When tourists visit the Canary Islands they normally want to come back. Most people only come to spend their time in an “all-inclusive” hotels. A clever way to differentiate the trip is: first, staying in one of the major islands, Tenerife or Gran Canaria; then, renting a car (there are hundreds of rent a cars in the islands, so they normally are very cheap), and using it. Tenerife, for example, has ten different micro-climas, so imagine the completely different landscapes you may find. And the best places to eat local cuisine are normally far off the tourist resorts (they are normally cheaper, too).

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Due to the multifarious reactions that followed the article on “Bad tourism in Tenerife” and “Changes in South Tenerife“, I have decided to put some questions to an Ex- British Tourist Guide who has been living in Tenerife since 1971.

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Locals, mayors, entrepeneurs, politicians and tourists know that the south of Tenerife needs a change. As we all know the southern parts of all the Canary Islands have been invaded by the Brits since the 1960’s, thus attracting the worst kind of cheap English tourism available via holiday packs, all inclusive hotels and night bars and discos.

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Summer is here and with it the quintessential sport, surfing. In Spain there are many different beaches and waves waiting to be surfed, and knowing this, it seems that the initiative to train a few people in this sport has succeeded in recent years, filling the camps with a capacity of more than 100 people during all summer. To begin I should say that there is a page called Surf & Travel which operates as a kind of school with vacation packages that include surf in their listing. Some of the best surf schools in Spain are:

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In Spain there are plenty of sites suitable for canoeing, especially in the rivers of the Iberian peninsula, with the Cares and Deva, Asturias and Cantabria, the best. In the National Park Picos de Europa was the birthplace of these rivers so suitable for this sport, where no beginner will feel in danger during any season, but still considered an adventure.

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Undoubtedly one of the best parties on the summer in the Canary Islands is what is called La Embarcación de la Virgen del Carmen, that is anually celebrated in the Puerto de la Cruz, every single month of july. The event on 2010 will take place on Tuesday 13^th, where more than 30.000 people will assist. Since 8 o’clock in the mornng, fishermen will be outside churches praying for the virgin, that will allegedly give them luck through all the next fishing year.

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Long time ago, around the 1960’s, Tenerife was known as one of the poshest paradisiacal islands of the entire world. Naturalists like Von Humboldt were astonished by the views of ‘El Valle de La Orotava‘ and el ‘Puerto de la Cruz‘, ships and planes were coming and going with high class tourism who stayed in grand hotels like the ‘Casino Taoro’ in Las Arenas and every single one of the tourists knew they were in a special place and thus respected it. It was another time…

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This is a game to try your knowledge of the marvelous Canary Islands, but it is also helpful when it comes to people trying to locate the best beaches of the Canary Islands, in order to pay them a visit.

From Maspalomas (Gran Canaria) to Playa Papagayo in Lanzarote, we will ask for the location of no less than 10 popular beaches, most of them are beaches situated in Tenerife and Gran Canaria. But lets stop talking and make your try below:

1.- It will be easier if you click on the symbol on the upper right, to enable Full Screen.

2.- Once you are Full Screen adjust the zoom on the upper left.

3.- Press play and locate the beaches of the Canary Islands.

4.- Save your score, you can invent your email if you don’t want it to be registered, bt put your name! Go!

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Tenerife, Canary Islands, 1920’s. A girl aged ten was periodically sent by her parents to get some fruits from the Badajoz Ravine in the south of the island. One day, she did not come back. The story says that the little girl felt tired and thought it would be appropriate to have a nap under a pear tree. When she woke up, she realized that a man dressed in white was staring at her, from just a couple of meters. Not as expected, the child didn’t feel threatened. In fact, she felt great. The man in white inspired her good and safe feelings.

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The island of Gran Canaria, located 210 km from the African coast and 1250 of the Spanish one, became a historic island since the arrival of Columbus in the late fifteenth century, who was about to leave from there to the Indies, although ended in the Americas …

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