Anyone ‘done’ the Canaries?

Clunegapyears

Clunegapyears

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Met a German lady today who was raving about her last winter in the Canaries. They did all four main islands and she said because it doesn’t shut for the winter all the beach taps and restaurants are still open. She said that two islands are flat and two are mountainous, so you have a mix of scenery. She is planning to go back again next year as she thinks it is one of the best motorhome destination she can has done.

I did a quick google on the ferry costs from Spain. Around £1350 return. Not cheap and you have the ferry crossings between the islands. It would only make sense to go for about five months.

Is there going to be enough there to hold our attention for five months, especially given the price.

Has anyone taken their motorhome to the Canary Islands?
Costs of inter island ferries?
Ease of wild camping?
Water and services?
Coffee and meal out costs?
Historic sites and places to visit recommendations?

Or should we stick with plan A - Morocco?

thanks, Katherine
 
Here’s a photograph I took last year in las americas on Tenerife we usually go in October every year and there’s always vans parked there some look like they’ve been there a while though this guy had a cool set up. Sorry meant to say not with the van though I priced it and it wasn’t that bad from Barcelona 972EA3E7-041D-4B10-A1F1-A158E552D74B.jpeg
 
I was in Puerto del Carmen in Lanzarote last Christmas and there was a German registered pretty new mh parked across from where we were staying. I kept looking out for the occupants to have a chat (be nosey) but never saw them. It stayed about a week and then was gone. I'm away to the same place on Sunday but don't expect to see it? Bob.
 
Whilst some might call it heresy..
Surely better to fly and hire cars on each of the islands (or one car if it works)
Not the same I know but...........
Some places are better not in a MoHo (Guernsey/Jersey as has been posted)
 
witzend said:
Can''t say about motorhomes but have spent 10 day holidays on three of the islands with a hire car and I don't think we missed much
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If you did 3 out of 4 in 10 days, we would be out of our minds with boredom for the 4/5 months to justify the ferry costs. We are not the sitting on beach types. Would need places to visit and lots of walks.
Phil, flying is not an option for us as we’ve two dogs.
Morocco is still fav for winter 2020. Thanks all for comments.
 
Dogs eh !...just joking !
So i understand why it has to be Motorhome.
So Morocco is probably favourite.
Maybe Turkey but not as warm.
Depending on how the calculations are done if Morocco or Insurance limit you to one month..You can always go to Spain for say a week or 2 then back to Morocco...LPG easier in Spain as well
 
jagmanx said:
Dogs eh !...just joking !
So i understand why it has to be Motorhome.
So Morocco is probably favourite.
Maybe Turkey but not as warm.
Depending on how the calculations are done if Morocco or Insurance limit you to one month..You can always go to Spain for say a week or 2 then back to Morocco...LPG easier in Spain as well
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yes comparing the ferry price with the canaries, we could do several returns to Spain and back again from Morocco! And by then, I should be on an Irish passport (registration of birth in hand), so we won’t be limited to 90/180.
Planning to go to Turkey in March this coming year… And then if the plans all work out heading into Georgia Azerbaijan and Armenia.
 
Clunegapyears said:
yes comparing the ferry price with the canaries, we could do several returns to Spain and back again from Morocco! And by then, I should be on an Irish passport (registration of birth in hand), so we won’t be limited to 90/180.
Planning to go to Turkey in March this coming year… And then if the plans all work out heading into Georgia Azerbaijan and Armenia.
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The personal rules seem fine in the Spain/Morocco scenario, particularly with an Irish passport, however vehicle registration rules seem very complex Link
 
Not in the motorhome but done a few longer term rents over Christmas and New year. Probably works out cheaper than taking the van and less hassle, hire cars are cheap as is everything else. Christmas is High season in places like Tenerife. Mind you its a few years since I did it and I priced a few villas and apartments up a few weeks ago and they havent half shot up. Flights still cheap though if you go well before Christmas and well after New Year.
 
barryd said:
Not in the motorhome but done a few longer term rents over Christmas and New year. Probably works out cheaper than taking the van and less hassle, hire cars are cheap as is everything else. Christmas is High season in places like Tenerife. Mind you its a few years since I did it and I priced a few villas and apartments up a few weeks ago and they havent half shot up. Flights still cheap though if you go well before Christmas and well after New Year.
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Dogs! The Aged Ps have booked Las Palmas again for 2 weeks next winter. They get around by bus. But as they’ll both be 80 by then, they are happy to walk the prom and eat out.

I’ve ordered a second hand guide book on the Canaries to see if there is enough to hold our interest for 4-5 months.

Bill ... knew about the 6 month vehicle rule ... nearly fell foul of it in Italy some years ago. Days to spare.
 
Clunegapyears said:
Met a German lady today who was raving about her last winter in the Canaries. They did all four main islands and she said because it doesn’t shut for the winter all the beach taps and restaurants are still open. She said that two islands are flat and two are mountainous, so you have a mix of scenery. She is planning to go back again next year as she thinks it is one of the best motorhome destination she can has done.

