Canary Islands

Volcanic islands off the coast of Africa: black-sand beaches, lava landscapes and mild weather in every month.

The Canaries lie in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa, far south of the rest of Spain, and each island is its own world: Tenerife with Mount Teide — Spain’s highest peak, in a UNESCO-listed national park — Lanzarote’s lava fields and white villages, the dunes of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, the laurel forests of La Gomera.

With mild weather in every month, they are the part of Spain where an outdoor wedding in winter is an easy choice. Elopements above the clouds and ceremonies on black sand at sunset are their signature.

A couple in silhouette on a black-sand beach in Tenerife, rocks rising from the sea behind them

A sheltered cove of turquoise water under dark cliffs on Lanzarote

Vines in hollows of black volcanic ash behind low stone walls, Lanzarote

Through the year

When to marry in the Canary Islands

Every month works. Spring and autumn are the easiest; summer is warm and breezy with the trade winds; winter is mild by the sea, with more cloud on the northern slopes and cold — sometimes snow — on the high peaks. Now and then a haze of Saharan dust, the calima, dims the sky for a few days.

January: Good with planning
February: Good with planning
March: Good with planning
April: Best
May: Best
June: Best
July: Good with planning
August: Good with planning
September: Best
October: Best
November: Best
December: Good with planning

Spring and early summerClear, mild days and the islands at their greenest after the winter rain. The trade winds build towards summer.
Late summer and autumnThe warmest sea of the year and long, golden evenings. October and November are calm and still warm.
WinterMild days by the sea while the rest of Europe is cold — the islands’ high season. Book early around Christmas, New Year and Carnival.

Places

Where couples marry here

The kinds of places — ask your photographer which ones they know well.

Above the clouds
Volcanic high country around the peaks, where the sun rises and sets over a sea of cloud — the islands’ most photographed elopement.
Black-sand beaches and sea stacks
Dark volcanic sand, white surf and rock pillars in the sea — dramatic at sunset.
Lava fields and vineyards
Vines growing in hollows of black ash behind low stone walls, and white houses against the volcanoes — portraits nobody else will have.
Old towns and country houses
Colonial streets with carved wooden balconies, and old estates with gardens of palms and bougainvillea for a ceremony and a long dinner.

Light

How the light falls

The islands lie far south, so the sun is high and strong and the winter days are longer than on the mainland. West coasts get the sunsets; the high peaks get the sea of clouds at dawn and dusk. The skies above the summits are dark enough for major observatories on Tenerife and La Palma — portraits under the stars are possible.

Travel

Getting there

The main islands have their own airports, with direct flights from much of Europe — longer than they look, as the islands lie near Africa. Inter-island flights and ferries link them. The Canaries keep the same time as Lisbon and London, an hour behind mainland Spain.

Photographers