Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
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- 45,037
Typically windy, cold and cloudy in the winter/spring. Nice place in the summer though.
Talk to me about the Canary Islands
- Thread starter Scam
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
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- 28,905
Depends where you go, Gran Canaria has highs of 25°C this weekend.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/6297188
Associate
I like Costa Adeje however it is on the bubble of going to the side of too touristy
Caporegime
Madeira was quite nice I thought, but LanzaGROTTY lived up to its nickname.
Associate
Did fuerteventura last year.
Windy, not that hot, 4 hour flight. Outside the populated areas it's just sand, rock and goats.
Awful place
And don't get me started on the horror of their "Safari Park". No words in Spanish for "animal welfare" for a reason
Windy, not that hot, 4 hour flight. Outside the populated areas it's just sand, rock and goats.
Awful place
And don't get me started on the horror of their "Safari Park". No words in Spanish for "animal welfare" for a reason
Caporegime
Fue has plenty of beaches and quiet spots to relax and enjoy the sun.
Rent a car from Cicar - https://www.cicar.com/EN
Just go for a drive, 1 minute you're driving through green rolling hills go round a corner and it looks like Mars. The landscape is pretty amazing and there are some mad roads around Antigua and Tuineje. In particular going up to the Kings statue can be quite an event - https://goo.gl/maps/cmsMXEekEU32. Mirador De Morro Velosa has amazing views - https://goo.gl/maps/t66Kp9qS9MG2
Big beach & dunes just outside of Corralejo - It can get busy but it's massive so you won't find it hard to avoid people. You can park here https://goo.gl/maps/Fcegesu73o12
El Cotillo has a superb beach. Sea can be a bit rough because of the direction it faces - park here https://goo.gl/maps/4F9VLoimwgM2
Gran Tarajal is a very local area, nice beach with beachside cafes and the like - you can park around here in the areas or on the street if there is space - https://goo.gl/maps/6LkLY5oeU5L2
Playitas Resort has a great walk along the front - park here and walk down through the sports complex - https://goo.gl/maps/nQPgtCGWwnS2
Salt Museum (what a sight) - https://goo.gl/maps/7hJYGCSS9yu
Caleta is an artificial beach but it is huge so you can always find a quiet spot. The walk along is great, you can walk from the Atlantico centre (https://goo.gl/maps/dcTozAx6fZ12) to the edge of Caleta (https://goo.gl/maps/QjtXB2UmUkL2) and beyond if you want. Many places to grab a drink in the marina - https://goo.gl/maps/H2YTFu43p8F2. Caffenero does great crepes - https://goo.gl/maps/LgtLkypkXd12 Pantarajal is an amazing little bakery - https://goo.gl/maps/9ELH8DHQEAP2
Bigger beaches like Morro Jable have big resorts on so they can be quite busy. The above are generally a bit quieter.
A lot of the nicest places to eat are in Corralejo but there are nice places in Caleta, just avoid the obvious places like the Lord Nelson and Aberdeen steakhouse. I've never really eaten in Puerto of an evening.
Rent a car from Cicar - https://www.cicar.com/EN
Just go for a drive, 1 minute you're driving through green rolling hills go round a corner and it looks like Mars. The landscape is pretty amazing and there are some mad roads around Antigua and Tuineje. In particular going up to the Kings statue can be quite an event - https://goo.gl/maps/cmsMXEekEU32. Mirador De Morro Velosa has amazing views - https://goo.gl/maps/t66Kp9qS9MG2
Big beach & dunes just outside of Corralejo - It can get busy but it's massive so you won't find it hard to avoid people. You can park here https://goo.gl/maps/Fcegesu73o12
El Cotillo has a superb beach. Sea can be a bit rough because of the direction it faces - park here https://goo.gl/maps/4F9VLoimwgM2
Gran Tarajal is a very local area, nice beach with beachside cafes and the like - you can park around here in the areas or on the street if there is space - https://goo.gl/maps/6LkLY5oeU5L2
Playitas Resort has a great walk along the front - park here and walk down through the sports complex - https://goo.gl/maps/nQPgtCGWwnS2
Salt Museum (what a sight) - https://goo.gl/maps/7hJYGCSS9yu
Caleta is an artificial beach but it is huge so you can always find a quiet spot. The walk along is great, you can walk from the Atlantico centre (https://goo.gl/maps/dcTozAx6fZ12) to the edge of Caleta (https://goo.gl/maps/QjtXB2UmUkL2) and beyond if you want. Many places to grab a drink in the marina - https://goo.gl/maps/H2YTFu43p8F2. Caffenero does great crepes - https://goo.gl/maps/LgtLkypkXd12 Pantarajal is an amazing little bakery - https://goo.gl/maps/9ELH8DHQEAP2
Bigger beaches like Morro Jable have big resorts on so they can be quite busy. The above are generally a bit quieter.
