The Canary Guide

Discover the Canary Islands

The story behind the islands — how they were born from the sea, the wildlife found nowhere else, the ancient Guanches, and the culture, sports and produce that make the Canaries unique.

Photo: Joergsam · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · scaled

The story behind the islands — how they were born from the sea, the wildlife found nowhere else, the ancient Guanches, and the culture, sports and produce that make the Canaries unique.

Nature & wildlife

Volcanic lava landscape of Timanfaya National Park, Lanzarote

How the Canary Islands Were Formed

Born of fire in the Atlantic — how volcanoes built the eight islands over millions of years, and where you can still see it happening.

Male Gallotia galloti, an endemic Canary Islands lizard, on Tenerife

Wildlife of the Canary Islands

Giant lizards, the little bird that gave the canary its name, and plants found nowhere else on Earth — the islands' remarkable wildlife.

Male blue chaffinch (Fringilla teydea), a bird endemic to Tenerife

Birdwatching in the Canaries

Endemic chaffinches, laurel pigeons and desert bustards — where to find the islands' special birds, island by island.

Short-finned pilot whales in the sea off Tenerife

Marine Life of the Canaries

Resident whales, turtles, rays and the rare angel shark — the surprising richness of the islands' Atlantic waters.

Ancient laurisilva laurel forest in La Gomera

The Laurel Forests (Laurisilva)

A living fossil forest that vanished from Europe millions of years ago — still dripping and green on the western isles.

Mount Teide rising above Las Cañadas in Teide National Park, Tenerife

The Four National Parks

Teide, Timanfaya, Garajonay and Caldera de Taburiente — the four national parks that crown the islands, and how to see them.

The twin dragon trees (Dragos Gemelos) of Brena Alta, La Palma

The Canarian Dragon Tree

The islands' living symbol — a weird, ancient tree that bleeds red sap, wrapped in Guanche legend. Where to meet the great old dragos.

Red tajinaste (Echium wildpretii) in bloom below the peak of Teide, Tenerife

Flora of the Canary Islands

A botanist's dream — hundreds of plants found nowhere else, from towering blue echiums to the dragon tree. What grows here, and where to see it.

Canary pine forest with the peak of Teide beyond, Tenerife

The Canary Pine & Its Forests

The remarkable native pine that survives fire and combs water from the clouds — and the fragrant forests it builds across the islands' heights.

The Guanche granary caves of Cenobio de Valerón, Gran Canaria

The Guanches: The First Canarians

Who were the islands' mysterious first people? The Guanches, their cave homes and mummies, and where to meet their legacy today.

Historic streets of the Vegueta old town, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

A Short History of the Canaries

From the aboriginal Guanches to Castilian conquest, Columbus, sugar, bananas and mass tourism — the islands' story in brief.

The Canarian folk group Los Sabandeños performing in traditional dress

Canarian Music & Folklore

The little timple guitar, folk songs and the whistled language of La Gomera — the islands' surprisingly rich living culture.

Wrestlers competing in lucha canaria, the traditional Canarian wrestling

Traditional Canarian Sports

Canarian wrestling, stick-fighting and lateen-sail boat racing — the islands' own sports, still going strong.

Traditional handmade pottery of La Gomera, Canary Islands

Canarian Crafts & What to Buy

The souvenirs actually worth your suitcase space — lacework, pottery, palm honey, cheese and aloe — and the tourist tat to skip.

Traditional cave houses dug into the Barranco de Guayadeque, Gran Canaria

The Cave Houses of the Canaries

People have lived in caves here for a thousand years — and still do. The islands' remarkable troglodyte tradition, and where to see it.

Carved wooden balconies of the Casa de los Balcones in La Orotava, Tenerife

Traditional Canarian Architecture

Carved wooden balconies, cool green patios and colour-washed houses — the islands' distinctive building style, and the towns that show it off.

The otherworldly volcanic lava fields of Timanfaya National Park, Lanzarote

The Canary Islands on Screen

Hollywood's stand-in for alien worlds and deserts — the films and series shot on the islands, and the dramatic locations you can visit.

Satellite view of the Canary Islands archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa

Are the Canaries in Spain or Africa?

Geographically African, politically Spanish and part of the EU — what the islands' unusual status means for your holiday.

Aloe vera under cultivation at Ye, Lanzarote

Aloe Vera & Canarian Produce

The islands' famous aloe vera — plus tomatoes, cochineal dye and tropical fruit — what grows on volcanic soil, and what's worth buying.

Canary banana plantations near Buenavista del Norte, Tenerife

Bananas of the Canary Islands

Small, sweet and protected by name — the story of the Canary banana and the plantations that shape the green north of every island.

