Canary Islands
 

Has anyone been to the Canary Islands? Where should one stay?

La primavera eterna: always spring there.
Nice islands, each with their own character.
Depending on what you like to do, suggestions might differ.

Into La Palma & Tenirife on a cruise ship this past May.
On La Palma there were several choices on things to do/see on the island, but we choose to stroll the city and sample some local cuisine. As you can imagine, excellent calamari/squid dishes.
The city of Tenerife is considerably larger and quite a few more things to do. Again, we choose to do things on our own and really enjoyed ourselves. We took their local light rail to the top of the city (a fairly long trip........ ~45min to the top) and got a good view of the city, etc. We had a most memorable meal at the Restaurante El Lateral 27, Calle Bethencourt Alfonso in Tenerife. Wife had their pulpo plate and I the sardine plate. The salted green peppers tapas to start. All excellent. But, their desserts (and I'm not much of a dessert person) were sublime. Dulce de tres leches for the wife (said it was the best she has ever had and she's been trying them for many years). I walked inside to look in the refrigerated case hoping to find something. I picked what I thought was a pie-like milk chocolate thing (not a fan of dark chocolate), but when out in the light (we ate outside - it is located on a walking, only, street) it turned out to be dark chocolate................ and was wonderful. As is usual in France, Spain, Italy, etc., the meal took over 2 hours. We enjoyed our meal so much that we were sorry we didn't have another day in Tenerife as we would have surely returned.
Too many places to visit. Too little time.

:vacation::vacation:Bart I like to be on the beach 2/3 and sightsee the othe 1/3 . Love seafood !!

What time of the year? I did a customer delivery to Gran Canaria in November two years ago and it def felt “off season” although weather was still warm and pleasant, low 70’s (F). Las Palmas had a very euro-mediterranean feel and it was nice to walk around and hit the local shops and eateries. Loved the local potato dish with the red pepper sauce (“wrinkled potatoes”) but IIRC, most of everything else (except the fish) was imported. Not sure I’d ever go back as a pure vacation destination, maybe one of the other islands has more going on? Very relaxed and chill attitude, reminded me most of Nice France in the fall. I heard there were nicer white sand beaches on other parts of the island but given the time of the year and limited time there I stayed mostly in the more developed areas.

I did do a few dives while there. 60ish deg water, required a 7mm farmer suit (I’m not dry suit certified). Much better than most Mediterranean sites I’ve been to, but nothing compared to Caribbean or Pacific Islands, although you do have 100’+ visibility. Lots of sponges and nudibrachs. Excellent choice if you’re into underwater photography. I used Davie Jones Locker diveshop, had great mix of staff/customers to join on daily dives.

I know Gran Canaria quite well.
It is probably not the most interesting island of the archipel.
But it has some very nice beaches, very good hotels, and if you hire a car, the mountains, volcano and woods are worth seeing.
The north is entirely different, like another continent.
Goat meat stews and papas bravas are offered inland, and are excellent.

La Gomera is enchanting I'm told.
Fuerteventura if you like surfing.

Enjoy your trip Doug!

I used to go to Lanzarote for Triathlon training camps at Club La Santa for a week at a time. I was much younger and fitter then. Probably not the tourist destination you're looking for ...