Christmas in the Canaries - Noël aux Canaries

16 étapes
We spent Christmas 2022 in the Canary Islands.
Du 18 décembre 2022 au 1er janvier 2023
15 jours
Partager ce carnet de voyage
J0
J0

The Canary Islands, also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. They are located 100 kilometres West of Morocco. The eight main islands (from largest to smallest in area) are Tenerife, Furteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, and La Graciosa.

Map and flag of the Canaries 

I had already been to the Canary Islands in 2017. Back then, I spent a week on Tenerife, and a day on La Gomera. Therefore, Auguste and I decided to discover other islands that time. We spent two weeks in the archipelago, and went to Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, La Palma, El Hierro, and Tenerife. I will tell you everything you need to know about these islands in this article! 😀

J1
J1

On December 18, 2022, we flew from Nantes to Arrecife, the capital of Lanzarote island.

Lanzarote is the easternmost of the Canary Islands. Located in the centre-west of the island is Timanfaya National Park, one of its main attractions. Lanzarote was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1993.

We had to wake up early as we took off at 6am. The good thing is that we landed at 9am (there is one hour difference), perfect time for a (second) breakfast! 😀 But let me show you some pictures I took in the air...

 Sunrise & arrival on Lanzarote

We rented a car for 3 days with a view to be able to travel around Lanzarote. We first drove to La Geria, a wine-growing region stretching across the centre of the island. Landcaspes were very impressive. Note: there are basically only two things on Lanzarote... volcanoes and cacti (cactuses)! 😉

La Geria (yes, it's me on the picture, piloting my drone) 

Did you know that I absolutely love taking pictures from the sky? 😀 I am the happy owner of a DJI Mini 2 drone. More of my drone pics can be seen here (my article about Malta).

A few drone pics taken at La Geria 

We kept on driving to enter Timanfaya National Park, one of the highlights of Lanzarote. It offers amazing landscapes, that we do not have in mainland Europe. In order to visit the park, one needs to reach the visitor centre located at Mancha Blanca. With your entrance ticket, you get a bus ticket to discover the Montañas del Fuego. Note that they are not accessible for pedestrians nor cars, to preserve their beauty.

Entering in the park 
 Montañas del Fuego from the bus

Did you know that there are 110 volcanoes on Lanzarote? 😀

Timanfaya 

We left this impressive place early afternoon to reach the Mirador del Charco de los Clicos, our picnic spot for the day. I love this blue sky so much - and even more in December! 😀 Yes, I took off my leggings!

Picnic at the Charco de les Clicos 

From this mirador can be seen not only the Ocean but also the Lago Verde.

Lago Verde 

(Yes, the sand is black! This is due to the island's volcanic activity. And yes, I had a knee problem at this time... Actually, an ankle problem, which became a leg problem, and a life problem. More details here.)

To kept on with this beautiful day, we drowe another 3 kilometres South to reach Los Hervideros. It consists of a lava flow dating back to the 13th century. The ocean crashes into a small bay where two vaulted grottoes are separated by a natural pillar.

Los Hervideros 

Two kilometres further south can be found the Salinas de Janubio. In 1730, lava from volcano eruptions formed the walls of a natural lagoon. Salt flats were first created in 1895, as waters from the natural lagoon evaporated to yield the salt. Definitely not as pretty as the marais salants of Guérande, this place was still beautiful, particularly from the sky.

 Drone pics on the Salinas de Janubio

To end this amazing first day, we went to Playa de Papagayo for a little swim in the ocean! 😀


Playa de Papagayo 

We spent two nights at La Casita de Arrecife, a nice hostel in the centre of the capital. We paid €65 for two people for two nights, for a private room with shared bathroom.

J2
J2

Second day in the Canaries, time to hit the road after a great (and cheap) breakfast at Ricopan Panadería & Pastelería (a Colombian bakery and café located 80m from our hostel)! 😀 Great news, the sun is still out, and the sky is perfectly blue. Our first stop? Teguise, one of the first settlements founded on the Canary Islands. It is still composed of several buildings of great historic and artistic values, including a castle, a palace, a church, and a covent. We enjoyed walking in its small streets. We visited the very interesting aloe vera museum (free entrance).

What are the benefits of aloe vera?

It can help lower blood pressure, stabilise blood sugar, improve dental health, stimulate collagen production, sooth sunburn inflammation, get ride of acne, and ease constipation.

