Holidays To Canary Islands - The Canaries, A Perfect Place To Stay!

The Canary Islands, also known as The Canaries are an island chain which forms one of the Spanish Independent areas and is part of the EU. This specific cluster of islands, benefiting from an absolute fantastic climate (having a consistent mild temperature pretty much the whole year), and great beaches of fine white sand, consists of several larger sized islands (known as Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro) as well as some smaller sized ones (with poetic names like Alegranza, Graciosa, Montaa Clara, Roque del Este, Roque del Oeste and Lobos).

Surprisingly, the landscape of each of those islands is drastically different to the other islands, even though they are so close to each other. The island chain is located just off the northwest coast of the African continent, about a hundred km to the west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara (although the border is disputed for a long time already). The ocean currents that depart from Canary's coasts used to lead ships away to North America in ancient times.

Indeed, the Romans and the Greeks reported on this archipelago of volcanic origins, and referred to it as the Happy Islands, Garden of the Hesperides, Atlantida. A lot of historians suppose the famous continent Atlantis was located here. The islands' original citizenry, commonly named Guanches, is tall and of white skin.

In 1496 the islands became part of the Spanish kingdom, and the ships of Christopher Columbus halted right here on their travel to discover the New World.

The Canary Islands have awesome natural attractions, climate and beach locations, making the islands a significant tourist destination, being visited every calendar year by more or less 12 million people. Among the islands, Tenerife has the biggest number of visitors on a yearly basis, followed by Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. The archipelago's primary tourist attraction is the Teide National Park (in Tenerife) where the highest mountain in Spain and third largest volcano in the world (Mount Teide) is situated. It receives around 2.8 million travelers per year.

The Canaries nowadays has a human population of about two million residents, making it the 8th most populated of Spain's autonomous residential areas, with a density of 281.8 inhabitants per km. The total area belonging to the archipelago is 7500 km. In addition, it enjoys a sub-tropical climate with longer warm days in summer and cooler days in winter season.

The Canary Islands have 2 capital cities (which is a rare situation in the world): Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which are also the capitals of the provinces called Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas. Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the only capital until the late twenties of the twentieth century. The Canaries will always be one of the favorite holiday destinations for many Europeans and Americans. 2011 will not change that!