Hello Canary Islands is the official tourism promotion website for the islands, and our view is clear: it is an excellent tool for finding beaches, trails, viewpoints and businesses with their phone number and website, and a poor source for deciding what to book. It doesn't sell, doesn't publish prices, doesn't compare and doesn't tell you the drawbacks of anything. Use it as an official phone book, not as an adviser.
The English version is hellocanaryislands.com; the Spanish one is called Hola Islas Canarias (holaislascanarias.com).
Who is behind it
The website belongs to Promotur Turismo Canarias, S.A., a public company linked to the tourism department of the Canary Islands Government (Gobierno de Canarias), based at Calle Eduardo Benot 35 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (tax ID A-35845593). Its legal notice describes it as the official website for promoting the Canary Islands as a destination. In the footer it signs off with the "Canary Islands Tourism" brand.
Part of the network (the Spanish-language site and the Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro portals) is funded by the EU's REACT-EU programme and the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
It is not a tourist office with a desk or a phone line. Tourist information offices are run by the island councils (cabildos) and town halls, and you'll find them in its services directory.
What you'll find on the website
Directories filtered by island and municipality
This is its strong point. There are listings of beaches, natural pools, protected natural areas, trails, viewpoints, stargazing, dive sites, museums, surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, golf, wineries and cheese dairies, driving routes and leisure parks (water parks, theme parks, zoos and aquariums), among many others. The trails directory flags the official waymarked routes, which is handy for planning walks and hikes.
Whale and dolphin watching companies
The whale-watching directory gives each company's town, phone, email, website and map. It is the quickest way to reach a boat operator's website and compare its direct price with what the platforms charge. We explain which island is best in where to see whales and dolphins.
Services directory
The services directory filters by type and island: agencies, car and bike hire, boating, hiking, astronomy, diving, wind and surf schools, official tourist guides and tourist offices.
Getting between and around the islands
The inter-island travel page has an origin and destination selector and names the airlines and ferry companies; it still mentions Armas, which now operates as Baleària Canarias. More useful is getting around within each island: distances, driving times and indicative taxi fares from the airports. On El Hierro, for example, it is 41 km and 52 minutes from the airport to La Restinga, and a taxi to Frontera costs €28–30. For ferries and flights with timetables, see our guide to getting between the islands.
Trip planner and extras
A short quiz builds a favourites list that you can download as a PDF or send to your phone. There is also an events calendar, plus advice on safe swimming, accessibility and travelling with pets.
What it doesn't do
- It doesn't take bookings or give prices. Each listing links to the business.
- It doesn't answer tourists by phone or email: its contact page sends them to Instagram and Facebook.
- It doesn't give the weather month by month. Its climate page is general text (more than 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, sunrise around 07:30 and sunset around 18:30 in winter). For month-by-month figures, see the weather in the Canary Islands or the AEMET (Spanish Met Office) website.
- It doesn't rate anyone. Every business appears on equal terms, with no reviews and no drawbacks.
- Its menu and footer have no webcams and no link to an app.
- Its 18 languages include German, French, Italian, Dutch, the Nordic languages, Polish and Czech, but not Chinese or Japanese.
Four islands send you to the island council's website
In the islands menu, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and La Graciosa have pages on the website itself. The other four take you off-site, to each island council's portal: Fuerteventura to visitfuerteventura.com, La Palma to visitlapalma.es, La Gomera to lagomera.travel and El Hierro to elhierro.travel. For those islands, the official reference information is on those websites.
Score
- Directories and filters
- 4.5/5Beaches, trails, diving, whale watching and services by island and municipality.
- Reliability of the information
- 4/5Official source, although the odd name is out of date.
- Help with booking
- 1/5No bookings, no prices, no comparisons.
- Island coverage
- 3/5Four islands are passed on to the island councils' websites.
- Languages
- 4/518 versions, no Chinese or Japanese.
- Visitor support
- 1.5/5Social media only.
The good
- Official source run by a public company.
- Directories with each business's phone number and website.
- Taxi fares and distances for every island in one place.
- The same information in 18 languages.
The not so good
- No bookings and no published prices.
- Doesn't rate or compare businesses.
- Four islands only linked to other websites.
- No phone or email for tourists.
How to get the most out of it
Use it to find and other websites to decide. Look the business up in its directory, check its website and direct price, and compare that with what a platform charges. If an English page seems thin, open the Spanish one: it is the main version. And if you are travelling with someone who reads Czech, Polish, Hungarian or a Nordic language, send them the link in their language.
To choose an island with an opinion and side-by-side data, start with which island to choose. If you are interested in booking platforms, we review them in operators and platforms.
Is Hello Canary Islands the official Canary Islands tourism website?
Yes. It is run by Promotur Turismo Canarias, S.A., a public company of the Canary Islands Government, and its Spanish version is holaislascanarias.com.
Can you book excursions on Hello Canary Islands?
No. The website doesn't sell anything or show prices: it links to each business's website and phone number.
Does Hello Canary Islands have a tourist information phone line?
Not for tourists: its contact page refers you to Instagram and Facebook. Local tourist offices, run by the island councils and town halls, are listed in its services directory.
Why does Hello Canary Islands send me to another website for La Palma or El Hierro?
Because Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro keep their tourist information on their island councils' websites, and the menu links there.
