One of the most common questions we get asked — alongside "when should I go?" — is "how much will it cost?" And it is a genuinely tricky one to answer, because the Canary Islands span an enormous price range depending on where you stay, what you eat, and how you travel. A week in a package resort hotel in Tenerife South looks almost nothing like a week driving around La Palma staying in rural casas rurales, even if both technically count as "a Canary Islands holiday." So we have broken this down into real numbers, across three honest budget tiers, covering everything from accommodation to activities.
All prices are in euros and reflect 2026 shoulder-season rates (spring/autumn). Peak season (July–August, Christmas, Carnival) typically adds 30–60% across accommodation and car hire. Low season (November–February, excluding holidays) is around 20–30% cheaper than the figures below.
Daily Budget Summary (per person)
- Budget: €60–90/day (hostels, supermarket meals, shared car hire)
- Mid-range: €100–160/day (3-star hotels, restaurants, car hire)
- Comfortable/Luxury: €200–400+/day (4–5 star, fine dining, guided tours)
Flights
Flights to the Canary Islands from the UK are competitive and frequent year-round, which is one of the reasons these islands became a British holiday staple decades ago. From London airports, you can expect:
| Season | Return flight (London–Tenerife) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Low season (Nov–Mar) | €80–160 | Best deals, book 4–8 weeks ahead |
| Shoulder (Apr–May, Sep–Oct) | €130–220 | Good value if flexible on dates |
| Peak (Jun–Aug, Carnival, Christmas) | €200–380 | Book 3–6 months ahead or pay dearly |
Ryanair, easyJet, and Jet2 dominate the UK–Canaries routes and offer solid reliability. For inter-island travel, Binter Canarias and Canaryfly operate small-plane hops between islands for around €40–80 return, booked direct on their websites.
Accommodation
Budget Tier: €25–55/night per person
Hostels exist in Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife and are genuinely good quality — both cities have a young population and a backpacker infrastructure. Expect to pay €20–35 for a dorm bed. Private rooms in hostels or budget guesthouses run €45–70 for a double.
Casas rurales — rural self-catering cottages and village guesthouses, particularly common on La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro — offer excellent value for self-sufficient travellers. A simple stone cottage sleeping two in the hills of La Palma can be found for €50–80/night on platforms like Airbnb or local booking sites, often including a garden, terrace, and spectacular views.
Mid-Range: €70–140/night per person
This is where most independent travellers land, and it is genuinely comfortable territory in the Canaries. A 3-star hotel in a good location — the old quarter of Las Palmas, the seafront in Puerto de la Cruz, a village in the Orotava Valley — costs €80–140 for a double room in shoulder season, often including breakfast. On Tenerife specifically, there are a number of boutique hotels in historic buildings in La Laguna and La Orotava that offer excellent value in this bracket.
Self-catering apartments are very popular and can be even better value, particularly for couples or small groups who can split costs. A one-bedroom apartment in a good part of Lanzarote (not the package hotel strip) costs around €70–110/night in shoulder season.
Luxury: €150–500+/night
The upper end of the Canaries accommodation market has improved dramatically over the past decade. The Royal Hideaway Corales Beach, the Bahía del Duque on Costa Adeje, and the Gran Hotel Bahía Real on Fuerteventura are among the best luxury resort hotels in Southern Europe. Expect to pay €300–600+ for peak-season doubles at these properties. The Canarias also has a growing number of boutique rural hotels — particularly on La Palma and El Hierro — that offer a different kind of luxury: design, silence, and extraordinary landscapes from €180–280/night.
Food & Drink
Food in the Canary Islands is one of the great budget travel secrets in Europe. Eating locally is cheap, fresh, and delicious. The standard lunch option in any local bar or restaurant is the menú del día — typically three courses (starter, main, dessert) plus bread and a glass of wine or water for €10–14. This is often the best meal you will eat all day. Do not skip it.
Budget daily food cost: €20–35/person — supermarket breakfast, menú del día lunch, simple dinner (pasta, tapas, grilled fish at a local bar).
Mid-range daily food cost: €40–70/person — café breakfast, restaurant lunch or dinner, a snack and drinks. You can eat very well in this bracket.
Luxury daily food cost: €80–150+/person — fine dining, tasting menus, good wine. There are some genuinely excellent restaurants on Tenerife and Gran Canaria in particular, including a handful with Michelin stars.
