Why the Canary Islands Are Europe’s Best Green Travel Secret
The Green Travel Guide: Slow journeys through Fuerteventura, Lanzarote & La Gomera — plus autumn itineraries for Scandinavia & Ireland.
If you’re new here, every week I share tips, insights and actionable ideas on writing, travel writing and green travel through the lens of a novelist and travel writer (Lonely Planet, DK Travel, etc.) in three newsletters: Storycraft, Write Your Way Around the World and The Green Travel Guide. Welcome, join us and thanks for coming on the journey!
This week’s edition - The Canary Islands: Beyond the Beach
When you think of the Canary Islands what images come to mind? Winter sun? Turquoise waters, sand dunes, volcanic black sand beaches?
Yet when it comes to green travel there is so much more to discover in the Canary Islands.
This week’s The Green Travel Guide takes a different look at Fuerteventura with some slow travel writing, explores La Gomera, with a green travel destination guide, and shares a month of slow journeys ideas to help you travel better.
If you prefer to head north as we move into the cooler months, the Autumn Adventure Pack is for you - with guides to Scandinavia and Ireland, along with a green travel packing checklist for autumnal trips.
And last but not least, a couple of TBR recommendations - one travelling on the old Orient Express route to Istanbul, the other tracing mystery railroad tracks in Myanmar.
Slow Travel Story: Postcards from Fuerteventura
Friday
I’m lying on a sand-sprinkled towel, a few steps from the water’s edge, using my book (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Wind, Sand and Stars) to shade my face from the afternoon heat. Classes are finished and I’ve cycled along the coast to a sheltered bay. There are a couple of resort hotels backing onto the beach, and pale-skinned families - speaking German, English, Dutch - cluster under sunshades. The waves lap quietly here, the bay more protected than the wild open stretches of white sand further up and down the coast, looking over to Africa across the way.
Suddenly the sun disappears, and I look up. There’s a guy, wet from the sea, standing beside me.
He smiles and throws down his towel next to mine. His hair is dark, curly, skin beach-living tanned. We start to chat in Spanish lobbing questions back and forth. He’s called Chico and he’s 19, my age.
He quit school early and now he spends his days swimming and looking for rich mid-life tourists to seduce, but he complains his English isn’t good enough. Will I teach him? I teach English in one of the island schools and I tutor kids in French and English, a couple of afternoons a week. He says he’ll study hard and is willing to pay well.
‘What else am I going to do?’he asks, plaintive. I tell him I’ll think about it, and cycle home along the coast road.
Later I have a German lesson in a language school in town. The teacher is from Tenerife, the class taught in Spanish. All those rolled r’s getting in the way of the precise guttural German sounds.
Entschuldigung, bitte. Excuse me, I’m sorry.
Woher kommen Sie? Where are you from?
Sind Sie hier im Urlaub? Are you on holiday?
I think of Chico, eyeing up his marks.
Saturday
I travel to Lanzarote with my friend J who’s competing in a windsurf competition. I love the short drive north, the sand dunes like a moonscape scrolling past on the left, the turquoise water sparkling on the right, windsurf sails breaking the surf, flitting like bright-feathered birds back and forth. The ferry crossing is quick. An old song, Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads is playing on the radio (‘You may find yourself in another part of the world…You may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’).
J has lashed his boards and sail bag to the roof of his beat-up car. At the meet-point the surfers have parked up on a bend in the road, and some have driven down onto the beach a little. Everyone knows J. I sit on the bonnet of the car watching the competitors out on the water. Later, we gather round a bonfire on the beach. It’s like one of those sepia-hued sun-splashed spreads from CN Traveller - everyone tanned, athletic, wild and happy. Stories of travels to Dakhla, Gostoso, Bonaire, Dahab, Icaraizinho, Boa Vista, Zanzibar. But they all agree - it’s hard to beat the waves and the wind here. That night we all sleep in the cars and vans or on the beach before the final morning of the competitions.
Lanzarote is all pink moon rock and volcanic black sand. It’s César Manrique architecture (organic, undulating curves, everything pared back to the essential, buildings emerging from the rocks), a landscape full of cacti and desert flowers.
Sunday
It’s early-afternoon when we get back to Fuerteventura, but J is full of adrenaline from winning his heats and we decide to travel down to Punta Jandía, the southernmost tip of the island, to stop for paella and beers. The drive loops round mountain roads, the landscape matching that of the desert across the way. Rolling arid copper-tinged hills, dotted with date palm trees, and clusters of white-washed island homes in villages dipped down in shaded valleys. At the Mirador Corrales de Quize, with its giant-sized bronze statues of the two ancient Kings of Fuerteventura - Ayose and Guise - the wind whips round the rocky landscape, bringing Saharan dust. I wipe my eyes and retreat to the car.
We travel back in time in Betancuria with its traditional churches, colonial houses and cobblestone lanes, once the island capital. It’s a small oasis in the middle of the stark landscape, hidden deep in a valley to protect it from pirate raids (not entirely successful, as it turned out). Nearby we explore Barranco de las Peñitas, rock-scrambling in the ravine, and up to the small chapel of Virgen de la Peña, stopping off at the village of Vega de Río Palmas. This is a Fuerteventura few tourists venture to visit.
By the time we reach windswept Punta Jandía, we are tired, and stop at a tiny restaurant overlooking the sea. They bring out a huge flat dish of seafood paella, and cold Mahou beers. I wonder what it must be like to live out here for a lifetime on the tip of Europe at this crossroads between Africa, Europe and the Americas. We go in search of the sunset by the Faro de la Entallada - this Moroccan-style lighthouse is the closest point of the islands to the African coast - only 60 miles away as the views stretch. I think of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry living there, in Cape Juby, flying planes across the Sahara desert, writing his books and reading Zola and Hugo in between his flights.