I did a quick google on the ferry costs from Spain. Around £1350 return. Not cheap and you have the ferry crossings between the islands. It would only make sense to go for about five months.

Is there going to be enough there to hold our attention for five months, especially given the price.

Has anyone taken their motorhome to the Canary Islands?
Costs of inter island ferries?
Ease of wild camping?
Water and services?
Coffee and meal out costs?
Historic sites and places to visit recommendations?

Or should we stick with plan A - Morocco?

thanks, Katherine
Click to expand...
We ventured over to Lanzorote last year in our t4 for 4 months and had a great time. We have always stayed over the Christmas period there in the past in rented accommodation but having retired last year we thought we would treat ourselves and go off for 6 months renting places along the way and using the camper as a sort of over nighter to explore more remote locations. The ferry cost and rentals were not cheap and people might think, what a waste of money but after 50 years of hard toil behind us we thought we both deserved it. Rented accommodation is easy to find if you keep well away from the main tourist attractions and the island as many great wild camping locations ( take a look on Caramaps) We are here again this year for 4 months but without the camper 😣but I've managed to source a t3 camper rental here for a week over the New year to revisit some of great locations we found last year and this could be the answer for some, try a rental camper here first. ( take a look at Airb&b Lanzorote) hope this helps. 😎
 
Thank you for this, Raymondo.
We have a fairly big Motorhome and two dogs so would stay in it ... we’re pretty much full time anyway.
park4night has even more places to stop over than Cara! Like you we would go for 4-5 months.
Did you look at island hopping? Got a guide book ordered, but is there enough to see and do, such as walking paths? We’re not sit on the beach types.
happy Christmas!
 
Hi Katherine (I hope that's the correct spelling!). You won't have any problems whatsoever finding things to do on the Canary Islands for 6 months or much, much longer. Loads of walking, plenty of archeology, amazing flora and fauna, plenty of more modern culture of all sorts and a landscape to delight. The islands differ one from another enormously in the topographical sense with Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma being the most mountainous. Tenerife is the highest point in political Spain at over 3000 metres with snow on the summit. My favourite sunsets have been from up there watching the sun set from above the clouds. Lots of volcanic landscape on all the islands but probably most on Lanzarote. You can easily find volcanic rims to walk around, one of the most spectacular being at the northern end of Gran Canaria. There are desert-like dunes on Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. La Palma has one of the largest collections of astronomical telescopes on the planet (they're at about 2100 metres) and at least one can be visited.
For walking you can easily make up your own routes using the footpaths shown on Maps.me or use one of the many walking books available. I tend to use the English Sunflower walking books but more recently there are some excellent alternatives. If you're happy with foreign languages then try some German or Dutch publishers.
I could go on and on. I've been lucky enough to travel around a bit and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the islands. They have great weather in the winter, are a relatively short hop from mainland Europe, are good value and have some wonderful modern and old world cultural gems, though unfortunately the arrival and rise of the Spanish meant the decline of the indigenous people.
I'd be happy to meet up for a chat and look over some books or talk on the phone if that would help.
A couple of years ago I came across a convoy of at least 200 (!) Spanish motorhomes driving across Lanzarote. I've seen lots of mohos parked up near beaches and inland overnight spots are in abundance, though I don't know how the local police view such overnighting. Frankly I can't imagine the police ever visiting the more remote inland gems! I would imagine that fresh water supply will be the only thing that will need careful planning, though all the fuel stations had water taps from memory. Supermarkets are easily found. I've no idea about the availability of lpg but an app probably does!
All the islands have ports and I've seen inter-island ferries running fairly frequently between some of the islands. It's how the islands get supplies, building materials, vehicles etc! You may well be able to potter down Morocco and get a ferry but I haven't researched that.
Since Phil launched Motorhomer.com I've posted loads of photos from the Canaries when I've holidayed there in the winter. Try looking at the 'Weather Report.....' thread if that might be of interest.

I hope this helps,
Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
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Clunegapyears said:
Thank you for this, Raymondo.
We have a fairly big Motorhome and two dogs so would stay in it ... we’re pretty much full time anyway.
park4night has even more places to stop over than Cara! Like you we would go for 4-5 months.
Did you look at island hopping? Got a guide book ordered, but is there enough to see and do, such as walking paths? We’re not sit on the beach types.
happy Christmas!
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No never looked at island hopping as we're both content with what Lanzarote as to offer at the moment. But I would be very intressed if you could keep me posted on anything you might uncover. Lanzarote as many coastal walking routes and if you have a look on the lanzaroteinfo Website it as some great information pages. As I said in my last post we are renting a camper over the new year so I will take some photos of the various parking venues and you can take a look ,as I find it better myself to view a site than read a text about it. All the best for now and Merry Christmas and New Year. 😎
 
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