A few specific prices to help you calibrate:
- Coffee (café con leche): €1.20–1.80
- Beer (half pint at a local bar): €1.50–2.50
- Grilled limpets (lapas, a starter): €8–12
- Local wine (glass): €2–4
- Menú del día lunch: €10–14
- Fresh fish dinner at a good restaurant: €18–28
- Canarian tapas plate: €3–6
Transport
Car hire is the biggest transport cost for most visitors and the one that most dramatically affects your experience. As a rough guide, budget €25–45/day for a compact car with full insurance (SCDW) in shoulder season. Splitting this between two people brings it to €12–22 each — very manageable. See our complete car hire guide for everything you need to know.
Petrol in the Canary Islands is significantly cheaper than mainland Spain or the UK, because the islands have their own tax regime (IGIC instead of IVA). Expect to pay around €1.20–1.35 per litre for unleaded. A full week of island driving — say 400–600 kilometres — costs roughly €25–40 in fuel.
Public buses (guaguas) on Tenerife and Gran Canaria are surprisingly good and very cheap — a single journey rarely exceeds €2, and the TITSA network on Tenerife covers most of the island, including a direct bus from the south resorts up to Teide (though services are infrequent). Lanzarote and Fuerteventura buses are more limited and less useful for independent exploration.
Taxis are metered and reasonably priced. Airport to Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife (40km) costs around €45–55. Taxis for short in-town journeys cost €5–12.
Need a hire car?
We work with trusted local operators across all seven islands. Transparent pricing, full insurance included.
See Car Hire OptionsActivities & Attractions
The good news: many of the best things in the Canary Islands are free. Hiking in Teide National Park, swimming at any beach, watching the sunset from a mirador, walking the old quarters of La Laguna or Las Palmas, visiting any church or market — all free. The Canaries are not an admission-fee-heavy destination.
Where you spend money on activities:
| Activity | Cost |
|---|---|
| Teide cable car | €29 per person (book online) |
| Whale watching (2 hrs) | €30–45 per person |
| Timanfaya National Park (Lanzarote) | €12 per person |
| Jameos del Agua (Lanzarote) | €10 per person |
| Jeep safari / guided 4x4 tour | €45–65 per person |
| Scuba diving (2 dives) | €60–80 per person |
| Surf lesson (2 hrs, inc. board) | €35–55 per person |
| Guided hiking tour (full day) | €40–70 per person |
Sample Daily Budgets
Budget Traveller: €65–85/day per person
Hostel dorm or rural guesthouse: €25–35 | Supermarket breakfast: €3 | Menú del día lunch: €12 | Simple bar dinner + drinks: €15 | Car hire share (split 2 ways) + fuel: €15–20 | One paid activity every 2–3 days. This is genuinely achievable and comfortable — you are not roughing it, you are just eating local and planning ahead.
Mid-Range: €120–160/day per person
3-star hotel (double, split 2 ways): €45–70 | Café breakfast: €6 | Restaurant lunch: €18 | Good dinner with wine: €30–40 | Car hire with insurance: €20–30 | One paid activity: €10–20. This is very comfortable travel that lets you eat well, stay somewhere nice, and do most things you want to without watching every euro.
Luxury: €250–400+/day per person
4–5 star hotel: €100–200 | Fine dining lunch and dinner: €80–120 | Premium car hire: €30–50 | Private or premium guided tours, spa treatments, wine with dinner. No corners cut, no compromises. The Canaries can absolutely deliver this experience, particularly on Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
Money-Saving Tips
- Eat the menú del día at lunch. It is the single best value meal in Spain and the Canaries are no exception. Three courses, wine included, for €10–14. Do it every day.
- Avoid peak season if you can. Shoulder season (May, October) offers the same weather at dramatically lower prices. School summer holidays push costs up significantly.
- Book the Teide cable car in advance online. Walk-up prices are higher and availability disappears fast in season.
- Buy wine and snacks at supermarkets. A bottle of local Tenerife wine from a supermarket costs €4–7 and is often excellent. Drink it on your terrace before dinner.
- Use local bus networks. On Tenerife and Gran Canaria especially, the buses are cheap and reach more than you might expect. A day trip from Santa Cruz to Anaga by bus is perfectly feasible.
- Travel mid-week. Car hire and flights are almost always cheaper departing Tuesday–Thursday than Friday–Sunday.
We recommend booking through Booking.com — best price guarantee and free cancellation on most hotels across the Canary Islands.
