When considering a unique golf vacation heading into 2025, a series of Spanish islands about 90 miles off the coast of northern Africa probably didn’t make the short list.
For decades a hot spot of European travelers, the Canary Islands are easier to get to from the United States than one may think and offer unhurried golf with spectacular scenery, beautiful beaches, upscale accommodations and fabulous food.
“Europeans view the Canary Islands like New Yorkers view the Hamptons,” says Erika Gustafson, the managing director of Quest Travel Adventures, which specializes in travel to the Canary Islands from the United States, among other destinations.
The boutique travel firm launched in 2011 when officials from the Canary Islands wanted to start tracking American travelers. At that time, it was a modest 5% of the Canary Islands travel business. More than a decade later, that number has increased to 12% with Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey now offering five direct flights a week to the destination, a trip that takes roughly 7 ½ hours.
It’s a much quicker venture for golfers from the East Coast than a getaway to the Hawaiian Islands — and less expensive. Gustafson says the cost of golf is about one-half of what a person would pay in a place such as Scotland.
The seven islands have a total of 24 golf courses, with Tenerife offering the most with nine. Seven others are located on the island of Gran Canaria.
Tenerife is a volcanic island and features Spain’s tallest peak — Mount Teide which, at 12,188 feet above sea level and 24,600 feet from the ocean floor, is ranked as the third-highest volcano in the world.
“Tenerife is a mix between Hawaii, because it’s a volcanic island; Costa Rica, because it has an adventure sense; and Barcelona, because it has that Spanish port, Mediterranean feeling to it,” Gustafson says. “And they call it the Island of Eternal Springs because it has such great weather. In the wintertime, when it is freezing here, it’s 60 degrees. And in the summertime when it’s baking hot, it gets up to maybe 85 degrees, so you are never going to get extreme temperatures.”
The golf courses have ocean views on most holes “and because the island is so close to Morocco and the coast of Africa you will get some really beautiful sand dunes,” she adds.
Golfers who have made the trip to the Canary Islands rave about the diversity of layouts and the fact they don’t have to fight for tee times, Gustafson says.
“It’s not hard to get out on a golf course every single day,” she says. “And the upkeep of the courses is top notch. They’re very proud of the fact that they have so much golf on the islands, and that it’s a sport that they kind of feature. And you can almost always see the ocean, so there is an aspect of peace and calm and beauty on all of these courses.”
And while there are no courses on the Canary Islands designed by Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer or Tom Fazio, the names of international heavy hitting course architects include Dave Thomas, Robert von Hagge, Jose Gancedo and Donald Steel. Also, the legendary Seve Ballesteros designed Buenavista Golf in 2003, which offers some truly amazing oceanside holes.
“I guess some people could say the Canary Islands courses don’t have the same allure that the Old Course in St. Andrews has, but once again you’re playing golf in such nice weather,” Gustafson says.
And when you’re off the links, countless activities await, including 43 miles of white, yellow and black sand beaches.
“You can get in some holes in the morning and then in the afternoon you can go to the beach, or hiking or biking or kayaking or wine tasting, or go into a lava cave or to a botanical garden or a zoo or water park,” Gustafson says. “It’s fascinating that there are all these things to do on a small island where it never really feels crowded. And it’s a modern island, even though it’s in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”
The Canary Islands, and in particular Tenerife and its 800 square miles, offers a European feel without battling the crowds of the mainland of Spain.
“Let’s say you go to Hawaii, you’re still in the United States,” Gustafson says. “The Canary Islands has this allure of you’re in a more cultural place. We do send a lot of people here where the husband wants to make sure he gets some golfing in while the wife wants to go to a spa every day, and we’ve got beautiful five-star resorts here that have great spa services.”
The Canary Islands is also a destination where it’s easy to rent a car and explore. Circling the island of Tenerife will take about 6 to 8 hours.
Early Spanish ocean travelers would often stop at the Canary Islands, meaning foods were influenced here from all over the world, and from as far away as Cuba.
“It’s a great place for foodies because they’re not afraid of flavor,” Gustafson says. “This is not a place to go if you like bland food, And, because they’re so rich in their abundance of types of food and what they can grow, so much of what you will eat is cooked to order and made daily.”
The islands feature its share of fresh passion fruits that add flair to cocktail hour.
“The Canary Islands attract a really diverse group of people,” Gustafson says. “We have golfers who come and they’ll spend five or six days in the south part of Tenerife and five or six days in the north. Even though they’re only an hour and a half to two hours apart they are very different. So, you can feel like you’re on two different areas even though you’re staying on the same island.”