The outdoor lover's winter playground, the walker's paradise and the beach bum's dream come true, the Canaries offer one of the easiest escapes from a snowy European winter.
The Canary Islands are part of Spain but they're located much closer to Africa than the Spanish mainland. The seven islands are in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,350 kilometres south of the Iberian Peninsula. Their nearest neighbour is Morocco (95 kilometres east of Fuerteventura) and the climate is wonderful all year round with temperatures rarely falling below 18C in the winter and rising above 24C in the summer.
They call the Canaries "The Land of Eternal Spring". The sub-tropical climate is regulated by the Gulf Stream and Trade Winds and any time of year is a good time to visit with guaranteed sunshine, virtually no rainfall and non-stop tourist activity. Small wonder that 11 million international tourists migrate to these shores each year!
The archipelago consists of five main holiday islands - La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote - and the two, small unspoilt islands of Hierro and Gomera. The islands are the tips of a vast volcanic mountain range lying beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The fact that four of Spain's seven major national nature reserves are located here reflects the extraordinary wealth of natural beauty to be found in the Canaries.
The volcanic crater of Mount Teide, the major landmark of Tenerife, was designated as a national reserve in 1954 along with the Taburiente crater on La Palma. Teide is the third tallest volcano in the world (after two in Hawaii) and its 3,718-metre peak is the highest in the whole of Spain. The Caldera del Taburiente on La Palma is the world's largest erosion crater with a diameter of nine kilometres and a depth of 770 metres.