 In the streets of Teguise

Above Teguise can be found a little village called Los Valles, where we stopped for a coffee (and the view).

Los Valles 

We then basically stopped by all the miradores of the island and, trust me, there are a few! 😉 To be honest with you, we only went to three: Mirador del Risco de Famara, de Guinate, and del Rio. It was not possible to get the drone out, as it was very windy (as you can see on my pictures below).

In Spanish, a mirador is any architectural feature affording a view of the surroundings.

  Mirador Risco de Famara

We had lunch (picnic with a view!) at the second one. Our lunches were (almost) all composed of: bread, cheese, chorizo or ham, and fruits and/or biscuits for dessert. Cheap meals! 😉

Mirador de Guinate

Note the entrance to the final one, i.e. Mirador del Río, is not free (it costs €5 per person). Set 500 metres above a cliff, it offers spectacular panoramic views of Lanzarote and La Graciosa island. I could not take my eyes off this amazing view! And off the turquoise water! 😀

 Mirador del Río

As no day is perfect without a swim, we then drove to Playa Caletón Blanco, a natural pool located at the very north of Lanzarote island. Nobody can imagine such a place when driving there...

 Playa Caletón Blanco



For dinner, we went to a little tapas restaurant in Arrecife (I totally forgot the name of the place) where I tried an amazing wine with a taste of volcano (I cannot explain what I mean, as I have never eaten a volcano before - and you probably have not either 😀). But I swear it did!

J3
J3

Already our last day in Lanzarote! But, to be honest, two to three days are the perfect time for this island. We first went to the Stratified City, a large set of rocks that have been created through the years by wind, sun, and rain. Auguste went for a walk there while I flew around with my drone to preserve my leg a bit.

Stratified City from the ground 
Stratified City from the sky 

Our last visit on Lanzarote island was a more touristic one as we went to the Jardín de Cactus. It is the last great work of César Manrique, a creation that houses about 4500 specimens of cactus of 500 species from five continents. The entrance ticket costs €6 per person.

Jardín de Cactus 

In the afternoon, we took a small plane in Arrecife to go the island of Gran Canaria. We reached our destination late afternoon, and rented a car at the airport. We drove in the mountains (about 40 minutes) to Vega de San Mateo, a little village in the centre of the island, our home for the next days.

From Lanzarote to Gran Canaria 

We booked a cosy flat, called Casa La Mariposa. We paid €200 for five nights.

J4
J4

Gran Canaria, also known as Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canaries. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital of the island, is the biggest city of the Canary Islands and the ninth of Spain.

At first, it felt a bit weird for us to be back to "civilisation" after a few days of volcanoes and cactus! 😉 Gran Canaria is indeed quite populated, and fairly touristy. For our first day on this island, we went to Dunas de Maspalomas, sand dunes on the south coast of Gran Canaria. They have been protected as a nature reserve since 1987 - but there is unfortunately an ugly hotel right next to them. We enjoyed the lansdscape, yet it is complicated to walk on sand with bad ankle and knee.

Dunas de Maspalomas 

As the south of the island is mostly dedicated to resorts and to British people, we decided to drive back along the east coast and stopped at Agüimes, a cute and colourful village. We had a nice walk around.

Agüimes 

Only a few kilometres away from Agüimes can be found the Barranco de las Vacas, a spectacular canyon sculpted by water and winds. It looks absolutely stunning on pictures, but it actually pretty small. We only stayed 10 or 15 minutes there. Probably a good spot for influencers... 😉

Barranco de las Vacas 

To end the day, we found a little wonder of nature, El Bufadero. Very well hidden behind an ugly shopping area, it is a chimney-shaped cavity in which the water rises and falls with the rhythm of the sea. Therefore, you need to go there at a very precise time to see what we witnessed! 😀

 El Bufadero

Buenas noches!

J5
J5

For our second day in Gran Canaria, we first drove to Teror. This village is situated in the mountains in the centre of the island. It has a rich religious heritage. We wandered in its cute streets.

Teror 

After our visit, we drove north to Arucas, to visit the Destilerías Arehucas. With an interesting history dating back over 100 years and some very tasty rum, Arehucas Rum Distillery is well worth a visit! 😀 Entry is €6. For this, you get a tour of the distillery that takes about 45 minutes, and you get to taste several rums.