The historic Faro de Maspalomas lighthouse on the south coast of Gran Canaria

Canary Islands Lighthouses

Landmark towers on wild volcanic headlands — the islands' most beautiful lighthouses, and the dramatic capes they guard.

Cochineal insects on a prickly-pear cactus pad at Masca, Tenerife

Cochineal: The Red Gold

A tiny cactus bug that once made the islands rich — the strange story of cochineal, the natural red dye, and its comeback today.

The 15th-century Torre del Conde fortress tower in San Sebastian de La Gomera

The Conquest of the Canaries

A century-long conquest that ended a stone-age world — how Castile took the islands, and where you can still trace the story.

Castillo de San Gabriel, the coastal fortress built to defend Arrecife, Lanzarote, from pirates

Pirates & Corsairs

Drake, Dutch fleets and Barbary slavers all came raiding — the islands' dramatic pirate history and the castles built to repel it.

Historic wooden balconies along the Avenida Maritima in Santa Cruz de La Palma

The Indianos: Emigration to the Americas

For centuries Canarians sailed to the Americas — and those who came back rich reshaped the islands, from grand houses to Carnival.

The Taro de Tahiche, Cesar Manrique's home built into lava, now the Fundacion Cesar Manrique, Lanzarote

César Manrique: The Artist

The visionary artist who saved Lanzarote from concrete — the life behind the island's most famous creations.

The deep Barranco de Arure ravine on La Gomera, the landscape that gave rise to the Silbo whistled language

Silbo Gomero: The Whistled Language

A language you whistle across ravines — how La Gomera's astonishing Silbo works, and where you can still hear it today.

The historic town of Teror in Gran Canaria with its basilica and Canarian balconied houses

Canarian Spanish

Why Canarian Spanish sounds more like Cuba than Madrid — the accent, the grammar quirks and the words that give the islands away.

Misty mountain sunset over the Tejeda caldera from the Degollada de Becerra viewpoint, Gran Canaria

Witches, Legends & Myths

Witches, a phantom eighth island and a tree that made rain — the haunting legends woven through the islands' history.

The historic waterfront and skyline of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The British & the Canary Islands

Sack wine, Nelson's lost arm and the banana boats — the centuries-old bond between Britain and the islands that made them a holiday favourite.

Mount Teide, Spain's highest peak, rising above a sea of clouds on Tenerife

Canary Islands Fun Facts

Not named after birds, home to a giant volcano and a whistled language — the surprising facts that make the islands stranger than you'd think.

The 2021 La Palma Eruption

Eighty-five days of lava, two thousand buildings lost and a new headland in the sea. The island's defining recent event.

El Charco de los Clicos in the El Golfo volcano @ Lanzarote

Water & Desalination

Islands with almost no rivers, supplying millions of visitors — the hidden engineering behind every tap.

Farming & the Terraced Hills

Every hillside is a staircase built by hand. Who made them, what they grew, and why they are going quiet.

Dust storm over the Canary Islands (MODIS 2015-12-31)

The Canary Current & the Climate

A cold current and a steady wind — the two forces that make a subtropical latitude feel like eternal spring.

Sea Turtles of the Canaries

Loggerheads drift in from Florida and stay for years. Where to meet one without disturbing it.

The Giant Lizards

Declared extinct, then found alive on a cliff ledge — the islands' metre-long lizards and their improbable survival.

Phoenix canariensis - Canary Island Date Palms at South Coast Wholesale Nursery

The Canary Island Date Palm

The islands' official plant symbol grows in gardens worldwide — but the wild groves here are something else entirely.

El Puerto de Las Nieves Agaete Gran Canaria

How Tourism Built the Islands

From consumptive Victorians taking the air to well over a dozen million visitors a year — how the islands became a holiday.

Matthieu Roffé Teatro Perez Galdos Las Palmas2

Famous Canarians

A novelist Spain ranks beside Cervantes, a surrealist, a shoemaker to the world and a Champions League midfielder — all from these islands.

Columbus & the Canary Islands

Every voyage to the Americas began with a stop here — including the first, and the romance that may have delayed it.

Tramo final del acueducto y estructura del molino del ingenio azucarero de Las Candelarias (Agaete, Las Palmas, España)

Sugar, Slavery & the Early Colony

The islands' first boom was sugar — and the brutal plantation system rehearsed here was shipped straight to the New World.

Flag Map of Canary Islands with Coat of Arms

The Flag & Island Symbols

Seven islands, seven flags, two dogs and a disputed set of stars — what the symbols actually mean.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria desde El Confital

Population & Economy Today

Two million residents, many times that in visitors, and a rising debate about how many is too many.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife – Parlamento de Canarias, escudo

Identity & the Nationalist Movement

Spanish passport, African latitude, Latin American accent — how islanders answer the question of who they are.