The Canary Islands are a veritable paradise of professional sports tourism, the perfect destination for enhancing performance in an incomparable setting. Here you will find everything you need to train for triathlon, cycling, trail running or any other sporting discipline, in the best climate in the world.
If you are interested in sports tourism, the Canary Islands are the destination for you. The year-round good climate, the diversity of the nature of the Canaries and the quality of their installations and high-performance centres are some of the reasons why many of the world's foremost elite athletes choose the archipelago for their pre-season sports training. In addition, the Canary Islands are the venue for important sporting events included on the main international circuits, such as Ironman Lanzarote, Transvulcania, Transgrancanaria, Gran Canaria Wind&Waves, Tenerife Bluetrail or Frontón King, among others.
The Canary Islands, the perfect environment to raise your competitive level
And many more
8 reasons to partake of sports tourism in the Canary Islands
Reason #1
Light and clear skies
The Canary Islands offer you the opportunity to train outdoors with pleasant temperatures all year long: an average of 23 ºC in summer and 19 ºC in winter, with 4,800 hours of light a year and scant rainfall. Because of this, they are the perfect destination to prepare in at any time of year and above all during winter, because training in controlled temperature and humidity conditions, with a constant average of hours of sunlight, has a positive impact on sporting performance.
Reason #2
High-performance sports centres (CARs)
The archipelago has a wide range of installations, with highly-qualified professionals and ideal services for physical preparation. At present the Canary Islands have over thirty high-performance sports centres (CARs) and technical centres specialising in professional training and sports medicine, offering specific diets and a highly-qualified medical service for complete health monitoring. Because of the characteristics and the high quality of the installations, the islands can accommodate up to 3,000 high-level sports people in the same time period.
Reason #3
Diversity of terrains and landscape
The Canary Islands are perfect for sports tourism: here you can train accompanied by the sea breeze and the warm sun and just an hour later, be training at high altitudes and low temperatures. There is a huge diversity of scenery, types of terrain and microclimates so you can choose the best training conditions at any given time: trails, avenues, roads, paths in the midst of nature... This combination enables one to expose the body to extremely varied conditions, taking performance to the limit and enabling maximum adjustment of training plans.
Reason #4
Put performance to the test with altitude training
The peculiar orography of the Canary Islands - resulting from their volcanic origin - allows us to move quickly from sea level to an altitude of over 1,800 metres, which is a huge advantage for increasing performance. Settings like the Teide National Park, Roque de los Muchachos or Pico de Las Nieves offer the chance to train at altitude, under conditions of hypoxia, in order to achieve greater performance in competitions.
Every year professional sports people from different disciplines come to the Canary Islands. For example, some of the best cycling teams have gathered on the archipelago, such as Team Jumbo Visma, Team Bahrain McLaren or Astana Pro Team, as well as top racers like Alberto Contador, Primož Roglič, Chris Froome or Tadej Pogacar, as well as many others.
Reason #5
Rapid recovery
The Canary Islands are renowned for the healthy properties and healing effects of their climate. The hours of sunlight and the composition of the seawater, rich in material of volcanic origin, are highly beneficial in recovery therapies. It has been proven that after being exposed to the sun, the body generates vitamin D (indispensable for absorbing calcium) and secretes serotonin, a hormone related to emotional wellbeing. Moreover, bathing in the sea - which contains more than 80 components present in our body - helps eliminate toxins. As well as the natural advantages they offer, the Canary Islands have multiple sports recovery and physiotherapy centres. Recovery experts and physiotherapists can make use of exclusive spaces, with guaranteed privacy.
Reason #6
1,500 km of coastline
The sea is a powerful ally. Seawater activates and improves blood circulation, enabling an increase in muscle strength and power. And the islands' sea breeze is loaded with negative ions and mineral salts, which help to improve the respiratory system.
In addition, the more than 1,500 km of coastline make the Canary Islands' archipelago the perfect destination for practising professional water sports such as surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, sailing or diving, along with many others.
Reason #7
Guaranteed connectivity
The Canary Islands have 8 airports (6 international and 2 local) which receive regular flights from more than 130 cities. A destination just a few hours away by air from the main European cities.
- 2 hrs. 30 min. from the Iberian Peninsula
- 4 hrs. from the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium
- 5 hrs. from Italy
- 6 hrs. from Sweden, Norway and Poland
- 7 hrs. 30 min. from Russia
Reason #8
Major competitions
The Canary Islands host a large number of major sporting competitions that that score points on international circuits. Many sports people come to the archipelago for sports tourism, because it is the venue for numerous global competitions. Some examples are Transgrancanaria, which forms part of the Spartan Trail World Championship; the Windsurfing and Kitesurfing World Cup, which is held on Sotavento beach in Fuerteventura; the Lanzarote Ironman; the Gran Canaria Marathon, or the Transvulcania of La Palma. Could there be a better place for professional sports' training?