Arehucas 

We enjoyed the visit a lot. We then went to the city of Arucas for lunch. It is known for its majestic lava stone church, San Juan Bautista's.

Arucas 

To keep on with our day in the north of the island, we went to its capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. We did not like it at all... I guess other tourists like it to go shopping or out. We were fairly disappointed.

Las Palmas 

Yet, we discovered the Belenes de Arena, an impressive sand cot on Las Canteras beach.

Playa de las Canteras 

We decided to head back to Vega de San Mateo early, and did not experience Las Palmas by night.

J6
J6

Day 5 was a bit disappointing for us, but day 6 went much better - back to nature! 😀 On that day, we stayed in the mountains and went to several miradores, all offering prettier views than the others. Our first stop was at Pico de la Gorra. Several hiking paths start from there.

Pico de la Guerra 

I could not walk much because of my leg (😥), thus Auguste went for a tiny hike while I was discovering the pretty surroundings thanks to my drone.

 Pico de la Guerra from the sky

PS: you shall be able to see a mountain in the background of the second picture... Well, it is the Teide, which is not located on Gran Canaria but on Tenerife island! 😀 We will take about it later on.

After this, we went to Tejeda, the central peak of Gran Canaria. The village has a hint of almound flavour, which forms the basis of its traditional pastries... which we tried, of course! 😉 We really enjoyed the calm of this little place, which felt so far away from busy Las Palmas.

 Tejeda

I mentioned miradores before... We actually stopped at a few on the way, including Cruz de Tejeda and La Milagrosa, before reaching Roque Nublo. It is considered to be one of the largest natural rocks in the world - and, consequently, attracted quite a lot of tourists. We thus did not stay long there.

Roque Nublo 

What we enjoyed more was what became our picnic spot... The Pico de la Nieves (peak of the snows in Spanish)! It is the highest peak (1949m) and a stratovolcano on the island of Gran Canaria. There were interestingly way less tourists here than that at Roque Nublo... 😉 Note we could see both Roque Nublo and the Teide from up there. We were extremely lucky with the weather.

Picnic with a view... at the Pico de las Nieves 

To end our day, we visited the small village of Vega de San Mateo (where our flat was). It was nicely decorated for Christmas. We enjoyed a good (and cheap) tortilla for dinner.

 Vega de San Mateo

Buenas noches!

J7
J7

Today is Christmas Eve, as well as our last day on Gran Canaria. In the morning, we first went to Vega de San Mateo's market (Mercado Agrícola y Artesanal), and then to Pico de Bandama. The caldera is 216m deep, 574m above sea level and a thousand metres in diameter. It was quite impressive.

Pico de Bandama

From there, we reached Cueva de Cuatro Puertas (four gates), which takes its name from the multiple entrances cut into the wall of this man-made troglodyte complex. The site can be visited at any time as there is no visitor centre there. We could spot the Dunas de Palomas in the background.

Cuatro Puertas 

As the weather was particularly on that day, as we visited everything we wanted on the island, as it was our last day there, and as my ankle and knee were painful, we decided to spend the whole afternoon at the beach; at Playa del Cabrón. It was fairly quiet, and it is a nice spot for snorkelling.

El Cabrón 

In the evening, we wanted to go for a drink and/or dinner at Vega de San Mateo, but everything was closed, thus we had a tortilla in our flat! 😉

J8
J8

Feliz Navidad! Early morning on Christmas day, we flew from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We did not really plan to stay there, but I think I made a mistake when I booked our flights lol. Yes, our fortnight was full of (very short) flights, unfortunately not very good for the planet... 😥 The thing is that, otherwise, islands are only connected by ferries which take long and are very expensive, and are not good for the planet either. Maybe we should have chosen another option for our holidays (Mauritius?).

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is the capital of the island of Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas.

Santa Cruz 

In the morning, we walked a bit around the city centre. For our Christmas lunch, we had papas fritas! A strange mix between poutine and kebab! 😉 It was fairly good, and very cheap (€5 per person, drink included). Unfortunately for us, there is not much to do in Santa Cruz (except shopping probably). Therefore, we decided to spend another afternoon at the beach. We went to Playa de Las Teresitas, which is - supposed to be - the most beautiful beach of the island. We do not really agree, as it was full of tourists, and we can see all big ferries from there. Anyway! We enjoyed a swim and a read.

