Spain’s Sunny Canary Islands

Posted by Barbara Rogers Nov 11, 2007

Spain’s Canary Islands, 60 miles off the coast of North Africa, have long been the secret of Northern European travelers, who migrate south in the winter to enjoy the islands’ beaches, watersports and sunny climate.

Best known of the seven major islands is Tenerife, whose central volcano, Mount Tiede, is Spain’s highest peak. In 2007 it was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Gran Canaria, like Tenerife, has a major international airport. Most visitors arrive via one of these two, although many charter flights go directly to the smaller islands.

Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are the next most popular, both with dessert-like terrain. Fuerteventura is best known for its long white beaches and powerful Atlantic surf, and is one of the world’s best surfing and wind-surfing destinations.

Lanzarote’s volcanoes are still active, providing a rare chance for visitors to witness thermal power in action. At Timanfaya National Park, meals are cooked over a volcanic pit, and dramatic demonstrations show how hot the earth is just beneath the surface. The volcanoes have created many of the island’s best attractions, including one collapsed caldeira where visitors can find real peridots.

Art lovers come to Lanzarote for the stunning structures created by the Spanish artist, Cesar Manrique. His brilliant adaptations of local landscapes and building materials often use the long volcanic tubes and bubbles as building sites.

The other three major islands – La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma – have a wide variety of different landscapes, including lush vegetation, dramatic coastal cliffs, volcanic wildlands, steep ravines and even rain-forest ecosystems.

Hotels and resorts are plentiful on the four major islands, and easily found on the smaller ones, as well, although these tend to be more modest and intimate than some of the big resort areas of the others.