Travelling between the Canary Islands

How to travel between the islands, by boat or by plane

Erasmus student or traveller through Canarian lands, if Gran Canaria seems small to you, if you are tired of having to walk everywhere and constantly stumbling upon water, I will explain to you here how you can travel between the islands, referring to the main companies with which you can travel, either by plane or by boat so that you can stretch those legs in a way that satisfies your needs, and benefit from my personal experience.

By boat

Firstly I will explain how to travel by boat from Gran Canaria towards the other islands with the main companies that operate in the Canarian ports, which are Naviera Armas and Fred Olsen Express.

To elaborate, in Gran Canaria we have two ports from which the boats leave to take passengers from one island to another. These ports are called Puerto de la Luz and Puerto de las Nieves. Puerto de la Luz can be found in the same city as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, it is a very important port due to its geographic location and here is where the two companies previously mentioned operate. Puerto de las Nieves is in the coastal village of Agaete, it's a small port so there's only room for one boat of a similar size to transport passengers, thus, only one company is currently operating in this port, Fred Olsen Express, so I advise you to pay attention to what I will be discussing shortly.

From Gran Canaria, you can travel directly to the islands that I will mention later, but bear in mind that when I say "directly" I mean to say that there are no line changes, so you only need to travel on one boat to arrive at your chosen island. Next, I will detail the routes towards the island with the two companies from the different islands.

Direct routes with the company Naviera Armas from Puerto de la Luz:

• Fuerteventura has two ports to where Naviera Arms dock:

Morro Jable (located in the south of the island)

Puerto del Rosario (located in the city on the island)

• Lanzarote

Arrecife (located in the city on the island)

• Tenerife

Puerto de Santa Cruz (located in the city on the island)

Direct routes with the company Fred Olsen Express from Puerto de la Luz:

• Fuerteventura

Morrojable (located in the south of the island)

Direct routes with Fred Olsen Express from Puerto de Las Nieves:

• Tenerife

Puerto de Santa Cruz (located in the city on the island)

To travel to other islands from Gran Canaria, like El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma islands, despite whichever company you travel with, you have to first go to Tenerife, and once there you will have to go south to the "Los Cristianos" area which is located 84km from the port, and there you transfer to the next boat. So you can plan your journey and be perfectly organised, at the end of this post I will put links to the companies' websites.

So you don't get lost in Puerto de la Luz, as it is big and the boats are moored all over the place, I will use a picture to show you where you can find the docking bases, so you have some idea of how to reach them. I can't tell you where to catch the boats on each island because on occasion they change locations, so on the day that you go you must be sure of the harbour and the boat you must take. I will provide the names of the harbours next to the location, don't get lost or you will miss the boat.

Advice

Here I will provide some tricks and tips for saving money and being as organised as possible. If you like the sea and enjoy boats with a deck, I advise you to travel with Naviera Arms as all their boats that depart from Gran Canaria have decks on which you can walk and enjoy the wind and the sea breeze, and there is also a swimming pool on the higher level of the boat. It takes longer to arrive at your destination with this company so you have to decide if you want to save time or enjoy the sea. You can even see dolphins if you happen upon a day that they are in the area.

If you want to save money this company is much cheaper than the other, but in order to save money you will have to sacrifice time.

On the other hand, Fred Olsen Express is better if you want speed. Their boats are smalller but faster, so it might take as little as an hour and a half to arrive at your destination - this choice is one to be made by the traveller.

For example, with Naviera Arms going from the La Luz harbour, to go to Tenerife the journey takes about 3 hours, however, if you go by Fred Olsen from the Agaete harbour, Puerto de Las Nieves, it takes less than an hour to get there, but remember that you must go to Agaete to catch the boat.

You can find the best prices on the website. Canarian residents receive a resident discount, so it is much cheaper for us than for people from other countries.

By plane

Journeys by plane between the islands are always at least 50 minutes long. It's barely enough time to eat a Tirma chocolate bar, a Canarian brand we have here which they give to try. But it doesn't matter, you will taste it as soon as you step foot on the ground.

The main and leading company which I can tell you about from my own personal experience is Binter. This company takes you directly to all the islands. It has small planes mostly with propellers. A curious thing to observe is that the planes are named with Canarian words or objects, which you can read on their exteriors. Just like with the boats, Canarian residents get discounts for the tickets, so it will be more expensive for you than for us.

In Gran Canaria there is only one airport, located on the border of Telde and Carrizal. It is called Gando, and it is very easy to reach as it is attached to the motorway. Thus if you arrive from another country you already know where you are, so you only have to direct yourself to this airport and there you will wait for whichever plane you want to catch. The following image is a detailed map of the area of the airport in Gran Canaria.

There are also other companies that provide regular flights in the Canary Islands, for instance CanaryFly. However, I have not flown with this company so I can't tell you anything, so I will include the link below then you can compare prices and choose the one that is most convenient for your travels.

Links for buying tickets

Naviera Arms

Fred Olsen Express

Binter

Canaryfly