Canary Islands Tourism Guide - Canary Islands Resorts

Lanzarote Canary Islands Resorts

The three main resorts in Lanzarote are Puerto del Carmen in the south, the oldest and liveliest, Costa Teguise on Lanzarote's east coast just north of the capital Arrecife, and finally Playa Blanca, the smallest and friendliest although fast developing, which is also in the south of Lanzarote. Each of these holiday resorts has a different flavour. Puerto del Carmen is distinctly British, or popular with the Brits and has three very attractive beaches, the best of which is Playa Grande or Playa Blanca with it's long expanse of golden sands, ample bars, cafes and restaurants adjacent and a choice of banana boat rides and watersports.

If you're looking for a friendly home from home then Puerto del Carmen fits the bill for the Brits, with a lively although not too wild nightlife and a choice of restaurants from Italian to Chinese, although you'll be hard pushed to sample Canary Island food here. A good base for families, couples and young groups and it benefits from a short transfer time from the airport.

Costa Teguise endeavours to be a little more upmarket. There's a mix here of Spanish, English, German and a growing Italian holiday visitor here. Popular for it's windsurfing, and with five glorious sandy beaches Costa Teguise offers a wide choice of watersports, numerous restaurants, bars and cafes, and is ideally close to some of the best places to visit on Lanzarote including the Manrique Foundation and inland Teguise's popular Sunday morning market. Costa Teguise is a laid back resort, ideal for families and couples looking for good beaches and quieter bars and restaurants. Finally, Playa Blanca is an excellent choice for families.

Gran Canaria Canary Islands Resorts

Reasonable as a resort for families (although Puerto Rico is better), Playa del Ingels attracts the young and offers one of the best holiday gay scenes out there (except Blackpool North Shore of course!). Safe bathing miles of sandy beach, and crammed with bars, clubs, restaurants, shopping centres and holiday attractions such as waterparks, mini golf, camel trips across the Maspalomas dunes, numerous casino type shows, animal parks with feature parot shows, skydiving (gulp), quad safaris, jeep safaris and an 18 hole golf course situated between Maspalomas - need I go on.

Playa del Ingles is one of the most attraction rich party centres of all the Canaries resorts. At the heart of Playa del Ingles is the fabulous shopping centre Yumbo. Head here for duty free perfumes, and various craft bazaar type stalls. By day Yumbo is a superb holiday shopping centre, but by night it's gay scene territory offering a delightful maze of restaurants and bars to get lost in with a friendly hard partying atmosphere - get to it. Most would say that what makes Maspalomas special is its spectacular Sand Dunes, really the only natural attraction in this area. It bills itself as a more upmarket resort than Playa del Ingles, and it is, as well as being quieter with a nod to gay friendly as well as being more family oriented and less full on party atmosphere. Maspalomas was built 10 years after Playa del Ingles, and its more villa and bungalow styled accommodation is generally of a higher standard. (plus more expensive).

The choice of holiday resorts on Gran Canaria is ever increasing, and suburbs of the main existing resorts push up the coast. To the south west side the big smoke is Puerto Rico - perhaps one of the best family holiday resorts on the island. There's more of a family bar and restaurant feel here, with a gentle sheltered beach perfect for family bathing. You can tap into any watersport activity you can think of here, from fun water rides to catamaran and fishing trips - sailing, fishing and catamaran trips are particularly prevalent here, and they tend to move up the pretty west coast towards Puerto Mogan.

Smaller off-shot resorts from Puerto Rico, also with a family vibe and nice sheltered beaches include Playa del Cura, Amadores, Taurito and Playa de Mogan, oh and Patalavaca. As you'd expect too Playa Del Ingles and Maspalomas have a number of off-shot quieter resorts including Meloneras just to the west. There's a new feel to this resort with luxury hotels on the beach - for a relaxing luxury base within easy reach of bustling Maspalomas, Meloneras is a good choice.

Tenerife Canary Islands Resorts

Sticking with the big smokes, the top resort locations on Tenerife, and the most popular locations for visitors to Tenerife include the southern resorts of Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas. These two are the oldest of the southern resorts, and the most developed - you navigate by acommodations here not street names. Great sheltered family beaches, a choice of waterparks including the mammoth Aqualand Costa Adeje (see weblink right), with numerous bars, restaurants, holiday shops and holiday accommodation jostling for space. A number of off-shot resorts, most of which are top family holiday hotspots, are climbing up the coast from Las Americas. These include Costa Adeje, Puerto Colon, Callao Salvaje and Playa Paraiso - generally these are quieter bases than the big two, but Costa Adeje is catching up fast.

