Canaries in December

[OnePlusBun]

We are thinking of booking a holiday to one of the canary islands in mid December to celebrate a special occasion.

A couple of people have said it will be too cold for DD(2.5 at the time) and DS(5 months at the time) to go in the swimming pool and sea.

Can anyone who has actually been at this time of year give any advice please.
I've checked all the weather sites for average temperature stats so know all that. Would just like to know how warm (or cold) you actually found the water.

Don't want DC to miss out on what I see as a big part of a holiday abroad. And DD to see a pool in front of her and not understand why we can jump in

TIA x

Well the 'sea' is the Atlantic ocean, which is pretty cold at the best of times, but you can definitely paddle and I saw people swimming off the beach at Playa Blanca in Lanzarote last Dec. I'm not sure I'd have wanted to swim in the sea, but each to their own.

As for swimming in pools - absolutely. It was between 22-25 degrees every day when we were there, so lovely and warm, and everyone was swimming. The pools were heated, so just make sure they will be where you're staying and yes, you will be able to swim (weather depending, of course, it CAN be grey and rainy, but it can also be wall-to-wall blue sky and sunshine).

Kids dont tend to be bothered by cooler water. You could always take a couple of cheap wetsuits , also help to keep uv off.

No reason not to swim!

We've been to Tenerife in early January and the sea was warm enough to swim in.

However, we went to Lanzarote in February of another year and the sea was freezing, but the locals said that was unusual. It depends what sort of 'winter' they have.

At that time of year the weather is a bit pot luck and can be anything between cool for them/cloudy/rainy and quite hot and sunny. You will tend to get better weather in the south of the islands, so Playa Blanca Lanzarote, or Los Cristianos/Adeje Tenerife would probably be a better choice than northern resorts.

Many hotels etc have heated pools, so look out for those. Wetsuits also a good idea for the sea, just in case.

I went to Lanzarote for Christmas the year before last. Weather was fantastic, we were in the pool most days. Average was 25 degrees during the day, evenings requires a light jacket or cardigan. A couple of days were very windy and dusty so the air was a bit odd, and the sky was hazy. Swam in the sea on Christmas morning. I don't know if we were just very lucky though.

Thanks everyone, think we'll start looking and get something booked up

Be aware that both Lanzarote & Fuertaventura are the windiest of the islands.

I've stayed in Costa Adeje , south coast of Tenerife several times in December & swum in the sea & most of the pools are heated.

Been loads of times- usually fine. However the days are quite short in Nov to Feb so the sun goes in c 4pm so time to head in/off for a walk/do sports

I went 25 years ago for new year. The pool wasn't heated and it wasn't really warm. Light jumper weather with a fleece in the evening.