Canary Islands - December 2012

Hi all,

For those who will be searching the WS forums in the future, here some stuff that will help you once you decide to cycle the Canary Islands too:

Travel distances and maps:
First of all, even before I started, once I got myself the maps of the islands and got an idea of distances taking into consideration the islands are all very mountainous, I already figured out that it was too much to do five islands in 3 weeks, so I rearranged my return flight to fly back from Tenerife on the 24th instead of from Gran Canaria on the 23rd. After visiting the first island (La Palma) I then decided to skip another one (La Gomera) to have all the time to enjoy the others (Tenerife and El Hierro).

So I've done 3 islands in 3 weeks: Arrival 1 day, La Palma 6 days (5 days cycling), Tenerife 9 days (7 days cycling), El Hierro (4 days (3 days cycling), Tenerife and Departure 2 days. For cycling these mountainous islands with fully loaded bicycles, count an average of max. 10km/hour (and I'm quite well trained)! This gives you a good indication of the days and time you would need to see all of the islands and have both time to cycle and relax.

I used walking/cycling maps from Kompass, a German company, with scale 1:30.000 and 1:50.000. I was actually disappointed about the quality in terms of being up-to-date/accurate. In general you will be OK, but I guess their are (better?) alternatives. Make sure you have a map with altitude lines!

Transport:
Cycling the Canary islands isn't cheap because you need quite some transport; You need a flight to get there (or you go by boat from Cadiz, mainland Spain). Prices for flights can be quite low departing from Europe, especially if you book long enough upfront. Transport of your cycle and your luggage makes it more expensive, but in the end that counts for any destitation in the world that you want to reach by plane... Because the ferries aren't cheap, it can be cheaper to arrive on and depart from different islands, but that will depend on the air line(s) you use.

Between the islands you travel by ferry (flights are available but with bicycle more expensive than taking the boat). Make sure to find yourself information on the latest time tables. For instance there was no outgoing boat on Monday from La Palma. El Hierro has only a couple of connections going in and out per week. The bigger islands normally have a couple of departures per day. Please note that high season starts mid December, before mid December there are less ferries.

Prices between the islands vary with the distance: Fred Olsen has the most and most frequent connections, has also the shortest travel times, but isn't cheap: La Palma - Tenerife and Tenerife - El Hierro both just under €90,- single track (that is because you pay almost €25,- for your bicycle!) Armas is cheaper: El Hierro - Tenerife just under €50,- but has less connections.

Food & Drinks:
Food and drinks and going out for lunch or diner are significantly cheaper than for instance in the Netherlands, even on the ferries food is affordable. Tenerife is more expensive than La Palma and El Hierro and never go to a 24x7 supermarket if you don't need to as these are very expensive.

Camping:
Because of the rocky surface I choose to take my 'Hennessy Hammock' for camping. Be warned though: some areas do not have trees, so you need to be alert and/or creative:
http://fietsvakantie.reismee.nl/fotos/133876/la-palma-dag-1-tm-3/2038046/
http://fietsvakantie.reismee.nl/fotos/134097/la-palma-dag-6-en-7/2041979/

A tent is not necessarily better as you will still need to find a place out of sight and that can be hard in the low Canarian vegetation, so plan well and/or be alert where to stay overnight. In the higher parts of the islands, between 1000 and 2000 meters there are pine forests, but higher altitude generally also means colder nights (definitely on La Palma). You can of course camp on a camp ground, but Tenerife only has a few, La Palma has actually none for cyclists and El Hierro has a great one: Hoya del Morcillo. You could stay there all the time and cycle from there.

Hosting:
Unfortunately the number of WS hosts was limited at my time: just 4 members over 7 islands. There were two on Tenerife. I wrote them both prior to departure and they hosted me both! Therefore special thanks to Cándido and Mariano for hosting me!

Couchsurfing has multiple members on the islands, but responses are generally poor, both on the long and the short term. I stayed at Paco's place on Tenerife and 3 nights in Ralf's studio on El Hierro: an amazing place! The first one was a last minute request and the second one was already arranged weeks before, but all hosts have been flexible as I never knew up front when I would be where...

Hotels:
Most hotels you search for are appartments (actually perfect for cyclists as appartments have much more room). Prices are relatively low. Breakfast was never included. Definitely compare different booking sites for the best options and prices. There are of course more expensive hotels...

The hotel for the first night on La Palma was booked from home. Big but simple appartments, just 6 km. from the airport. You best ask for the ground floor. There is also a swimming pool. The second one was found through internet just on the day itself. I actually stayed in two different appartments, nr. 6 and one on the ground floor when I decided to stay another night.

The hotels in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, were on the booking sites all € 60,- and above so I decided just to go there and see. That was a good guess: go for Hotel Andrea's (now that you know: you can of course make a reservation upfront). Because the ferries come and go from Los Cristianos and it is less than 20 km. from the airport, I came back here a few times. Finding a cheap place to stay in Buenavista del Norte was a problem (I just past a 'albergue' they said on my way down from Tabaibapass, but of course I didn't want to go back). In the end they referered me to a supermarket that had some appartments above. You better talk Spanish as no one talks anything different... :)

La Palma:
Aparthotel Los Molinos - Brena Baja € 22,-
El Patio - Los Llanos de Aridane € 35,-

Tenerife:
Hotel Andrea's - Los Cristianos € 25,- (€30,- high season)
Appartments above Supermercado Ana Maria - Buenavista del Norte €30,-

Circumstances:
After sunset it gets dark quickly and it gets really dark. Of course you need to make sure that you make your camp on time. More important: on La Palma even near or in villages there is no street-lightning. My first and only flat tire during my 3 weeks and 1000km. holiday was in the first 6 km. from the airport to the hotel when I drove in a hole that I didn't see. Also be warned that in the north-east of La Palma and on the road to Punto de Teno, Tenerife there are tunnels that have no street-lightning. You best turn on your head lamp for extra light.

On Tenerife I was too late at the top of the El Teide meaning that I needed to go downhill while it was (really) dark (and I was already tired after climbing 50 km. on a row) which means it is dangerous and therefore takes much more time and it got freezing cold. Also you don't see when it goes up again, you only feel it and you need to gear on intuition. And imagine that when you have a flat tire it is really hard to fix it in the dark even with a head light. You better just try preventing this.

The 3 islands that I've cycled are mountainous. La Gomera and Gran Canaria are the same. Lanzarote has much less altitude and Fuerteventura is mostly flat (but windy). There are a lot of steep (and sometimes long) slopes to take care of. You need to be trained otherwise you will have a tough time...

Temperatures vary between the islands (you also need a bit of luck sometimes). La Palma was colder than Tenerife and El Hierro, especially at night and definitely on higher altitudes. They say: count 1 degree Celsius loss per 100m. climbing. At the highest point Roque de los Muchachos it even froze during the day. The north of La Palma is (or can be) misty or rainy and since the altitude is 1000+, it is quite cold. Weather and temperatures on Tenerife and El Hierro were much better, also on higher altitude it was less colder and also the difference between day and night is only 5 degrees. At the west side of El Hierro there can be strong winds. In general: while going up and down all the time make sure you have some layers of clothes so you can remove or add a layer.

Are you Dutch you can read my weblog. If you want an impression based on the photos: http://www.fietsvakantie.reismee.nl. If you have any questions, just ask.

Enjoy!

Regards, Martin