A lot of the nicest places to eat are in Corralejo but there are nice places in Caleta, just avoid the obvious places like the Lord Nelson and Aberdeen steakhouse. I've never really eaten in Puerto of an evening.
Soldato
If you continue along that path, the next village is super creepy. Lots of the buildings look quite new but it seems to be almost completely abandoned. The first thing you come to is an old waterpark straight out of Chernobyl!
Permabanned
La Gomera, El Hierro, failing that, fly to Lisboa and then onto the Azores, or there is North Wales and It's coastline
I've never been but my wife who's 23 weeks pregnant wanted to go on a beach holiday that's relatively hot and not far away and it led us to Fuertaventura. Booked a holiday in the Tui sale (never holidayed with Tui either) but half board in a reasonably nice looking hotel was only £1300 for us and our daughter. Looked at Cape Verde but it was further away and Ive heard its very windy.
Soldato
We were with Tui when we went to Tenerife a couple of weeks ago. It was well organised, their mobile app tells gives you all the info you need (flight boarding passes, times, transfer times + pickup locations, rep timetables).
Also half board, which I found fine but my GF is very picky and didn't like much of it (I guess it depends on hotel though). To be fair, we knew this would be the case before we left so had planned on eating out most days. I was cycling 4-5 hours a day so I we would go out for one meal then I'd eat again when we got back to the hotel and she would just eat the ice cream
All of the Canaries are quite windy. The wind generally comes from the North or East so the resorts on the South or West sides of the islands are usually more sheltered. It's a constant wind though so they're well prepared for it. There's wind blocks and things setup and everything is positioned to maximise shelter.
I went to Tenerife 2 weeks ago for 3 nights and came back with a sun-tan. Was about 25 degrees and sunny. Lows of about 15 at night. Was a little windy one of the days, but nothing serious.
Never been in the summer but I think it would be too hot for me. And I've holiday'd in hot places.
Have been to both Tenerife and Gran Canaria though many years ago now, both times were for summer holidays while in uni and both trips were probably not too dissimilar in some respects to the inbetweeners movie... albeit we had decent accommodation on each occasion.
A mate of mine who's parents owned one of the apartments we stayed in had been there regularly and often used to bring back fake watches and dodgy electronics for people at school... in fact as teenagers half our class at school had fake rolexes or TAGs thanks to this guy!
The unfortunate reality of it being off the coast of Africa was that there were various Africans around who are quite blatantly exploited to either flog dodgy goods on the beach (in the case of men) or wandering around at night as prostitutes (in the case of the women). They would quote lines from the movie full metal jacket and all the drunk "brits abroad" tourists would be chanting the same lines back at them. On a couple of occasions we actually did see their customers, one time a podgy middle aged white guy looking very embarrassed emerging from some bushes followed by a morbidly obese African woman, another time some drunk Irish guy walking down the middle of the road holding hands with one of them with dozens of people cheering him on!
I can't really comment on any cultural aspects, or at least any cultural aspects beyond eating and drinking... the seafood is great over there. They have a local canary island potato, it's generally cooked in salt and is quite nice. If you want to really offend the waiter in a decent restaurant then just ask for some tomato sauce as one muppet we were with did and watch as his comes back, slams it on the table, and looks at everyone with contempt!
Beyond that, in both the bars in Gran Canaria and Tenerife (we had to get a taxi there and back in the latter occasion being quite far from the bars on a silly golf course!) were incredibly chavvy and mostly full of Brits and Irish with maybe a few Scandinavians. It was the same deal with each bar, you'd be promoted some free drinks which were some cheap and nasty shots, there were frequently 2 for 1 drinks offers too, though if you ordered say 8 beers expecting to be charged for 4 you'd find that actually 16 arrived and you were charged for 8. The best night we had was going to some after hours club with some reps we'd met who had been running bar crawls out there after they'd finished with their guests for the night, to say the club had a liberal attitude was an understatement and to say the female reps/resort workers were rather liberal would be an understatement too!
A mate of mine who's parents owned one of the apartments we stayed in had been there regularly and often used to bring back fake watches and dodgy electronics for people at school... in fact as teenagers half our class at school had fake rolexes or TAGs thanks to this guy!
The unfortunate reality of it being off the coast of Africa was that there were various Africans around who are quite blatantly exploited to either flog dodgy goods on the beach (in the case of men) or wandering around at night as prostitutes (in the case of the women). They would quote lines from the movie full metal jacket and all the drunk "brits abroad" tourists would be chanting the same lines back at them. On a couple of occasions we actually did see their customers, one time a podgy middle aged white guy looking very embarrassed emerging from some bushes followed by a morbidly obese African woman, another time some drunk Irish guy walking down the middle of the road holding hands with one of them with dozens of people cheering him on!
