massive puddle cut off from the sea!The dunes are great too - the kids loved the freedom.
Surfers beach at El Cotillo:
Dunes:
Have spent a week in each of La Gomera and La Palma (not Gran Canaria) which are two of the lesser visited islands. No "hoi polloi" there. But unfortunately, also no direct flights from the UK so you have to connect and take a local flight. Only El Hierro left to visit, to make the set!
Even in Tenerife you can avoid the plebs by visiting some of the more Spanish corners of the island.
Even in Tenerife you can avoid the plebs by visiting some of the more Spanish corners of the island.
Gomera is lovely, my sister has just sold her house there, so no more free holidays for me. She was on the North of the island, so the weather was bit worse than the South
we went to Valle Gran Rey mostly, on the opposite side of the Island from Tenerife
the roads are something else, you see 'bendy road' signs saying '3km' or suchlike, the whole place is bendy roads, there's barely a 100m straight on the whole island
it's quite a culture shock after a fortnight getting off the ferry in Playa de las Americas
we went to Valle Gran Rey mostly, on the opposite side of the Island from Tenerife
the roads are something else, you see 'bendy road' signs saying '3km' or suchlike, the whole place is bendy roads, there's barely a 100m straight on the whole island
it's quite a culture shock after a fortnight getting off the ferry in Playa de las Americas
Hugo a Gogo said:
Gomera is lovely, my sister has just sold her house there, so no more free holidays for me. She was on the North of the island, so the weather was bit worse than the South
we went to Valle Gran Rey mostly, on the opposite side of the Island from Tenerife
the roads are something else, you see 'bendy road' signs saying '3km' or suchlike, the whole place is bendy roads, there's barely a 100m straight on the whole island
it's quite a culture shock after a fortnight getting off the ferry in Playa de las Americas
Another vote for La Gomera, possibly my favourite of the islands. We got the ferry over from Los Cristianos (I think that's it) and stayed a Hotel Tecina - lovely and relaxing.we went to Valle Gran Rey mostly, on the opposite side of the Island from Tenerife
the roads are something else, you see 'bendy road' signs saying '3km' or suchlike, the whole place is bendy roads, there's barely a 100m straight on the whole island
it's quite a culture shock after a fortnight getting off the ferry in Playa de las Americas
LuS1fer said:
Lanzarote is quite a nice island and has a few nice places to stay and visit. We tend to rent villas which are quite reasonable out there. Personally I found Playa Blanca a bit dull but out of season, Puerto del Carmen can be dead and slightly north you have Matagorda which is quiet. Costa Teguise isn't bad but can be windy. In essence, Lanzarote is fully explorable by car from wherever you stay. Nice beaches at Playa Blanca and Puerto del Carmen though the much vaunted Playa papagayo reachable only by rutted track was over-hyped to say the least.
Fuerteventura is far less developed. Corralejo is the most touristy and I prefer Caleta de Fuste but again the whole island is explorable by car and along the north side is a flat rutted track where you're not supposed to take your hire car but what the hell - more surfing beaches up there.
Tenerife is more an island of two halves and far more mountainous than the flatter terrain of the other two above - the south and the north divided by the Mount Teide national park which is quite stunning and unlike the Lanzarote volcanic park, you can drive through it (Lanzarote is a coach only trip). It's greener and less touristy in the north. and the north-east (so more rain). Loro Parque is a lovely zoo in the north.
It depends what you want but for scenery, i thought Tenerife was by far the most interesting and has some reasonable beaches.
Not been to Gran Canaria so can't help.
Just done Puerto Rico in Gran Canaria. First time there, actually a nice place. Most of the bars and eating places are located within shopping centres though which is a bit of a pain in the arse as its all flashing lights and benidormish.Fuerteventura is far less developed. Corralejo is the most touristy and I prefer Caleta de Fuste but again the whole island is explorable by car and along the north side is a flat rutted track where you're not supposed to take your hire car but what the hell - more surfing beaches up there.
Tenerife is more an island of two halves and far more mountainous than the flatter terrain of the other two above - the south and the north divided by the Mount Teide national park which is quite stunning and unlike the Lanzarote volcanic park, you can drive through it (Lanzarote is a coach only trip). It's greener and less touristy in the north. and the north-east (so more rain). Loro Parque is a lovely zoo in the north.
It depends what you want but for scenery, i thought Tenerife was by far the most interesting and has some reasonable beaches.
Not been to Gran Canaria so can't help.
Amateurish said:
Have spent a week in each of La Gomera and La Palma (not Gran Canaria) which are two of the lesser visited islands. No "hoi polloi" there. But unfortunately, also no direct flights from the UK so you have to connect and take a local flight. Only El Hierro left to visit, to make the set!
Even in Tenerife you can avoid the plebs by visiting some of the more Spanish corners of the island.
There are direct flights to La Palma but not La Gomera or El Hierro (yet) Even in Tenerife you can avoid the plebs by visiting some of the more Spanish corners of the island.
Hugo a Gogo said:
I doubt direct flights to Gomera will be starting any time soon, it's only a little runway for turboprops, and even that took massive building works - got to use that EU money somehow
not much flat land on Gomera
A low pass over where you are staying and a quick shove should do the trick. We all know they are not big on Health and Safety not much flat land on Gomera
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