The Canary Islands – Canaries Interesting facts
The Canary Islands form an Archipelago situated in the Atlantic Ocean, 2,880 km from London, 1,050 km from mainland Spain, and 115 km from the coast of Africa.
The Canary Islands are split into two Provinces - The Eastern Province, named "Las Palmas", consists of 3 Islands: Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and some islets : Isla de Lobos, Alegranza, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este, Roque del Oeste and Graciosa. The second Province, "Santa Cruz de Tenerife", to the West is made up of the islands Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.
Mount Teide, at 3,718 meters above sea level and 7,000 above the ocean floor on The Canary Islands, is the highest peak on Spanish territory and the highest of all the Atlantic archipelagos. It is the third biggest volcano in the world measured from its base, which makes Tenerife the second highest volcanic island in the world.
The Hotel Punta Grande, in the municipality of Frontera in El Hierro, is one of the smallest in the world. It has a constructed surface area of 600 square meters and only four double bedrooms.
Golf Guide Canary Islands - A quick overview of the best golf courses in Gran Canaria Tenerife & Lanzarote: Click HERE>>
Weather in Canary Islands: Weather forecast and temperatures in Canary Islands today: Click HERE >>
The Canaries, with five Biosphere Reserves, is the Autonomous Community in Spain with the second highest number of areas distinguished by this category by UNESCO.
The Canaries is a pioneer in the game of Golf Guide Spain
The Gomeran whistle is one of the most original traditional cultural phenomena, practised by few other societies in the world. It is a language which is used to communicate across long distances, using only the lips and fingers, and which has been passed on from generation to generation over centuries.
The Canarian Music Festival is the most important classical music festival held in Europe in winter.
The Canary Pine is unique for its resistance to fire, and is capable of regenerating itself after forest fire.
UNESCO considers the microclimate of Mogán, in Gran Canaria, to be the best in the world.
At least 72 world records have been registered in Canarian ports of blue marlin caught in local waters, among other species.
The airport of La Palma is the only one in the world that is completely powered by wind energy.
The Canaries is home to four of the twelve Spanish National Parks, two of which are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The last volcanic eruption on Spanish territory was in La Palma, in 1971, involving the volcano Teneguía.
The island of El Hierro is one of the best sites in Europe for diving and underwater photography, thanks to the clarity of its waters and the variety of species that can be seen.
In the island of Fuerteventura winds reach great speeds in the World Windsurf and Kitesurf Championships, which are held each year in the beaches of Sotavento in the municipality of Pájara.
The sky of La Palma is one of the clearest and least light-contaminated, for which reason it is classed as a World Astronomic Reserve. Moreover, astronomic observation is protected in the Canaries by the Law of the Skies.
The auditorium of “Los Jameos del Agua” in Lanzarote is situated inside a volcanic tube which reaches the sea; cavers have not yet found its end because of problems of access. In its interior there are many examples of the blind crab, unique in the world.
“La Cueva del Viento” (The Wind Cave), in Tenerife, is among the ten biggest volcanic tubes in the world, at more than 20 kilometers.
The island of El Hierro was, before the Greenwich Meridian, known as the Zero Meridian.
Lanzarote is known as the island of 100 volcanoes because of the great number of craters that can be easily seen there.
Canary wines, specifically malvassy (la malvasía), appear in references in different works by William Shakespeare.
Within a few years, the island of El Hierro will be the only island that is 100% self-sufficient in renewable energies.
The lens of the Great Canary Telescope, situated in the Observatory of the Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, is the biggest in the world.
Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar chose Lanzarote for the setting of his latest film, Los Abrazos Rotos.
The first sea-water desalination plant in Spain was built in Lanzarote in 1964.
The Canaries is the Spanish community which recycles most water, 33%.
The carnival celebrations in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria are among the best in the world, along with those of Brazil and Venice.
Christopher Colombus, before his expedition across the Atlantic, made a stop in the islands of La Gomera and Gran Canaria in 1492.
The southeast coast of Tenerife is one of the best places in the world for whale-watching.
The Canary Islands have been the birth-place of many important people from the world of culture, such as the tenor Alfredo Kraus, the surrealist painter Óscar Dominguez, the artist César Manrique, or the designer Manolo Blahnik.
The Canaries has inspired the work of artists such as the writer Agatha Christie, the composer Charles Camille Saint-Saëns, the Nobel Prizewinner for Literature, José Saramago, or the writers Antonio Gala and José Luis Sampedro.