Winter Sun Destinations Recommendations - Canaries?

I did have a bit of a gap in that period. Didn't go between 1965 and 1995 but have been six or seven times since. In 1995 I took Mrs Shiney there for the first time. She loved it. That year we hired a taxi driver/official guide (some of them are accredited) for two days to take us around the island and it was excellent. In 2013 we were back on the island and one evening decided to catch a taxi back to our hotel instead of walking. The driver recognised us and Mrs Shiney even remembered his name!

 

What a great memory Mrs Shiney has! No wonder she has instant recall on plant names and identification.

 

We are just back from a couple of weeks in Madeira, it's been a super holiday: Sunshine most days (rain a few others), beautiful gardens with stunning flowers even at this time of year, very friendly people, lovely fresh food. So thanks for the recommendations folks!

 

@JWK I'm pleased you had a good time. How was the Carnival?

 

It was around 20C (65F) during the day and not much less during the night. According to the locals it was unusually cold for February, they were all complaining about it and wearing big coats and hats! We wore shorts and T shirts all the time - it's like an English summer - just pleasant.

We saw the cruise ships coming in to Funchal, they only seem to stay for a day or two. Personally I don't think that is long enough to even scratch the surface. As a gardener you will love it @Freddy the whole island is just a riot of exotic and colourful plants.

 

Thanks @shiney - the Carnival was the highlight of our stay, surpassing even the plants and flowers. There were thousands of beautiful costumed synchronised Samba dancers, bands and floats, they took over 2 hours to dance past us, my photos don't do it justice:

 

@Freddy it will be worth reading @PeterS 's thread about his visit to Madeira in 2016, I read it several times whilst out there to ensure I hadn't missed anything:

The flowers of Madeira.

 

That's about the same time of year we went Strongy, I'm sure you will really enjoy it and to be sure some flowers will be very different to August.

I was thinking about my trip to Madeira today as I was tucking up some of my tender plants in the greenhouse. I brought quite a few things back , all bought from the Flower Market which is an extraordinary place, I went there about three times. Some of my bargains are doing OK, some have only just got going and I've lost a few along the way too. Now the trouble begins getting them through winter.