Tenerife or Gran Canaria: Tenerife grew dearer, Gran Canaria stayed fuller

A year ago a hotel night cost more on average on Gran Canaria than on Tenerife. Over the last twelve months it was the other way round: €155 on Tenerife against €151. Tenerife is now dearer in 9 months of 12. Yet hotels are fuller on Gran Canaria, in every month of the last year. One more near-match is in the capitals: the housing ministry's appraised value per square metre in Santa Cruz and Las Palmas is almost the same.

This compares our seven places. On Tenerife: the capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the southern resort of Adeje, and Puerto de la Cruz in the north. On Gran Canaria: the capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Telde, and two southern resorts, Maspalomas and Mogán. Maspalomas is part of the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana; its census and winter figures are the municipality's.

Short answers

• A hotel night on Tenerife rose by 6.1% over the year, on Gran Canaria by 0.7%. Gran Canaria is dearer only from October to December.
• Gran Canaria's hotels were fuller in every month of the last year, by 0.3–5.8 points.
• By day the Tenerife South airport is warmer than Gran Canaria's in every month; clear days a year: 114 against 71.
• The sea off Adeje is warmer than off Maspalomas in every month, and stays at the swimming line a month longer.
• Appraised value per square metre in the capitals: €2,326/m² in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and €2,321/m² in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
• Italians are the largest foreign group in all three southern resorts, on Tenerife and on Gran Canaria alike.

Night price and occupancy by month

The series runs September 2025 to August 2026. Gran Canaria is dearer from October to December, most of all in November: by 12%. From January to the end of summer Tenerife is dearer, in January by 10%. A year earlier, September 2024 to August 2025, the picture was almost reversed: Tenerife was dearer in just 3 months, and the average night was €146 against €150. Gran Canaria's hotels were fuller then too, but not always: in 8 months of 12. Room price, occupancy.

Tenerife is bigger: 961,745 residents against 870,608 on 1 January 2025, on average 96,339 hotel beds against 70,784, and 26 million nights a year against 20 million. Guests from abroad stay longer on Gran Canaria: 7.3 nights on average against 6.6. Island population, nights and arrivals.

Weather: two souths and one north

The comparison uses the two southern airport stations, by the sea and near the resorts: 64 and 24 m above sea level. The AEMETAEMETSpain's state meteorological agency. It runs the weather stations and publishes the climate norms.Why it matters. Our sunshine hours and winter temperatures come from observations, not from resort marketing. The gap between the two can be several degrees. normal covers 1981–2010. By day the south of Tenerife is warmer in every month, by 0.1–0.9 °C: 28.4 °C against 27.5 °C in August, 21.7 °C against 20.8 °C in January. Nights split by season: from March to October they are warmer on Gran Canaria, from November to January in the south of Tenerife, and level in February.

The sky differs most. The Tenerife South normal has 114 fully clear days a year; Gran Canaria's airport has 71. The south of Tenerife is also drier: 132 mm over 15 rainy days against 151 mm over 22. But Tenerife has another climate too: its northern airport stands at 632 m, with a mean of 16.8 °C and 64 rainy days a year. Puerto de la Cruz is in the north too, but right by the sea rather than at the airport's height. AEMET.

The sea and the water at the beaches

The water off Adeje is warmer than off Maspalomas in every month, by 0.1–0.4 °C. The capitals are the same: the sea at Santa Cruz de Tenerife is warmer than at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria all year. The gap is small, but it shifts the swimming line of 20 °C. Off Adeje the water holds it for 10 months: January and from April to December. Off Maspalomas, 9: April drops out, at 19.8 °C against exactly 20 °C. Satellite averages for 2015–2024. NOAA OISST.

Bathing-water quality goes the other way. In 2025, 62 of 63 sampling points on Gran Canaria were graded excellent, and 56 of 61 on Tenerife. Beach by beach: Gran Canaria beaches and Tenerife beaches.

Neighbours: Italians in the south of both islands

By the 2025 census Italians are the largest foreign group in all three southern resorts: Adeje (5,501), the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana (3,312) and Mogán (1,103). Britons come second in Adeje and Mogán. Adeje's third group is Russians, 1,674 people. In the north of Tenerife, in Puerto de la Cruz, Germans come first, 1,435.

The capitals look different: Venezuelans come first in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Colombians in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The foreign share runs from 48.1% in Adeje to 4.7% in Telde. Census by nationality.

Winter flights

In January of the 2026/27 season, Tenerife South has direct flights to 102 cities abroad and Gran Canaria to 97; Tenerife North adds 6. The totals are close; the mix is not. To France, Tenerife South has 12 destinations against 5. To Sweden and Norway it is the other way round: 14 from Gran Canaria against 4. We keep this count ourselves: cities with a direct flight at least weekly in January; the table lists countries with three or more such cities from either airport. Checked on 17 September 2026.

Housing: the capitals cost the same

Spain's housing ministry publishes an appraised value per square metre for five of our places: Adeje at €3,774/m², Puerto de la Cruz at €3,090/m², Santa Cruz de Tenerife at €2,326/m², Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at €2,321/m² and Telde at €1,796/m². The two capitals are €5 apart. Adeje in the south of Tenerife is above any of the other four. For the resorts of southern Gran Canaria our base has only asking prices, which do not compare with appraisals. Ministry bulletin.

Rent is the median on current leases in 2024, and the capitals are almost level here too: €599 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and €600 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In the south, €633 in Adeje and €600 in Mogán. Per square metre Mogán is dearer, €13.1 against €10 a month; its flats are simply smaller. Our data has no median for San Bartolomé de Tirajana. SERPAVI.

The drive to hospital

On Gran Canaria all four of our places are nearest to a public hospital in the island's capital, Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín and Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno Infantil: 4 minutes from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 16 minutes from Telde, 40 minutes from Maspalomas and 65 minutes from Mogán. On Tenerife the south has its own: 10 minutes from Adeje to Hospital del Sur. From Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria is 6 minutes, from Puerto de la Cruz 31 minutes. Times are by car with no traffic from each place's centre; they say nothing about ambulances. Hospital catalogue.

Seven places side by side

Neither island shuts down in winter. By Social Security's monthly figures for 2025, each of the seven places kept at least 99.1% of its best month's cafés, hotels and shops open in January. The Maspalomas row shows residents and groups for the whole municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Social Security series.

Further

Each island month by month: best time to visit Tenerife and best time to visit Gran Canaria. Other pairs: Tenerife or Lanzarote, Gran Canaria or Lanzarote and Gran Canaria or Fuerteventura. All seven islands are in which Canary Island to choose. Our places are on the Tenerife and Gran Canaria pages.

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