Travel around the Canary Islands. September 2019. Key points
In the middle of summer we thought, "Why not fly to the Canaries again in September?" We already had valid visas, so nothing was stopping us from simply buying tickets and going. I started checking fares and realized that tickets in September would cost more than when we bought them for the March trip. Back then they were around 51k rubles, while now Aeroflot offered them for 77k, and that was only because I picked the cheapest dates. If you move the dates a bit in either direction, the number becomes much larger. And if you shift the trip to August, on some days it can reach about 177k for two people, which is even more expensive than when we flew to New Zealand. We could have chosen cheaper tickets, but they involved transfers, and I do not like flying with transfers when there is a direct option, even if it costs more. Besides, if possible I still prefer Aeroflot, because then the departure is from Sheremetyevo, which is closer to us than Domodedovo. I also already knew a good cheap parking lot near Sheremetyevo where you can leave your car without depending on anyone, parking P12. The rates there are simple: open-air parking is 100 rubles per day, and covered parking, basically a canopy outside, is 200 rubles per day. But there is a problem: in season there may be no free spaces either under the canopy or in the open lot. That is exactly what happened to us. When we arrived, they told us P12 was full, so we had to park for 200 rubles per day at Gallax parking, which is located opposite P12.
We decided that this time we would fly for the same number of days as before, but visit different islands: La Palma and La Gomera.
Since most of the key points were almost the same as on our March trip, I will not describe everything again. I will only mention what changed.
Over the whole trip we drove about 1040 km.
Accommodation
On this trip, for the first time ever, not counting the Maldives, we booked a hotel for four nights in a row. La Palma is a large island, but we decided to stay in the center and drive out each day to the places we had planned. We stayed on La Gomera for two nights, and on Tenerife for one night at the beginning and two nights at the end.
Transport
Once again we rented a car from Cicar. By the way, I forgot to mention that when you pick up a car there, they charge your card for the fuel currently in the tank, and if you return the car with the same fuel level, they later refund that amount.
This time I requested a Seat Leon right away, and that is exactly what they gave us. It was white again too. It even seemed to me at first that the license plate was the same, but later I compared the numbers and saw that the cars were different.
Money
This time I organized things differently. I brought about 1000 euros in cash, took a Binbank card with 5% cashback on car-related expenses, mainly for fuel, and also took a Yandex card with multi-currency mode, on which I had deposited rubles about a month before the trip and converted them cheaply into euros. The advantage of a multi-currency card is that the charge is taken from the same currency in which the purchase is made. Naturally, when the terminal offers a choice, you should select euros.
Climate
This time we traveled in September. That is one of the warm seasons in the Canaries, and in practice it really was warm. Still, the ocean water was cool, getting in was difficult, but already possible. And once you got used to it, you could keep swimming. I think the temperature felt roughly like water in our central region.
Internet and mobile connection
Nothing new here. As usual, I kept using the balance I had long ago topped up on DrimSim. This time it came to about 4 euros.
Trip cost
- 77 730 Flights
- 29 520 Accommodation
- 19 580 Ferry
- 16 130 Car rental
- 9 220 Groceries
- 7 510 Fuel
- 5 690 Entertainment
- 4 870 Food
- 3 470 Insurance
- 2 000 Parking
- 1 520 Miscellaneous
- 630 Mobile connection
Total: 177 880 RUB.
For some reason, the hotels this time ended up about 1k cheaper than on the previous trip, even though March was already off-season. And the rooms were better this time too. Car rental also came out a bit cheaper. The ferry was slightly more expensive, but this time we took it three times instead of twice. Flights, however, were more expensive, and some other items were higher too. Overall, the trip cost 26k more than our March trip. I think it still did not turn out too expensive because I avoided card conversion fees.