Gran Canaria

So called because of its extremely varied landscapes with European, African and even American vegetation. The mountain range in the island's centre, of a height of about 2000 meters, is cut by some bizarre canyons. Hardly anywhere else can you find such different landscapes and climatic zones so geographically close to each other: mountain masses, desert land, tropical forests. Along the coast there are wide beaches of sand where tourists can lie in the sun and look at mountain peaks covered with snow.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria an original town, the archipelago's capital, with 352.641 inhabitants, surprises the visitor with its highly original and individual architecture showing influences of all five continents in addition to its colourfully painted houses.
Ambience is very lively, being evidence of a population of southern temperament not always taking life at its most serious.

Don't miss ...

...the Cathedral, of gothic and neoclassical style. Its construction was begun after the discovery of America. At the same square, Santa Ana, you'll find also the Archiepiscopal Palais and several nice buildings in the typical Canarian style of architecture.
The Barrio de la Vegueta is a very attractive quarter of town, with numerous manorial houses showing influences of latin-american colonial style. In the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno you can see an important collection of contemporary art.
La Casa de Colón, the "House of Columbus", reminds us that the ships of Christopher Columbus made a halt here on their journey to America.
The Museo Canario, the "Canarian Museum", shows the most complete exposition you may find about the islands' original inhabitants, the Guanches.
The Pueblo Canario, located in the beautiful gardens of Doramas Park, was created by canarian artist Néstor de la Torre and represents the islands' typical architecture. Each Thursday and Sunday take place colorful folkloristical performances.
More sights to be visited are the Museum of Arts, the Museum Pérez Galdós in the house where this writer was living, and the Nestor-Museum, close to the Pueblo Español and created by the artist himself.
8 kilometers out of Las Palmas there is the Jardín Canario, the "Canarian Garden". It shows the incredible variety of plants at the islands, with no fewer than 500 species existing exclusively here.

Maspalomas is arguably the most beautiful among the fantastic beaches of this island. Fine white sand at a length of 6 kilometres and a width of up to 1 kilometre, and intensely blue sea ... a paradise for sun worshippers, in particular during the cold European winter!
There are modern hotel-complexes and sports installations at Faro de Maspalomas in addition to the island's most important sports harbour Pasitoblanco. Along the beach there are several oasis with palms and even a fresh-water lake.

Playa del Inglés close to Maspalomas has one of the most famous beaches of the archipelago.
San Agustín is quieter and more relaxing. It is an ideal place to recover from the stresses of everyday life.

Playa de Patalavaca is another great beach with fine sand of golden colour and is ideal for sport-fishing.

Puerto Rico is a modern urbanization with hotels, apartments and a nice harbour. Its great sports facilities are one of its main attractions.
Costa de Bañaderos is a beautiful landscape with small romantic bays.
Galdar has a bizarre high coast.
Sardina del Mar is a picturesque fishing-village with nice beaches.
Playa de las Canteras is a wide beach of sand, 2.6 kilometres length, located directly in the capital Las Palmas.
Playa de las Nieves. (nieve means snow in the Spanish language) This name is derived from the high mountains directly behind this beach.

Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura, the island with the oldest history, has the longest fine sandy beaches of the archipelago.
Only a narrow channel separates Fuerteventura from the African continent. It is a paradise equally for spending holidays at the beach as for fishing. There are great beaches even very close to the islands capital, Puerto Rosario.

Puerto Rosario  is the capital of Fuerteventura. This picturesque small town with just 15.550 inhabitants shows us the typical architecture of the Canary Islands. The most representative building of this style is to be found 23 kilometres from here in La Oliva: the Casa de los Coroneles, a manorial house of 18th century.
In the surroundings of Puerto Rosario splendid beaches invite you to swim.

Betancuria -back to the roots. This town, named after French conquerer Bethencourt, is located in the very centre of the island. This land is particularly fertile, which may be the reason why the island's original population, the Guanches, founded their first important settlement here. In the town's Archaeological Museum you can see highly interesting remains of this original civilization.
Also interesting is the artistically very valuable Cathedral, built in 1410, with beautiful works in Mudejar-style and painted choir-stalls of the wood of the canarian pine.

The beaches of Jandia and Sotavento offer paradise for divers nudists.

