We Might Have Found Our Perfect Winter Base

The Canary Islands surprised us

To be honest, the Canary Islands have been lingering on our short list of possible winter getaways for many years. Come planning time, whenever we pull out our ever-growing spreadsheet of destinations—a sprawling document scoring countries on factors as diverse as weather patterns, range of activities, cost of living, and ease of getting around—the Canary Islands just never made the final cut.

Part of it was that we simply didn’t know enough about what the Canaries had to offer; instead, destinations like Mexico, Portugal or Colombia made for easier winter choices.

Now that we’ve finally spent a month in Gran Canaria, a week in La Gomera, and settled into another month in Tenerife, we’re kicking ourselves for not coming here sooner. The Canaries offer exactly what we’ve been looking for in a winter retreat and, in fact, outshine Mexico on a number of points, which was our previous top choice.

Just-Right Weather

First, the climate here during the winter months hits the sweet spot for us. The Canaries are a collection of eight subtropical islands, just across the Atlantic from Morocco. The winter climate is just as pleasant as on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where we spent a happy month in December the other year. The temperature on Gran Canaria was a steady 20℃ or 68℉ most days in January, and Tenerife looks to be a few degrees warmer.

For context, we are not beach people; we wilt once the temperature climbs to tropical levels. We often wonder about how we managed to live in Singapore for so many years, a place so hot that spending just five minutes waiting at a bus stop in our office clothes felt like an endurance test. For us, the warm days and cool nights of the Canary Islands are just about perfect.

The Freedom to Explore

These islands are also a true hiker’s paradise with wonderful views around every bend. While in Gran Canaria, we really appreciated how easily we could hit the trails. We just popped the dogs in their carriers, hopped on a bus, and could be hiking somewhere stunning in less than an hour, feeling safe and confident on a well marked trail. And if we planned well, the hike would end in a charming hillside village where we could enjoy lunch with a view.

This far exceeded our experience of hiking in Mexico. When we stayed in San Miguel de Allende or Oaxaca City, we would have happily hit the local trails—except for the many reviews that warned us off independent hiking due to safety issues. Instead, we ended up joining expensive group hikes with a busload of other tourists.

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Daily Life, Elevated

We also love living in a beautiful neighbourhood and were very pleased with our finds in the Canaries. For our month in Las Palmas, the biggest city on Gran Canaria, we chose an apartment in the historic centre of Vegueta and had the pleasure of taking our morning walks on cobbled streets amongst 15th and 16th century mansions and churches. While in Tenerife, we’re based in Punta Brava, a picturesque 1960s neighbourhood that has retained a local flavour despite all the resorts in the vicinity.

Even more important than living in a delightful neighbourhood is living in an attractive, comfortable apartment. Unfortunately, the local stock of apartments on Airbnb heavily emphasize small, basic condos; we had to put in long hours of research to find someplace special in each city.

Admittedly, we face a challenge that most people don’t have when locking down accommodations since we’re traveling with our two dogs. We lean heavily on our 65+ positive reviews on Airbnb when we reach out to hosts to request special dispensation for the pups. We received many declines from hosts—Spain is not as pet friendly as other countries we’ve visited—but ultimately scored a memorable place for each of our long stays.

We’ve included a full tour of our very unique Las Palmas apartment in our latest video, along with a sampling of the experiences that have made our winter getaway so memorable. If you’re curious what our first month in the Canaries actually looked like, you can watch it here.

When Menus Start to Blur

On the cuisine front, we’re enjoying our meals out, but have found that restaurants offer a very standard range of Canarian classics. This means that dining out is somewhat repetitive, usually featuring a simple combination of fish or seafood, sliced tomatoes, and papas arrugadas. These are new potatoes boiled in salt water and served with a zippy red pepper-based sauce called mojo. This is the most famous Canarian dish and was featured on every single menu.

To be candid, we feel a little uninspired by the restaurant scene after so many weeks of boiled potatoes. However, the same can be said for many of our slow travel destinations. At this stage, we’ve realized we’re happiest cooking most of our meals at home and saving dining out for special occasions.

What truly won us over about the Canary Islands wasn’t just the scenery or even the climate; it was the balance. There was room on this trip to spend a full week hiking the dramatic landscapes of La Gomera but also enjoy a steady rhythm of morning workouts, remote volunteering, and home-cooked meals. Increasingly, it’s this combination—adventuring while still having room for our routines—that defines a great winter base for us.

Of course, we still have a few more weeks to go in Tenerife. Here’s hoping that the final leg of our trip proves to be just as enjoyable.

See you on the road,

Stephanie & Gillian

p.s. We’ve just created a new Destinations page on our blog where you can now find the very best content for each place we’ve visited—whether that’s a blog post, a YouTube video, or even an Instagram Story. If you’re researching a specific destination, this is the easiest place to start.