 Playa de Las Teresitas

We spent the night at Casa La Laguna, between Santa Cruz and the airport, for €50.

J9
J9

On December 26, we flew from Santa Cruz to El Hierro, the highlight of our holidays.

 From Tenerife to El Hierro

El Hierro is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands. It has a population of 11,000 inhabitants. Its capital is Valverde.

From what we read before our trip, in spite of being fairly small, El Hierro also is the island with a soul. It is the only island which is not connected by an international airport. Consequently, it attracts less tourists than the other islands. Furthermore, this island does not offer any resorts nor sand beaches. It is the wildest. We thus decided to spend five full days there, as it seemed closer to our values. We rented a car at El Hierro's airport, located at east of the island, and drove to the west to reach our point of call for the week, La Maceta. It was the first time of our fortnight that we saw clouds and that we felt cold! But it made sense; as mentioned previously, El Hierro is the farthest-west of the Canaries, and is thus less protected.

  La Maceta

La Maceta looks a bit like Britanny, doesn't it? 😉 Beautiful and impressive.

We booked five nights at a beautiful coastal house in a tranquil organic farm in Frontera's countryside for €162, breakfast (bread and fresh eggs) included.

 At the farm
J10
J10

Buenos días El Hierro! First thing in the morning (after enjoying our desayuno of course) was to go back to La Maceta to see how it looked like after the night. Well, still very wild! 😀 There is a natural swimming pool down there that you can enjoy when tide is low, but it was very windy and fairly cold.

 La Maceta

We drove along the coast towards the west in order to discover the island. I think our first stop was at Charco Azul, but I will talk to you about this wonder later.

Along the coast 

We kept on driving towards the west and reached Arenas blancas (only 15 kilometres away from our start point). It is a dangerous (you can imagine from my pictures) but pretty beach. We enjoyed our picnic there.

Arenas Blancas 

Only two kilometres away from Arenas Blancas can be found an amazing spot called Arco de la Tosca. We spent quite a long time there, enjoying the view on the natural arch and the noise of the (big) waves. We did not meet any tourist - which made us very happy and is one of the reasons we loved El Hierro! 😀

 Arco de la Tosca

Do you know about Hierro? It is a Spanish-French mystery drama television series, created by Pepe Coira. It was produced by Movistar+ and ARTE France. The first season was released on Movistar+ in June 2019. The second season aired in March 2021.

Next stop? Playa del Verodal, located three kilometres away from the arch. Once again, a very beautiful beach but also very dangerous. It is not allowed to go for a swim there, and even I (brave/crazy girl and good swimmer) would not try. Once again, nobody around! 😀 If you watch Hierro, you shall definitely recognise this beach! We watched the series after our stay in the Canaries.

Playa del Verodal 

Our final stop for the day, still on the west side of the island, the Mirador de Lomo Negro. It offers a beautiful view on the fields and oceans, unfortunately the sky was (a bit) cloudy.

Mirador de Lomo Negro 

Back to the farm where I made some friends! 😀

At the farm 
J11
J11

I mentionned the Charco Azul previously, well, let me tell you more about it - as it is where we went on the morning of our eleventh day. It was another highlight of our stay. Note this place is only accessible at low tide, and that you absolutely need to leave before the tide comes in or you get stuck!

The Charco Azul is one of the most spectacular and disarming bathing spots on the smallest of the Canary Islands. Resulting of many shapes left by lava, this little corner of paradise offers pleasant bathing in turquoise waters protected from the tumult of the ocean.

 Charco Azul

We spent about an hour in this pretty place, and were the only ones there. We could see several fish, crabs, and even a starfish in the pool. We loved this peaceful place a lot! 😀 Water was not cold.

Later that day, Auguste went mountain riding with some Germans. In the meantime, myself enjoyed some time at the farm (with the kitties), and went for a walk around Las Puntas. Very windy, as you can see!

Cat vs bike 
Las Puntas 

We spent all evenings at the farm, watching Wednesday, and eating eggs or tortillas and local cheese! 😉

J12
J12

We loved Charco Azul so much on the previous day that we decided to go back there that morning! 😀

 Morning bath at Charco Azul

After that, we went for a small walk around Las Puntas, as Auguste was not with me the day before. It was pretty much the first time we saw blue sky on El Hierro! 😉 We thus had picnic there.