Between Pajara and Jandia you will find an almost untouched beach of 6 kilometres
golden sand, crystalline sea and a colourful world under water, which magically attracts divers. Just in front of the beach are cruising fishing-boats, as great amounts of fish travel this narrow channel between the island and Africa. This beach is one of the less crowded of all the islands (parts of it are not accessible by car). Corralejos is a picturesque fishing-village in the very north of the island. Fine sand and crystalline water make its beaches some of the most beautiful of the archipelago. The town offers a variety of facilities ranging from typically Spanish type areas, commercial holiday type areas, beaches, harbour and ease of access via ferry to the nearby islands of Lanzarote and Lobos. Lobos Island is a lonely paradise just a few kilometres over the water from the most modern complexes of tourism in Corralejo. This lonely island is inhabited just by a handful of fishermen and a really great place for finding the "Robinson Crusoe" in you.

Lanzarote

Lanzarote is different, not only compared to the other islands, but to everything else on this planet. This extraordinary landscape seems to be of another world, and the inhabitants of the islands once said that God forgot of Lanzarote on the Seventh Day of the Creation.
Lanzarote is of volcanic origin, as are the other islands of the archipelago, but here volcanos have been active until the 18th and 19th century. Great parts of its surface are covered with ashes and lava making you feel as though you are on the moon. Lanzarote's inhabitants made great efforts to cultivate this land and today you find large plantations of fruits and vegetables. Most surprising is perhaps the region of Geria, with vineyards between volcanic craters. In addition there are also the works of great Canarian architect and artist Cesar Manrique, adding more attractions to this unique island.

Arrecife was formerly the port of Teguise but has now grown to become the capital of the island. Above its port there are two great fortresses, San Gabriel and San José, which defended the town against frequent attacks by pirates in years gone by. Another fortress, the Castillo de San Gabriel built in the 15th century, is located at a small island in front of the port and connected with Arrecife by a drawbridge. The towns Museum of Contemporary Art, inside another castle, the Castillo de San Juan ( also called Castillo del Hambre) shows several outstanding works of Cesar Manrique and is among Arrecifes major attractions.

Teguise  is the former capital and carries the name of the last Guanche-king's daughter. It is one of the oldest settlements on the archipelago but little is left of its original monumental abundance as it was destroyed by pirates many years ago, however,  Teguise has preserved much of its ambience of a manorial town with nice houses and its dominating castle, Castillo de Santa Barbara. "Timples", traditional instruments similar to guitars, are manufactured here and are highly demanded as souvenirs.

Great beaches of fine sand stretch over a length of 20 kilometres between the island's southern extreme to the airport. Playa Blanca is an excellent beach with tropical ambience and outstanding facilities for relaxing holidays.
Las Coloradas, Small bays and turquoise sea. Great for sports fishing.
Punta del Papagayo offers a beautiful landscape of finest golden sand.
Playa Quemada is a very beautiful part of the coast with opulent vegetation and small apartment type houses with gardens.
Puerto del Carmen is a thermal spa in tropical surroundings with a wide beach.
Playa de los Pocillos is an impressive volcanic landscape with a small settlement in typical style.

Tenerife

Is the largest island of the archipelago. There are very varied landscapes offering a mountain range with the mighty volcanic crater, Cañadas del Teide, which has a diameter of 20 kilometres and a height of 3.718 metres in its centre. Tenerife also has extremely fertile valleys with important cultures of bananas and tomatoes plus a coastline offering beautiful steep cliffs and wide beaches of fine sand.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a very friendly town with 211.930 inhabitants. Many cruise ships from the entire world touch at this picturesque port which is surrounded by high rocks. The port area is the town's real centre: Plaza de España, with its Cabildo Insular, the museums of archaeology and anthropology and Plaza de la Candelaria with its impressive 17th century Carta Palace.
Additional sights are the baroque church Iglesia de la Concepción, the Museum of Painting and Sculpture and the castle Castillo de Paso Alto.
Close to Santa Cruz there are the beaches Las Gaviotas and Las Teresitas, and a nice destination of an excursion might be the mountain Monte de la Esperanza, located at 20 kilometres from the town, offering an outstanding view over the entire island.

