Can the Canaries ever be more than average?

[runningyogabooze]

I'm thinking about October half term and as I hate flying, reckon the Canaries are our best bet for sun.

But after stalking these boards for ages, I can't find anyone saying they've had a brilliant time there!

Is it only ok there? Friends of mine have had distinctly average holidays there.

But I would love to hear recommendations from anyone who's loved it there!

Gracie's

I love Tenerife.

Great hiking, beautiful volcano, Europe's only rain forest. I'm fairly sure the area up near the volcano is a world heritage site. Whale watching boat trips. Europes best water park.

Thanks all so much! First time on here since yesterday and so lots to read through and google - I really appreciate it.

We are pretty undemanding on holiday, just wanting a beach and a few restaurants, so this sounds great.

Thank you all so much!

We had a brilliant holiday in Lanzarote last month. We stayed at the Princesa Yaiza in Playa Blanca which is lovely, especially if you have young children. I hadn't particularly wanted to visit the canaries previously, but we had such a good time we are thinking of going back.

We love Lanz and stayed there last Easter, we stayed in playa Blanca which was really nice. We stayed the other end of it so it was quiet but gorgeous beach around the corner. We stayed in sandos papaygo which i would highly recommend.

We've also done Furt in November which was also lovely (pre kids) . Gorgeous white sandy beaches

We go to Lanzarote at October half term most years. We rent a lovely villa with a heated pool, hire a car, go for bike rides, enjoy bbqs and dinners on our own terrace. Happy times.

Lanzarote is lovely, it's a really beautiful island with minimal development and there are some wonderful things to see. Playa Blanca is a nice resort, it's not amazing but it's very pleasant and certainly great for a warm week away. Well worth exploring further though, we expected very little and thought that it was a real gem of an island

Lanzerote is great, we also stayed in playa blanca at the princess yaiza in May. It was brilliant and playa blanca is great if you turn left out of the hotel you come to lovely little port which has some nice restaurants or turn right into playa blanca itself which is also really nice.
We took our 4dc who are 12,6,3 and 2 and they all loved it. Didn't work out cheap for us though (never does!) around 5k I think but well worth it almost everyone we spoke to had been to the hotel before which I think is always a good sign.

Absolutely love Lanzarote and Tenerife is worth it for Siam Park!

Absolutely love Lanzarote and Tenerife is worth it for Siam Park!

My well travelled and slightly grumpy bil was very taken with Lanzarote.

Puerto Mogan in Gran Canaria is really beautiful, would recommend

I've done gran canaria in January. The weather was beautiful, but not hot enough to swim. It was a lovely island but so expensive.

Was in Lanzarote at Easter. Boring. There is very little to do. We went to the capital and the only thing to do there is go to top of Gran Via hotel. The city is a dive. We did a day trip to volcanoes. While this was interesting for 15 mins, the four hour round trip in an ancient double decker was suffocating. The pool was freezing despite being heated. Hotel was fine but food was not great. First and last time in the Canaries. We went for the sun as closest warmest place. We got sun but there really is nothing to do or see. A friend is currently in Tenerife and posting daily pictures which has confirmed to me it's no different from Lanzarote.

I don't agree iggity, there's loads to see in Lanzarote, we found some lovely vineyards, some wonderful seafood restaurants on little bays, some lovely galleries with beautiful paintings and handmade pottery. granted I have been to more interesting places but thought Lanzarote was lovely. Tenerife, not so much

Very close by there is Madeira with upmarket hotels, a beautiful landscape and excellent restaurants. Same lovely climate.

Friends have a house in north Tenerife and love it there. The commercial bits reminded me of Las Vegas (not in a good way) and there was plenty of "English breakfast served here" but I think there are some high quality hotels these days and that costa has the better weather I gather. Las Salinas in Lanzarote was a good hotel years ago but I can't speak recently.

We love Lanzarote. We have been there already 4 or 5 times, always in winter. Even after so many times we still like it. A lot to do and see: the volcano, all the Manrique's places, el Mirador del Rio, Cavas del los Verdes... We sometimes take the ferry to go to La Graciosa and we hire bikes there to go explore the tiny lovely island and its empty surreal beaches. There are also couple of other remote beaches we really like on the main island, we often stay there until the sunset to take beautiful pics.
I must admit I also enjoy bathing in the cold Atlantic , getting out and let the sun and the breeze warm me up.
There are lovely fish restaurants around the 'green lake' area and cute wine shops in the towns on the hills. There is a particularly good tapas restaurant in Playa Blanca we really like.
But if you look for a holiday where you only want to sit around the pool with a book, you might find it less attractive.