I can't really comment on any cultural aspects, or at least any cultural aspects beyond eating and drinking... the seafood is great over there. They have a local canary island potato, it's generally cooked in salt and is quite nice. If you want to really offend the waiter in a decent restaurant then just ask for some tomato sauce as one muppet we were with did and watch as his comes back, slams it on the table, and looks at everyone with contempt!
Beyond that, in both the bars in Gran Canaria and Tenerife (we had to get a taxi there and back in the latter occasion being quite far from the bars on a silly golf course!) were incredibly chavvy and mostly full of Brits and Irish with maybe a few Scandinavians. It was the same deal with each bar, you'd be promoted some free drinks which were some cheap and nasty shots, there were frequently 2 for 1 drinks offers too, though if you ordered say 8 beers expecting to be charged for 4 you'd find that actually 16 arrived and you were charged for 8. The best night we had was going to some after hours club with some reps we'd met who had been running bar crawls out there after they'd finished with their guests for the night, to say the club had a liberal attitude was an understatement and to say the female reps/resort workers were rather liberal would be an understatement too!
Soldato
I went to Teneriefe in October a couple of years ago (which is off-peak, but was still plenty hot enough for me) and really enjoyed it. Have to say my highlight has Siam Park (a water park) - I'd somehow never been to a proper water park before, and it was just brilliant fun with some quite impressive slides. We spent most of the rest of the trip driving round to see various sights, went on a couple of short walks, and got the cable car up el Teide. I'd happily go back in the future - probably with a view to doing more walking, as well as going to Siam Park again!
When I was there we had a few days staying in a quiet village a bit higher up, and then a few days in Costa Adeje, which I think worked quite well... There were of course bits of it that were very touristy (particularly if you went South to Playa de las Americas!), but in general I didn't mind it. I had some genuinely very nice meals, and it was close to lots of things to do without being too noisy.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 45,037
The problem is that it is very hit and miss this time of year. As soon as the sun goes behind cloud it becomes very cold. Have had a good bit of rain there this time of year too. When the sun is out it is plenty warm though.
Associate
- Joined
- 25 Aug 2007
- Posts
- 72
La Gomera is very quiet compared to Tenerife, same volcanic **** hole as the rest of them though, tourist trade is the only thing keeping La Gomera alive. Reef I did for my stag, around the strip etc its proper brits abroad. Theres nice parts to it as well though, plus theres sian park but I would not want to go when its busy and be stood in that blistering heat. I did sian end of January and it as quiet and not too hot - low to mid 20s. Had a great time.
Both windy, but nothing major. TBF, during the peak heat times when there is no wind it is blisteringly hot. I spent most of my 2 weeks on La Gomera in the shade.
Roads on La Gomera were utterly brilliant though, best roads I have ever seen. I had the luxury of a 1 litre auto Corsa as a rental for a day. Loads of motorbikes about, I'd love to be in something open top with a bit of torque.
Both windy, but nothing major. TBF, during the peak heat times when there is no wind it is blisteringly hot. I spent most of my 2 weeks on La Gomera in the shade.
Roads on La Gomera were utterly brilliant though, best roads I have ever seen. I had the luxury of a 1 litre auto Corsa as a rental for a day. Loads of motorbikes about, I'd love to be in something open top with a bit of torque.
Associate
- Joined
- 3 Feb 2019
- Posts
- 747
I would choose Cyprus over the canaries anyday to be honest, unless it's lads on tour and you wanted to chug ouzo from a dentist chair.
If you do make it to Correlejo in Furteventura make sure you get a table at the Ugly Duckling restaurant, but you have too book well in advance.
Soldato
Did fuerteventura last year also.
Was the duration of the flight a surprise
It’s a volcanic island what were you expecting?
Not that hot? We went September and it was 24-28 degrees everyday. Hit 30 degrees when we went to the Oasis Animal Park
The Park was excellent and none of the animals looked poorly treat. Better than the likes of Edinburgh zoo certainly.
Oh and the main beach near us was immaculate.
Guessing they didn’t have enough pies and chip shops for you?
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 28,905
As for the 4 hour flight, name me somewhere as developed and hot as the Canary Islands in February that you can fly to in less time.
Soldato
Canary Islands are mostly Brits abroad and have been for years.
If its a distance thing I would recommend checking Madeira which is just slightly north in the Atlantic and I believe is a French island and is AMAZING in contrast to the Canaries.
If its a distance thing I would recommend checking Madeira which is just slightly north in the Atlantic and I believe is a French island and is AMAZING in contrast to the Canaries.