Puerto de la Cruz is Tenerife's most visited site, and due to its favoured climate one of the most visited towns of Spain all year round. Its picturesque townscape alone makes it worth a visit but there are many more attractions such as :-
The famous Playa de Martianez, a most beautiful complex of natural basins with the exciting works of Cesar Manrique.
Loro Park is another main attraction. Its name comes from the numerous parrots in the beautiful tropical gardens which also host spectacular performances by dolphins.
Also highly interesting is the park Jardín de Aclimatación, located between Puerto de la Cruz and Orotava, created in the 18th century and offering a great variety of plants from around the world.
Also worth visiting are the navigation museum Museo Naval de la Casa Iriarte, the fortress Castillo de San Felipe and the church Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia.

Playa de las Americas, being located at the island's south-eastern extreme offers fabulous sandy beaches as well as the most modern infrastructure for tourism.
Playa de los Cristianos has fine beaches of golden sand and crystalline water close to a picturesque fishing-village. Its outstanding infrastructure makes it one of the most attractive places for visitors.
Playa de las Galletas is at the islands southern extreme with great hotel and sports facilities. Punto de Rasca offers outstanding views.
Playa de El Puertito is a 1.6 kilometre long beach of black sand located close to the village of Güimar.
Playa del Roque is another wonderful beach of black sand.
Playa de las Caletillas is another centre of international tourism with three marvellous small bays close to Candelaria. This National Park offers a fascinating landscape created by the elementary forces of the volcano Teide. Christopher Columbus observed its last great eruption in 1492 from the nearby island Gomera just before continuing his discovery travel to America. In 1798 there was another smaller eruption. The Teide has piled up some 12 million cubic metres of volcanic material at its sides, those formations being popularly called the noses of Teide. With a height of 3,718 metres the Teide is not only the highest mountain Spanish mountain but also the highest elevation in all of the Atlantic Ocean. A cableway takes visitors up to 3,600 metres. From there you may climb the peak by foot. On a clear day you have a fantastic view but equally impressive is the volcanos immense crater which has a circumference of approximately 80 kilometres. Around the Teide there are several smaller volcanos such as Mount Rajada (2,509 m) and Mount Chahorra (2,995 m). At the side of Teide there is a large flat area called Cañadas, having been used by the island's original population, the Guanches, as pastureland. Today it is covered with petrified lava having very bizarre forms such as the Roques de García and several caves such as the Cueva del Hielo or the Cueva de los Cazadores. In this area exist some extremely rare species of plants such as the Guanche Rose, of which there are known to be only around 50 examples worldwide and the Teide Violet in addition to wild lizards.

La Palma

La Palma is known as the green island and has two world records: La Caldera del Taburiente is the world's largest volcanic crater with a diameter of 9 kilometres and a depth of 770 metres which can be viewed best from the viewpoint ‘Mirador de la Cumbrecita’. In addition you will find at La Palma the greatest elevation compared to diameter with the islands highest mountain, Roque de los Muchachos, measuring 2,423 metres and having an astronomical observatory at its peak. This picturesque port-town with 18.000 inhabitants is situated on the east coast of the island. Behind the town, like a colossal amphitheatre, is the mighty volcanic crater Caldereta. This town, with its steeply inclined alleys, offers a really lively ambience. Among the most important sights there are the Town Hall and the church Iglesia del Salvador, both of 16th century, and the interesting Museum of Natural Science. A few kilometres out of town is located the Santuario de la Virgen de las Nieves, a sanctuary of the island's patroness.

La Gomera

This island is characterised by its central massif of a height of 1,487 metres, dropping steeply to the sea. The region of Alto de Garajonay was declared a National Park.
Particularly interesting are the populations very old and original popular customs. The inhabitants of the different valleys once communicated with each other in a whistling language comparable to the "yodelling" in Central European Alps. At this picturesque small town, connected to Tenerife by a ferry-boat, Christopher Columbus stopped on his travel to America to receive help to repair one of his ships. Here we find mostly small bays with fine sand set in the islands steep coastline such as the Playa de Santiago which is a picturesque small fishing village with a fine beach and crystalline water and one of the island's best beaches near the exit of Valle Gran Rey.

Hierro

The smallest island of the archipelago is an ideal place to take relaxing holidays in direct contact with nature. Its steep rocky coast is very different from the wide beaches which are prevalent on the islands, although there is a beach at Golfo which is 14 kilometres long.
The centre of the island has volcanic craters and woodland. Its highest peak, Malpaso (1.501 m), offers great views.

Valverde

is the island's capital, a picturesque small settlement with gardens and parks, an interesting fortified church and a nice square from which you have a great view over the sea.