Canaries cruise information.

This December we will be taking our first canaries cruise.

We have never visited the Canaries, and would like any information on what to visit at the ports of call.

We like to take short hikes or costal walks, nice beaches and villages, using local transport to get around, and trying local food and wine at lunch time.

Anything scenic.

We don't want British pubs showing sky sports, serving British beer with fish chips and warburtons bread.

We will be visiting.......

La Palma, Santa Cruz. 09:00 til 15:00

Madeira, Funchal. 08:00 til 20:00

Lanzarotie, Arrecife. 09:00 til 18:00

Tenerife, Santa Cruz. 06:00 til 0:00

Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz. 08:00 til 23:00

La Gomera, San Sebastián. 08:00 til 14:00

Fuerteventura, Puerto del Rosario. 08:00 til 17:00

Any information will appreciated.

This December we will be taking our first canaries cruise.

We have never visited the Canaries, and would like any information on what to visit at the ports of call.

 

We like to take short hikes or costal walks, nice beaches and villages, using local transport to get around, and trying local food and wine at lunch time.

Anything scenic.

 

We don't want British pubs showing sky sports, serving British beer with fish chips and warburtons bread.

 

We will be visiting.......

La Palma, Santa Cruz. 09:00 til 15:00

Madeira, Funchal. 08:00 til 20:00

Lanzarotie, Arrecife. 09:00 til 18:00

Tenerife, Santa Cruz. 06:00 til 0:00

Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz. 08:00 til 23:00

La Gomera, San Sebastián. 08:00 til 14:00

Fuerteventura, Puerto del Rosario. 08:00 til 17:00

 

Any information will appreciated.

We have stop at Funchal Madeira few times on Transatlantics... enjoyed simply wondering around in port...tried some sweets and coffee; bought some wine. Enjoyable visit.

going to Arrecife and Tenerife on the Royal Princess in October.

When I visit a port I do not know I check out the port on you tube videos ... sometimes can get a good idea from them. hope that helps.

I've been to Funchal, Madiera on a Transatlantic at it is honestly the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Someone on our roll call organized a tour and I would do that again in a heartbeat. It was breathtaking views around every turn. I'll try to see if I can find out who the tour operator was.

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I'll hazard a guess that this is a Thomson fly-cruise.

First, let me allay your fears about British pubs, fish&chips, sunday roasts etc - you'll only find them in the busy resort towns and even there only a small proportion of outlets are Brit, the Canaries aren't over-run with them like the Spanish Costas. Much more Spain than Southend, you'll enjoy :).

Funchal.

You berth in the port in town, tho its further from ship to town than it looks. No fear, it's walkable in 20 to 25 mins (depending exactly where your captain parks), or you can take a little retro minibus (similar to those in Yellowstone or Glacier Nat Parks) for a couple of euros each and can be dropped in the town centre or a little further along at the bottom cablecar station, or a hop-on bus or a taxi, or mebbe a tuk-tuk (agree a price - again a couple of euros each - before you board).

The cable car takes you up to the botanical gardens, from there you can switch to a second cablecar to the gardens higher up, or just around the corner from that intermediate cablecar station are the street toboggans (what a hoot :D) which take you about halfway back to town. From the end of the toboggan run it's still a long walk down to the town - if you take a taxi back to town find sharers and negotiate like crazy on the price - the driver is likely to want 25 euros, you can certainly get him down to 15, mebbe even 10 if you start to walk away.

Old town is quite interesting, but so too is the busier and (comparatively) more modern town centre - it's all on level ground just behind the harbour. Very Portuguese, not sure there are any Brit pubs or US fast-food joints.

Lanzarote

I suggest you pre-book to rent a car. CICAR is the best-known agency, sensible rates, good low-mileage cars, very customer-orientated, facilities for cruisers on all islands, none of the rip-off scams that you get with big US (and UK) chains. We rented from them on several islands, incl Lanzarote.