Moving up the west coast, another popular Tenerife resort cluster includes Los Gigantes, Puerto Santiago and Playa de la Arena. When we visited in 2006 there was a fair bit of develop going on around all three of these Tenerife resort clusters (they sort of merge into one). The building work seems mostly for new properties to buy, so it's residential. It's worth just checking on your accommodation location, and whether there is some building work going on nearby. This aside, this is a warm and friendly Tenerife resort cluster, popular with families looking for a quiet yet fully serviced resort base, and with older visitors also looking for a low key resort base. Playa de Arena's beach is particularly delightful, and Los Gigantes is a hotspot for diving excursions, whales and dolphin watching trips and catamaran sailing and boat trips. (For the best views of Los Gigantes Cliffs take the boat north along the coast upto Masca for walking). These three resorts are good cheap bases too for year round walking holidays around Masca and the Teno Mountains.

Puerto de la Cruz is a buzzing and chic northern Tenerife resort these contemporary days, with a long history and a work-a-day vibe. If you want the best of both worlds, meaning ample resort accommodation, good beaches and a fabulous swimming pool complex, and plenty of local attractions of both the cultural and holiday fun kind choose Puerto de la Cruz. It's all here - numerous theme parks and attractions nearby including the famous Loro Parque and Icod's famous Drago Tree, a good selection of museums and art galleries, a delightful promenade lined with Manrique designed gardens and a historic fort or two, a relaxed restaurant, bar and cafe culture, a bit of a gay scene and some good nightlife and easy access west to pretty Garachico and the Teno Mountains beyond, and east towards the wine region. The stunning and untouched Anaga Mountains and historic La Orotava and La Laguna are also within easy reach of Puerto de la Cruz. The only downside for some is that you do get more cloud up here in the north (it's the mountains you know - see the Tenerife weather section!). For more independent travellers though, or those looking for a resort base with a twist this will be of no consequence.

There's plenty of choice of quiet and smaller suburb Tenerife resorts located usually near one of the big ones. Good examples include La Caleta, a nice small resort between Playa de las Americas and Costa Adeje, and further north the little resort bases of Playa Paraiso and Callao Salvaje. Moving southeast of Los Cristianos, Las Galletas and the Costa del Silencio coastal mini resorts offer similar quieter bases, with good beaches. El Medano is a particular favourite, with a bustling Sunday morning market, a traditional Canarian feel to it, some superb fish resaurants and the best kite surfing and windsurfing facilities on Tenerife. Likewise nearby Las Galletas is a quiet resort base with a fishing village feel, and some great surfing spots on its coastline. To the north Garachico and San Marcos are both worth considering as quiet bases with a nice beach at San Marcos, and the great coastal sea water pools at Garrachico. Tenerife resorts offer choice and great variety.

La Palma Canary Islands Resorts

La Palma's resorts are strictly laid back - and Puerto Naos has one of the best beaches on the island. Expect black sand, whooshing waves, quiet bars lining the promenade, palm trees providing natural shade and artesan shops just off the prom. If you're looking for a quiet resort with a stunning beach and easy access north into the Caldera and south to Los Canarios and the volcanoes - Puerto Naos will do just fine! Just north of Puerto Naos is pretty Puerto Tazacorte. This is a good spot for taking boat trips.

Los Cancajos and the Brena Baja area just south of La Palma's capital - Santa Cruz de la Palma, is the other main resort area situated on the east side near La Palma Airport. Los Cancajos is a relatively new and modern resort area, quiet and low key but with all the resort facilities you'd expect including supermarkets, cashpoints, and ample bars and restaurants. The beach area here is excellent too, and blue flag. Airport noise is minimal as only a few flights come in to La Palma daily. This is the perfect location for visits to beautiful and historic Santa Cruz, La Palma's capital. You can either walk to Santa Cruz along the coast from Los Cancajos or take one of the frequent buses which run into Santa Cruz from the resort centre.