Lady’s 3-Day Itinerary for the Canary Islands

Today I want to bring you my 3-day itinerary for the Canary Islands. Specifically, for Tenerife. This Spanish archipelago is a great place to visit for sun, sea, and sand, and Tenerife is the ideal place to find it all.

3-Day Itinerary for the Canary Islands

I seem to visit Spain at four-year intervals. My first trip was when I was in seventh grade. My family went on a big tour of the mainland during Semana Santa, the festival-filled week before Easter.

Four years later I traveled to Barcelona for a weekend with some friends I was studying with in Nice. Four more years went by before I was working in Brussels and took weekend trips to visit friends in Madrid and Mallorca.

After yet another four-year hiatus, I returned to Spain on Friday with my boyfriend for a long weekend in Tenerife. Hence my 3-day itinerary for the Canary Islands.

Tenerife, Canary Islands

Before I headed to the Canary Islands I didn’t know much about Tenerife except that the weather would be warmer than it was in London (no big achievement, but certainly most welcome).

Not being able to go on a trip without doing a bit of research beforehand, I set aside my bathing suit and did some Google searching.

What I found was that most English-language websites about Tenerife feature little more than tips for sunburn-prone British travelers.

For example, there was not a single website that didn’t have advice on sunbathing, including the important reminder to “wear sunscreen with at least SPF 30” (and yet every British tourist we saw in Tenerife was sporting at least a second degree burn…amazing).

That said, a few of the websites had some tips for activities that didn’t involve lying on a beach chair to work on that pre-cancerous glow. These included hiking.

So on Friday afternoon I set off for my 3 days in the Canary Islands armed with a carry-on full of tank tops, bathing suits, books, hiking clothes, and of course, four bottles of sunscreen.

Day 1: Playa de las Americas

Tenerife is a very developed island, but despite the mega-resorts crawling their way up the sides of mountains, there are places that have retained their natural beauty.

Still, we spent the first day of our 3-day itinerary for the Canary Islands relaxing by the pool under an umbrella smothered with SPF 30 (not everyone ignores the sun warnings).

We were staying at the Sheraton La Caleta Resort and Spa by the famous Playa de las Americas, a resort area on the southwest coast of Tenerife. It was a nice place to lie by the pool, but we wanted a bit more than just that for our trip.

Day 2: Teide National Park

As such, we spent the second day of our 3-day itinerary for the Canary Islands exploring Tenerife’s volcanic interior.

The drive up Mount Teide not only afforded spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean, but also showed us the variety of Tenerife’s climate.

At lower elevations the terrain resembled the Arizona desert, complete with cacti and dry, rocky land. But as we drove higher, we suddenly found ourselves in alpine country, surrounded by pine trees and thin mountain air.

As we descended into the volcano, we were in a Grand-Canyon-meets-Haleakala mix of hardened lava and rock formations.

We spent a few hours hiking around and exploring the trails of Teide National Park, which awed us with its prehistoric beauty.

The natural scenery was a sharp contrast to the resort-packed beach area, and made for a refreshing day trip.

Day 3: Los Gigantes

The next day our 3-day itinerary for the Canary Islands continued as we drove up the coast to Los Gigantes, a town at the base of beautiful rock cliffs.

We walked around the area, watching the fish and crabs in the harbor and admiring the enormous cliffs before heading back to the Sheraton La Caleta Resort and Spa for a late afternoon walk.

3 Days in the Canary Islands

While Tenerife has its share of mega-resorts and European tourists, I enjoyed our 3-day itinerary for the Canary Islands and was happy to have explored some of the off-the-beaten-lounge-chair path.

Spain made for a great long weekend break from the frigid London weather (it’s one of the best places to visit in Europe in winter), and I hope it doesn’t take four more years for me to return. I hope you can visit someday soon, too.

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