The southwest coast, especially Puerto del Carmen to Costa Teguise, is very busy and touristy. So get away from there & choose

- volcanic Timanfaya Nat Park. The very centre of the park is only accessible by a park bus, included in your entrance fee. When you take that bus you'll be glad you didn't have to drive it yourself ;)

Then head to the coast at El Golfo - this is where the volcanic lava flowed into the sea, lots of weird rock formations. Small road, very little traffic.

- or head north to Jameos del Agua and Mirador del Rio.

With either route, if you have time at the end (you almost certainly will) visit the house of Cesar Manrique, only a short drive from the ship.

La Gomera.

Very small, I think you only have a half-day there. There are suitable hikes, but we had a cheap and lazy day in the sleepy little town.

Fuerteventura

Again, rent a car & head into the mountains around Pajara to Betancuria, mebbe with a diversion to the coast at Ajuy though there's only one road to Ajay so you head back the same way. Further interesting though less dramatic driving and sights around La Oliva and views across to Lanzarote at Corralejo

There are great views from the lighthouse at La Entellada, though the road is narrow and twisty so if you want to include it do so first, before too many other tourists head there.

Gran Canaria

Again, we rented a car & headed to the mountains around Cruz de Tejeda.

I can't tell you exactly where we went cos we got well & truly lost.:rolleyes:

Getting lost when heading to a business meeting or an airport is a big no-no but, hey, it's part of the fun of meandering in scenic surroundings :)

La Palma de Santa Cruz

We also rented a car here & went into the Nat Park at Caldera de Tamburiente.

Tenerife

If your itinerary is the same as ours this is your turnaround port. It's a fair slog by transfer coach from airport to port and vice-versa, so, depending on your flight times, you'll have little or no time to explore at either the start or finish of your cruise. But unlike most cruises, with Thomson (and P&O and other Brit cruise lines) chartered fly-cruises you're not thrown off the ship as soon as it ports, you have the run of theship (other than your cabin) until your flight transfer is called.

JB :)

Thanks for the information John Bull.

Lots to think about.

Definitely thinking of hiring a car on some of the islands.

Yes we are on a Thomson fly cruise, but our starting point is Gran Canaria.

We will be sailing on the Dream,have you sailed on her ?

Thanks also to pris993 and fletch5725 for the information and beautiful photos of Madeira.

Anymore information will be very welcome

Keep it coming

Thanks.

Arrecife - Agree with John Bull that a visit to Timanfaya is very worthwhile. We loved it. We also rented from Cicars - great.

We also rented on La Palma (Santa Cruz) but drove to different places than John. I wanted to see lighthouses and salt "factories" (sort of) down south.

Funchal was fun. We did a short tour outside the city with 2 others and then I explored Old Town Funchal, especially liking all the painted doors. Agree that the port is farther than you would think, but still right in Funchal.

My pictures from the Canaries & Madeira are here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/iberian_sojourn__portugal_spain_gib&page=all

Also: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/iberian_sojourn__more_

Painted doors, Funchal: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/doors_of_funchals_old_town

Being an American, I really had no idea how interesting the Canary Islands were. We loved our days there.

As you are in Funchal for an extended stay it is well worth finding 3 others and having a taxi take you on a full day trip. It will cost about €80-100.

They drivers know the island like the back of their hands and will take you wherever you want. Either to the main sites, or to less visited areas. They also know where the local restaurants are for lunch.

Get back for late afternoon and you can spend some time in Funchal.

If you should be considering leaving the driving to someone else and using tour companies, I can highly recommend the two we used last month:

• Tenerife - Spain Day Tours. We used this company in a number of Spanish ports and they were a pleasure to deal with. The excursion included a drive through the pine forest to the volcano, lunch (extra fee), and a short tour of La Laguna followed by some free time.
  
• Lanzarote - Lanzarote Experience Tours. Angela, the owner, responds very quickly to emails plus we were fortunate to have her as our guide (she had 9 excursions running that day). We visited Timanfaya National Park, the wine district (including a wine tasting), Jameos del Agua, and the Cactus Garden (we were given the option of the camel ride or the cactus garden; our van unanimously chose the garden and that was a wonderful choice).