Carmen
Travel editor at Reisedrop · 2026-09-01
In Switzerland in December, it’s dark by 4.45 pm. At 4.45 pm on Gran Canaria, you’ve still got two more hours of sunshine ahead of you. Four flight hours lie between those two sentences — and that’s exactly why the Canary Islands are Europe’s most reliable insurance policy against winter: 22 to 24 degrees, seven hours of sunshine a day, sea temperatures around 20 degrees. No jet lag, no long-haul prices, no weather lottery. Which really leaves just one question: which island suits you best?
Seven islands, honestly sorted
Gran Canaria is the all-rounder — the dunes of Maspalomas, lively promenades, hotels in every price bracket. Tenerife offers the biggest contrast you can experience in a single day: snow on Teide in the morning, swimming in Costa Adeje — the warmest corner of the archipelago — by afternoon. Fuerteventura belongs to beach people: the best sandy beaches for miles, though the wind blows harder too. Lanzarote is the island for aesthetes: black volcanic landscapes, César Manrique’s architecture, vines growing in ash craters. And La Palma and La Gomera? Best leave those to the hikers. Green, quiet, gloriously low-key.
The two faces of December
Price-wise, the month splits into two completely different worlds, and it pays to know that: up to around 18 December, it’s low season — four-star hotels with breakfast from 80 to 110 Franken a night, flights from Zurich from around 150 Franken return. We’ll happily repeat ourselves here: that may just be the best sunshine-to-price ratio in Europe. Then the holidays arrive, and prices jump by 60 to 80 percent. So our recommendation is unromantic but effective: fly in the first half of December. And if it absolutely has to be over the holidays — book by the end of October.
Where it’s lovelier than the brochure
With a rental car (from around 25 Franken a day), every package-tour island turns into a little paradise for explorers. On Gran Canaria, the detour to the mountain village of Tejeda is worth it — from late December, the almond trees start to bloom there, and hardly anyone knows. On Tenerife, you’ll eat better and cheaper in the fishing village of El Médano than in any resort, with surfers as the backdrop. Lanzarote hides its prettiest swimming coves by the Papagayo beaches in the south. And if you drive to El Cotillo on Fuerteventura’s west coast, you’ll find lagoons that look as if someone accidentally left the South Seas there.
Short and practical
In winter, several airlines fly direct every day from Zurich, Basel and Geneva to the four main islands; flight time is a little over four hours. For the first half of December, booking four to six weeks ahead is more than enough. For the holidays, the opposite applies — and flexible date search is especially worth a look: between 17 and 20 December, it’s common to see differences of more than 200 Franken per person. Fly three days earlier, stay one weekend longer — saving money really can be that simple.