The trip
Overview
Seven hours or so from the Gulf via a single European connection, the Canaries do something almost nowhere else in easy reach can: dependable mid-twenties sunshine in January. For UAE residents this reads differently than it does for Britons — our winter at home is pleasant — but the Canaries earn their place for Christmas and New Year travel, when Dubai hotel prices spike and you would rather be walking volcanic ridges between beach days.
We build this week around Tenerife or Gran Canaria depending on your taste: Tenerife for Mount Teide, black-sand beaches and the banana-green north; Gran Canaria for the Maspalomas dunes and a livelier small-capital feel in Las Palmas. Either way the shape is the same — a good adults-focused or family resort as base, a hire car for two or three chosen days, and the rest left deliberately empty.
Highlights
- ✦Cable car and volcanic landscapes of Mount Teide national park
- ✦Black-sand beaches and garden villages of the Anaga or northern coast
- ✦The Maspalomas dunes at sunset if Gran Canaria is your island
- ✦Fresh-fish lunches in working harbour villages
- ✦A resort chosen for winter warmth on the sheltered southern coasts
Who it suits
- ●UAE residents travelling over Christmas and New Year when Dubai resort prices peak
- ●Couples or families who want guaranteed warmth plus somewhere to actually explore
- ●Walkers who like the idea of a volcano between beach days
Why this journey works
- ✓The Canaries hold twenty-plus degrees through the depths of winter, almost uniquely for this flight time
- ✓One island, one hotel, no repacking — with two well-chosen car days for variety
- ✓Festive-season availability is far better value than the equivalent week in the Gulf or the Maldives
Day by day
Days 1–2
Arrive and slow down
Fly from Dubai with a single connection, arriving on the island by evening. The first two days belong to the resort: southern-coast sunshine, a proper pool, and dinner in the nearest old town rather than the hotel buffet. Resort style: low-rise, sea-facing, with enough restaurants that a week never repeats itself.
Days 3–4
The volcanic interior
Collect the hire car and climb inland. On Tenerife that means Teide national park — a lunar caldera at two thousand metres with a cable car towards the summit cone; on Gran Canaria, the pine-forested crater country around Roque Nublo. Pack layers: it can be fifteen degrees cooler up high, which is half the fun.
Days 5–6
The green north and harbour lunches
A second day out to the island's greener side — the Anaga laurel forests and Garachico's lava pools on Tenerife, or Las Palmas old quarter and the north-coast surf towns on Gran Canaria. Long lunch in a harbour village where the fish comes off the boats that morning, then back to the sun by mid-afternoon.
Day 7
A last full day of nothing
No car, no plan. Beach, pool, spa if the mood takes you, and a final dinner booked somewhere with a sea view.
Day 8
Home to the UAE
Transfer to the airport for the connection back to Dubai, arriving home late evening or the following morning.
When to go
The Canaries are a year-round destination with the mildest winter in Europe — daytime temperatures typically 20 to 24 degrees from December to February on the southern coasts. Northern coasts are greener and cloudier. Summer is warm but rarely extreme thanks to the Atlantic trade winds. Calima dust episodes can briefly haze the air at any time of year.
Planning around seasons, regions and style? Read the full Spain destination guide →
What’s included
- ✓Return flights from Dubai or Abu Dhabi with one European connection
- ✓Airport transfers on the island
- ✓Seven nights in your chosen resort with breakfast, half board on request
- ✓Two-day hire car with full insurance for independent exploring
- ✓PCT travel consultant support before and during travel
Not included
- —Travel insurance
- —Fuel for the hire car
- —Cable car and attraction tickets
- —Personal spending
Ways to extend it
- +Add three nights on Lanzarote for the volcanic vineyards
- +Split the week across two islands by ferry
- +Upgrade to a suite with private plunge pool
- +Add a whale-watching trip off the south coast
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