Afterwards, we slow down on the winding coastal road above some coves, having spotted the light from a small boat coming carefully ashore between the jagged rocks. It could be a migrant boat that’s travelled too far up the coast. It attempts to get close, then changes course. Each year hundreds risk their lives to make the crossing - coming from Mauritania, Morocco, Western Sahara, Gambia, Senegal even.
As we travel back to Puerto del Rosario, J talks about his family in Morocco. His mother’s family all still live there. He travels back when he can; he’s worried he’s losing his Darija Arabic learnt in childhood, and his Amazigh and Berber traditions. He too sits at this crossroads between cultures and lands.
The beaches are deserted now that night has fallen, the tourists all off to dinner in the island restaurants. I think of Chico and his faltering English, of the wild surf tribe in Lanzarote, of the sharp volcanic desert peaks meeting the horizon, the African coast just across the way. At home, I uncurl the sand-pitted pages of my book, and read Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s words before falling asleep: “My heart was infinitely warm beneath the desert stars… I know what I love. It is life.”
To read more about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry read this post, and if you enjoyed this slow travel story, let me know in the comments.
La Gomera Destination Guide
La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa, is a hidden paradise for eco-conscious travellers. Known for its rugged terrain, lush forests, dramatic cliffs, and sustainable way of life, La Gomera offers a serene and environmentally conscious escape for those looking to connect with nature. The island is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and its dedication to preserving the environment is evident in its focus on sustainable tourism, organic farming, and conservation efforts.
This Green Travel Destination Guide to La Gomera will provide you with sustainable travel options, eco-friendly accommodations, green activities like hiking in Garajonay National Park (home to ancient laurel forests), whale watching excursions off the coast, visiting local farms in Valle Gran Rey, or hiking to Fortaleza de Chipude for panoramic island views and a window into the history of the Canary Islands, along with green tips for making the most of your time on this beautiful island while minimising your environmental impact.
Read the full mini-destination guide to La Gomera on Green Travel Guides here.
If you are interested in the upcoming Canary Islands Green Travel Guide (October) sign up here for an early bird discount code of 20% off and in the meantime you’ll also receive a free mini-guide to the islands featuring some of the best green travel adventures for a Canary Island stay. The mini-guide [25 page PDF] includes recommendations for each island along with green travel tips and advice on visiting the islands. The full guide covers curated hikes on each of the islands, green travel itineraries, where to stay, what to see, do, eat + more - all through a sustainable travel lens.
A Month of Slow Journeys: 30 Sustainable Travel Practices
Want to travel green but not sure how? Here are 30 sustainable travel practices you can implement to make a difference.
Explore A Month of Slow Journeys: 30 Days, 30 Sustainable Travel Practices here.
Autumn Adventure Pack (Slow Scandinavia Green Travel Guide, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way + Green Travel Packing Checklist)
If you dream of heading north for the autumn months and exploring Celtic shores or Northern reaches, this Autumn Adventure Pack full of green travel itineraries and slow travel tips is for you.
Slow Scandinavia Green Travel Guide – Discover the art of unhurried travel across the Nordic north. From cozy fjord villages to lakeside stays, archipelago exploring and cosy slow city travel tips, this guide, with itineraries covering Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, including Slow City tips for Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen, helps you experience an Scandinavian autumn at a gentler pace.
Wild Atlantic Way Green Travel Itinerary – Trace Ireland’s rugged west coast on the Wild Atlantic Way. Take this 12-day itinerary and go island-hopping, immerse in traditional culture and language, join local communities for music, stories and warm Irish hospitality. Think windswept cliffs, harvest-season markets, and small villages and towns where sustainability and slow living is part of daily life.
Green Travel Packing Checklist (Autumn Edition) – A practical checklist for low-impact adventurers. Pack smart, pack light, and pack green — from merino layers to reusable essentials. Handy checklist to simplify your planning.
Get your copy of the Autumn Adventure Pack for just £12.99 (value £27.99). Download your Pack here.
Together, these guides are your passport to a season of slower journeys, meaningful connections, and mindful packing. Whether you’re wandering Scandinavian forests or road-tripping Irish coastal routes, you’ll have everything you need to travel sustainably this fall.
Latest Slow Travel Reads
Two books that I am looking forward to reading.
Slow Trains to Istanbul is Tom Chesshyre’s account of travelling London to Istanbul by train. Having done this journey previously (Istanbul to London) I’m looking forward to reading this one.
On the Shadow Tracks by Clare Hammond written about the discovery of a network of secret railway lines in Myanmar, is another on my TBR pile. Again, a place I’ve visited and which deserves to be written about much more.
Coming soon:
If you’re looking for some slow travel inspiration, pre-order your copy of The Ultimate Green Travel Guide: 100 Inspiring Adventures here. With trips like hiking Tasmania’s Tarkine Rainforest to exploring the Lebanon Mountain Trail, kayaking in the Lofoten Islands in Norway to eco-desert stays in Jordan, or a home stay with an Amazigh family in the Atlas Mountains - there are a world of adventures to inspire you here.
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Happy Travels,
Laura
Laura McVeigh
Author, Travel Writer, Founder - Green Travel Guides
lauramcveigh.com | lauramcveightravel.com | travel-writing.com | greentravelguides.world
Laura McVeigh is a Northern Irish novelist and travel writer. Her work is widely translated. She has authored books for Lonely Planet, DK Travel, bylines in the Irish Times, Irish Independent, featured by the BBC, Newsweek, New Internationalist & many more. Former CEO for a global writers’ organisation, she has worked with writers from 145 countries. She is founder of Travel-Writing.Com and Green Travel Guides. Laura writes on storytelling, travel writing and mindful travel on Substack.