Things to do in  Canary Islands

Other than Gran Canaria, We've been to 3 other Canary Islands over the years, and on each island we have taken a bus tour of the points of interest and attractions. Due to the Covid-19 situation, many of these tours were simply not operating in Gran Canaria. and as we still wanted to explore the island we looked at renting a car and driving around ourselves. Just as we were about to do that, we stumbled upon this VIP tour, and we were able to book at short notice. I'm so glad we did, as it was an unforgettable day. Sergiu was really friendly when he picked us up from the hotel, and made sure the kids were comfortable before setting off. We had a few ideas where we wanted to go, and he made sure these were included in the tour. He had an extensive list of suggestions and we agreed an agenda of how the day would pan out. I have to say Sergui was so knowledgeable about the Island history, culture, flora and fauna, and was able to explain everything in such great detail. My kids still talk about some of the things we saw, and they had such a great time. We were able to take in a local market, understand the different architecture in regions of the island, and behold some of the most incredible views from the island peak. For lunch we were taken to an absolutely amazing restaurant built into the mountainside with a breathtaking view over canyons below. The food was amazing, and with some great local dishes. Moreover, Sergiu is a terrific photographer. He was able to get over 100 brilliant shots of the sights and our family all together. This simply would not be something possible if we'd chosen to rent a car, or even use a traditional bus tour company. I simply cannot recommend this trip highly enough. If you want to see the real Gran Canaria, and learn from an expert, take this VIP tour. You will not regret it. Thank you Sergiu for creating great memories for us.

My wife, son who is almost 6 months old and I were on vacation in Tenerife and wanted to do some whale watching. This area of the world is known for its whale watching as dozens of species of whales and dolphins migrate through the Canary Islands every year. I did a little research and came across Tenerife Sailing Charter. My wife has never been sailing and I wanted her to have that experience as well. I tried to book on their website, but had a little trouble scheduling directly on the site. I came across this listing on Viator and the pictures looked exactly the same it didn't say directly that it was Tenerife Sailing Charter until after I booked which was annoying, but I felt confident it was the same company. It was nice on to book on Viator as well, because I could book and pay in dollars rather than Euros and the upcharge Viator/Trip Advisor's cut wasnt too much to make me balk. The company provides transport to the port from your hotel, and when I called the owner Paul to ask about it, he said that they could come pick us up even though we were staying a over 20 kms away. I later received an email from the company that we were too far to pick up so if we could drive ourselves that would be best. We had rented a car for our week vacation, so I was planning on doing it anyway. We had an infant son so it was just easier with his car seat. We were running late and Paul called me directly to make sure we were still coming. We were cutting it close to our 10am departure time and were actually a little late but the boat waited for us. Im sure it was a little annoying for the other patrons, but I really appreciated it as traveling with an infant can take time. This was good customer service and communication, and the company gets 5 stars solely for this reason there are other reasons, but I would have given 5 stars just for this On our way out of the harbor, our captain Captain Jose told us we couldnt sail because there wasnt enough wind. This is not the company's fault as you need wind to sail. He also told us the trade off for this is that when there is no wind, the seas are much calmer and the whales are more likely to be resting at the surface he was right. We saw a lot. He was a very lovely man and was a good guide. He told us where we were going and what we were looking for. The only thing that made me worry a bit was that there was no safety briefing anywhere on the trip where are the life vests? Was there a life vest for my infant son? Maybe we did this before we got there. I didnt bother to ask either so the blame also falls on me. We went a few kilometers and saw a lot of pilot whales. This is the main sighting in Tenerife. They are beautiful creatures and my family loved seeing them. We didnt see any dolphins or turtles, but thats ok. There was champagne and fruit and crackers available if we were hungry. It was a nice touch. After the whale watching portion was over, we motored over to a cove and went swimming. My wife and I were the only ones who went swimming and the captain gave us snorkeling gear and was overall just a lovely human being to have around. He provided some sodas, more champagne, beer, and sandwiches which was quite tasty. He told us about his daughter who lives in England and told us that he wanted to visit New York where I live. He played with our son and made him honorary first mate. We told him we would love to show him around should he ever came. After swimming for 30 minutes or so, we motored back to port to end our three hour tour cue Gilligan's Island theme. We drove back to our hotel with a lovely memory from our trip.

I did the El Hierro island -tour in early april 2018. The tour was exactly what I waited for and thought it might be. I was picked up about 7 AM from my hotel to Los Cristianos harbour, from where we took a catamaran of Armas line to Hierro. The ferry journey took about 2,5 hours in one direction. On Hierro we 9 people and our guide toured some six hours around the northern and western parts of this magnificent island, from the coast up to the central highland and mountains, including the tiny capital, Valverde. The highlands were cloud covered and we didn't see as much as on a clear day, but nevertheless everything was most interesting. El Hierro is a wild island with only 11 000 inhabitants and few tourists - most of the latter ones seemed to be hikers or day trippers like us. The nature is wonderful with the abundance of endemic plant life and steep, volcanic forms. The Atlantic waves on the west coast were impressive! The silence as well as the lack of heavy traffic, tourist areas and high rise buildings made a wonderful, total contrast with Tenerife, an impression what all the Canaries might have been before the age mass tourism. Our guide, Basso Lanzano from Get Holiday, was excellent and knew his job. Our group consisted of spaniards, italians and myself from Finland, and he told everything tirelessly in three languages english in my case. A pity we did not have time to visit all the best sites of the island - which only means that it's really worth another trip in the future, perhaps staying overnight for a longer time. All in all: this tour is very recommendable and well worth the price 100 euros!