Canary Islands - which island for first visit in Nov 17?

[Jwerking]

Two active seniors, with adult daughter, just want some nice quiet beach time during the first week in November. Would like easy access to grocery stores and moderately priced restaurants for local food.

This is not exactly prime beach time - so research disclose the Canary Islands and Cyprus are probably the warmest beach areas to visit. Also, would not mind some easy to moderate hikes to enjoy the great outdoors. Daughter is working in Frankfurt Germany for a few yrs -so traveling from there. Prefer a sandy beach with calm clear waters if possible.

Posted my question on Tripadvisor and have been researching. Like the look of Amfi beach in front of the Amfi Beach Club - which is a popular timeshare on the southern coast of Gran Canaria. Would appreciate any comments on the beach there and easy access to beach umbrellas and chairs to just chill out.

Also, looking at the following apartment rental in Bahia Feliz in the Maspalomas area. Is this a nice beach area - how to tell from pictures?

https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalRe…

Also, do we need a car rental for the week from the airport? Or just one locally for a day or two to explore?

Thanks for any assistance.

Joyce

 

[Laurie]

Maspalomas is a nicer natural beach area IMO, if that matters to you, with natural dunes. Some of the areas around it were a bit scruffier than Anfi which is an all-upscale development. Anfi Beach area is an imported and constructed beach, which disappointed me. But, when we travel to Europe, we don't spend a lot of time on the beach - maybe a few hours here and there. If your goal is mostly to chill out and sun yourselves, perhaps better to locate there and do a day trip to Maspalomas (as we did), your call. Anfi is a nice timeshare, though I confess to having been underwhelmed after all the build-up. The prettiest and most interesting areas of Gran Canaria - dramatic landscape-wise, culturally, historically, architecturally - are central and northern, which is a drive. There was one worthwhile hike not too far away from Anfi, I'll try to remember what that was, but it has been a long time and was kinda hard to find - maybe I wrote it up in one of our travel journals.

I personally preferred Lanzarote and Tenerife as whole islands. And just for beaches, Fuerteventura topped them all - extensive and wild. We were sightseeing in a car for the day, but I felt compelled to run into the ocean. Check out some google images. These are natural beaches with white Saharan sand. This is the only island where we didn't stay in a timeshare; we overnighted in a beach-front hotel, during our Lanzarote timeshare week.

YMMV, most folks really love Anfi.

Edited to add: an interesting article on beach expansion:
http://thecanarynews.com/tauro-beach-project-is-moving-at-last/

 

[Jimster]

Anfi is a nice resort but as pointed out above the beach is rather small and manufactured as opposed to a natural beach. The Anfi resorts are all there in one bunch so they all use the beach. It really depends on how much you value the beach because the resort itself is very nice. I didnt need the beach for my stay since it had a great balcony and a very comfortable chaise lounge. Also the activities and restaurant options at Anfi are very good.

 

[Jwerking]

Thank you both for your comments. Laurie, I have started to research Fuerteventura based on your comments. Yes, some lovely white sand beaches - thank you! Need to figure out whether to stay in the northern part in Correlejo or Cotillo (small village recommended by Tripadvisor folks) OR in the southern part by Morro Jable. Per the Gran Canaria discussions, there is less rain in the southern part versus northern part - so need to find out if that holds true for Fuerteventura.

 

[Conan]

Las Casitas in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote might meet your needs. The main drawback is it's a British enclave so there's little to no Spanish character. My review from 2011 is here:
https://tug2.com/ResortReviews.aspx?Las Casitas&ID=10931
Google Street View of Las Casitas (October 2016)
http://bit.ly/2svQmMr

The Anfi Beach Club reviews are here - - my review is the second listed, from the same trip in 2011:
https://tug2.com/ResortReviews.aspx?Anfi Beach Club&ID=11614

Google Street View of Anfi Beach (May 2017 via beach bicycle)
http://bit.ly/2ss4DIT
http://bit.ly/2ssmyzf
http://bit.ly/2svT5p5

We liked Tenerife the least of the three islands we visited. My review of Club Tarahal is here:
https://tug2.com/ResortReviews.aspx?Club Tarahal&ID=11034

 

[Talfryn]

Tenerife island offers so many activities to different kinds of travelers!! If you want to feel the the wonderful white sand and its relaxing water in this island you can visit Playa de las Los Cristianos or Playa de las Vistas, this island are the perfect for your summer get away with friends or loved ones but if your into some hiking or mountain climbing Teide Volcano is here to accommodate you there are some local bars that you can enjoy and have fun. Teide Volcano offers a breath taking scenery where you can go on a tour on foot or ride you way to the hill. Hope this helps

 

[Conan]

Tenerife Teide Volcano offers a breath taking scenery where you can go on a tour on foot or ride you way to the hill. Hope this helps

In fairness to the above contributor, since I listed Tenerife as our least favorite of the Canaries, we did enjoy (if that's the word) hiking high up on Mount Teide. It meant driving the night before to the base hotel at 2,356 m (7,730 ft) altitude http://www.paradores-spain.com/spain/pcanadasteide.html, staying the night, and taking the cable car the next morning from there to 3,555 m (11,663 ft), nearly at the top of the mountain.

Having pre-applied for permits to hike from the cable car top (200 free tickets issued daily at https://www.reservasparquesnacional...talle-actividad-oapn.aspx?ii=6ENG&cen=2&act=1), we staggered the final 200 m (660 ft) of elevation to the mountain top. Although having slept the night before at ~1.5 miles of altitude helped some in adjusting, the feeling of altitude sickness at ~2 1/3 miles above sea level was crushing. Something to do once for the memories (if your muscle, brain, and circulatory systems can stand the stress) and never again!

 

[Laurie]

Having pre-applied for permits to hike from the cable car top (200 free tickets issued daily at https://www.reservasparquesnacional...talle-actividad-oapn.aspx?ii=6ENG&cen=2&act=1), we staggered the final 200 m (660 ft) of elevation to the mountain top. Although having slept the night before at ~1.5 miles of altitude helped some in adjusting, the feeling of altitude sickness at ~2 1/3 miles above sea level was crushing. Something to do once for the memories (if your muscle, brain, and circulatory systems can stand the stress) and never again!

Yup, that was the day I learned first-hand about altitude sickness, though at the time I didn't realize exactly why I felt so lightheaded and somewhat dizzy. We had driven up that morning from sea level and went right to the cable car and up to the 11,663. We had planned to walk to the top, not realizing a permit was needed, but it would have been impossible anyway. Still we persisted, and walked around (slowly) to all the overlooks at the cable car top. I did learn my lesson and thenceforth when planning trips to high places, I always make sure we overnight at midway elevations, better yet for a few days, even better yet a whole timeshare week where available, to acclimate first.