 Las Puntas (can you spot me on one of the pics? ^^)

Later on, we crossed the island (through the mountains) to reach the Mirador de Las Playas. It offers an amazing view on the other side of El Hierro, but it was very (very) windy and cold up there.

 Las Playas

As we were not too far (15 kilometres or so) from the south of the island, we went to La Restinga, the island's main fishing port. We enjoyed a drink there, as it was sunny and there was no wind at all. We ended our day at the Mirador and Playa de Tacoron, an easily accessible volcanic natural pool.

Mirador El Tacoron 

iBuenas noches queridos lectores! 😀

J13
J13




It is already our last day on El Hierro, and almost the end of our fortnight! 😥 But I was very happy as I made a new friend at the farm, a little black kitty who started to follow me everywhere! 😀 I might have wanted to hide it in my backpack at some point... 😉




Back to serious business. On that day, we went to Roque de La Bonanza, located next to Las Playas that we saw from the Mirador de Las Playas. Note the beaches themselves are not accessible, the rock is placed at a dead end (after a tunnel). This volcanic rock is one of the symbols of El Hierro.

 Around Roque de La Bonanza

It was not too windy there, thus I took my drone out! 😀

 Drone pic on the Roque

We then went to Valverde, the capital of El Hierro, for a hot chocolate. If you watch Hierro, you can probably recognise this place as well. There is not much to do in the city (it is pretty small). In the afternoon, we drove back to the airport to catch a flight to Tenerife South (yes, there are two airports on Tenerife; our last flight was from the North). There, I noticed a flyer that I really loved (as an anti-Christmas woman who does not buy presents): "Estas fiestas, haz tu compras con cabeza".

Valverde 

We spent two nights at Arona for €167 (the south of Tenerife is very touristy, hence the price), but we had a huge flat (80 m2 or so) and a free bottle of wine.

J14
J14

Sunday 31st of December was our last day in the Canaries. What a way to end the year! 😀 If there was only one thing to do on Tenerife island, it would be to see the Teide. I mentioned it earlier in the article, when we were on Gran Canaria (it was the mountain we could see from some miradores.

Teide is a volcano on Tenerife. Its summit, at 3,715 m, is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic. If measured from the ocean floor, its height of 7,500 m makes Teide the third-highest volcano in the world, and is described by UNESCO and NASA as Earth's third-tallest volcanic structure. Teide's elevation above sea level makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world.

What do you need to know about Teide National Park? There are several things to do and to see in the park. Furthermore, it is possible to go for hikes there, and also to sleep in a shelter. All information about the park can be found on its official website, including a map of all the spots to see. There usually is a cable car going to the top of the mountain, but it was close those days due to a snow storm.

 Around the Teide

We, of course, did not go hiking given the state of my leg, but I think it would be a great thing to do! Note that the Teide can be crowded at some times, even in Winter, as it is a very famous place. After that, we had lunch in a local restaurant (we were the only non-Spaniards 😉) somewhere at the south of the island, and then went to a place I had already been to in 2017, Montaña Amarilla (yellow mountain).

 Montaña Amarilla

We ended this beautiful New Year's Eve day at a black-sanded beach located only a few metres away from our flat, Playa Los Enojados. We had our last swim of the year (and of the Winter).

For dinner, we went to a cheap - yet very good - tapas bar & restaurant called 33 Vueltas. Waiters were extremely nice and, even if we were the first clients and left early, they drank a shot (chupito) with us! 😀

33 Vueltas 

iFeliz año nuevo!

J15
J15

First of January, New Year's day... Time to leave the Canary Islands. We took off in the morning, under a nice sunny sky, and landed in Nantes, under heavy rain. Back to reality! 😉

I will try to give you some conclusions about our trip. I should admit that they are somehow mitigated. On the plus side, it was great as we enjoyed a beautiful and warm weather, we saw and did a lot of things in only two weeks, we noticed amazing landscapes... On the other side, the Canaries remain a massive resort (what we absolutely hate), full of British tourists (who usually do not enjoy the same things we do while on holidays). I did not capture any of this on my pictures above, but it is something you need to know before going there. We knew it, of course. Actually, we decided to go to the Canaries because of my leg (as I had already been there before). Otherwise, we would have been to another place, like Açores or Madeira.

I hope you enjoyed reading my article! Feel free to leave some thoughts in the comments! 😀