Ever considered a two-island holiday to the Canary Islands or a day trip from one island to another? You may be pleasantly suprised at how easy and inexpensive it can be to travel between the islands and a two-island holiday may even work out cheaper than a return trip to the same one.
Did you ever find and incredible deal for a flight from where you are to one of the islands only to find all the flights coming back were far too expensive? Did you ever consider prices coming back from somewhere else in the Canaries?
We currently have three major ferry companies offering services around the islands :-
Fred Olsen
Naviera Armas
Trasmediterranea
There's also an airline Binter Canarias with a second airline on its way Islasafortunadasair
Between them there's often offers on throughout the year with fares being as little as 14 euros per person. The easiest to travel between which also makes them great options for a day trip is Tenerife with La Gomera and then Lanzarote with Fuerteventura. Journey time by ferry is around half an hour for each option and costs around 15 euros if booked a couple of days in advance. Fred Olsen is also the fastest of the ferry options followed by Armas then finally the much slower Transmediterranea.
Two of the largest, busiest and most diverse islands are Gran Canaria and Tenerife. These are also easy to travel between with the crossing by ferry taking around 75 minutes (Fred Olsen) or 150 minutes (the cheaper Armas option).
Once you arrive at your destination my preferred option for travel is to hire a car. Certainly works out far cheaper than catching a taxi and isn't much more than the cost of the local bus service. Each port has carhire offices which can be prebooked online. You can't actually take a hire car from one island to another, even if you plan to come back with it. There's no insurance once you leave the island!
Bus services on the busier islands to/from the ports and airports are quite frequent, very reliable and inexpensive. They are :-
Gran Canaria = Globus
Tenerife = Titsa
Lanzarote = InterCitry Bus
Fuerteventura = Tiadhe
For La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera I'd really recommend not relying on public transport and hiring a car.
Flights are a much faster option though usually more expensive. To fly from Lanzarote to La Palmas for example takes around 50 minutes and that's the longest route, the others slightly quicker.
