Hello,
I am planning a trip to the Canary islands August/September 2005 and would appreciate some info on the best island to visit, best hotels, etc. Never been there and anything would be great!

Thanks,

Gus in Philly

I was doing a little research on the subject for a friend and found the following web site that may be of some use to you.

The Canary Islands are a favorite destination for a number of Europeans. There are some great flights from both Madrid and Paris.

Sorry, forgot to add the link:

http://www.canary-travel.com/index-in.html

each island has its own personality and size, types of beaches.

tenerife has quite a variety of everything. the lush northern area, and the drier, but more expansive beaches on the southern part.

the center is most bizarre scenery, reminding you of what you imagine the moon to be like, with the highest mountain, which has snow on it right now!

i enjoyed tenerife wiht my family years ago.. and we rented a car a couple days to tour the island from top to bottom.
the food was not great in our hotel buffets, but we were not in a very highly rated one.

the 3- star hotels are definitely for mass tourism, and i personally would go as high as i could afford in this type of area. there will be quite a difference in quality.

lanzarote i believe has some very posh hotels.. camels and some interesting architecture from j. manrique.. but probably not much else to do except relax by pool.
la gomera and fuenteventura are more naturalist islands as i understand. hopefully someone here can give you first hand info about them.

things have changed a lot these past years as most of the african illegal immigrants are disembarking on those smaller islands and the demographics are changing.

I had the good fortune to go to Las Palmas when I was on deployment with the Navy in April 2001. The Canary Islands are not very frequented by Americans. It was a nice week there. We got a hotel in "the dunes" wery south of Gran Canaria. I liked the fact the clientele was mostly older German tourists so it was very peaceful. Yes there is a lot of African illegal immigration, but not enough to spoil things. Gran Canaria and Tenerrife are the best islands to me. if you need more info please write me at: [email protected] I know some good restaurants in Gran Canaria.

Hotel Botanico in Puerto de la Cruz, North Tenerife is very reasonable, luxurious, excellent service and cuisine, it's old fashioned in a seventies sense, it's nice to travel back to a different era without having to resort to a time machine.

Thanks very much!

I've been to 3 of the islands, seeking a little winter sun. They are popular in the UK for all year sunshine, though there is a small chance of rain or cloud, mainly between November and March and they can be quite windy.

Fuerteventura has some of the best beaches but probably little else, other than some wierd volcanic scenery and an interesting coastline. We also visted a cactus garden and small zoo/parrot park. We stayed at Caleta de Fuste, a resort with some decent hotels and restaurants and not rowdy.

I realy liked Lanzarote. We stayed in Playa Blanca, a fairly up market resort in the south of the island. We hired a car and saw a lot of the island. There are some decent beaches, the volcano and all the Cesar Manrique stuff, which is not to be missed. His house was built into volcanic bubbles in the lava flow, there are volcanic caves that contain pools and even a nightclub. See:

http://www.lanzaroteisland.com/english/cesar_manrique/

Tenerife is a bigger island with the huge mountain of Mount Teide and it's volcanic national park in the centre. The south is drier and has some large resorts aimed at mass tourism. The north is more tropical with some interesting gardens, villages and the more traditional resort of Peurto de la Cruz.

All 3 have plenty of interest, especially if you hire a car (car hire and fuel are cheap) and get out and about and away from the mass tourism. Be warned, you will find nudists on some of the quieter beaches.

I went to Gran Canaria a few years back and found the island to be one of the more diverse, in terms of the topography. You can easily drive around the island in a few hours and go from tropical green to areas resembling the American Southwest.

I don't know how the other islands are, but you will also find numerous areas like the town of Puerto Rico. Very developed resorts that cater to Northern Europeans who are fine being crammed side to side in beach chairs while also being able to enjoy the finest representation of the restaurant/pub native to their homeland later that evening.

If you've ever been to Cancun, you're probably familiar with the fact that numerous Americans go there and eat at places just like home. The Canaries attract, in part, a similar type of traveler.

It should be relatively easy to visit a the major islands as they are all connected by ferry services.


BTW, if you like cigars, one of the well known US cigar company's sources from the Canaries.

Gran Canaras Playa del Ingles area and Teneriffe´s Playa de las Americas are just the way Ryan described. BUT there are plenty of different places in the Canaries. For example I have been hiking in La Gomera (wonderful, fairy tale like old forests) and La Palma. Both very peaceful and scenic. In Teneriffe I have stayed in small idyllic hotels, old manor houses and once even in an inn middle of a banana plantation. Far cry from Cancun.

Elina, you'll note I said "in part." In didn't mean to imply that the Canary Islands themselves resemble Cancun, but it does attract a similar type of traveler. The one who goes to a foreign country to enjoy the best of their home countries beer and cuisine.

I probably should have added the point to get a recrnt guidebook as that'll help avoid the most touristy areas - if that what the OP wants to do.

a bit late, but if you still need info on the islands you could check out these sites:

http://www.grancanarianet.com/index.htm
http://www.tenerife-travels.com/index.htm