Tour Information
ENTERING SPAIN: U.S. citizens will need a passport which is valid for six months beyond the intended length of stay. A visa is not required. Citizens of other nations should contact the nearest Spanish Consulate for entry requirements.
Visitors to the Canary Islands are not required to have any international certificates of vaccination.
COUNTRY INFORMATION: You can review the U.S. Department of State Country Specific Travel Information at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Spain.html.
HEALTH: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all travelers be up to date on routine vaccinations. These include measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, polio vaccine, and your yearly flu shot. They further recommend that most travelers have protection against Hepatitis A.
Please contacting your doctor well in advance of your tour’s departure as some medications must be initiated weeks before the period of possible exposure.
The most current information about travelers’ health recommendations for Spain can be found on the CDC’s Travel Health website at http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/spain .
Altitude: We reach about 7200 feet on Tenerife (one needs to get to about 6200 feet to see the Blue Chaffinch). Please consult your physician if you have respiratory or cardio-vascular problems.
Smoking: Smoking is prohibited in the vehicles or when the group is gathered for meals, checklists, etc. If you are sharing a room with a nonsmoker, please do not smoke in the room. If you smoke in the field, do so well away and downwind from the group. If any location where the group is gathered has a stricter policy than the WINGS policy, that stricter policy will prevail.
Food Allergies / Requirements: We cannot guarantee that all food allergies can be accommodated at every destination. Participants with significant food allergies or special dietary requirements should bring appropriate foods with them for those times when their needs cannot be met. Announced meal times are always approximate depending on how the day unfolds. Participants who need to eat according to a fixed schedule should bring supplemental food. Please contact the WINGS office if you have any questions.
Miscellaneous: Water in the hotels is safe to drink.
There will be five ferry trips and although the seas are fairly calm, and the vessels large, you should bring suitable medication if you are prone to sea-sickness.
Insects shouldn’t be a problem but it might be wise to bring a repellent in case we encounter a few mosquitoes.
The sun is strong, especially at higher altitude, and the sun and wind on ferry crossings are significant. It is easy to become sunburnt so bring a few long-sleeve shirts and a broad-rimmed hat with strap (to avoid losing it in the wind.) On particularly hot days be sure to increase your intake of fluids. Tap water is generally safe to drink and bottled water will be available throughout the day, as required.
PACE OF TOUR AND DAILY ROUTINE: The individual days may be long in hours, but there is no major physical effort needed during the tour. It is possible that on Fuerteventura and Lanzarote some slightly longer walks may be undertaken but even these are only 15-30 minutes in duration.
CLIMATE: It is generally warm to hot and dry throughout the summer. However the climate varies from island to island and even from one part of an island to another. For example the northern part of Tenerife in the laurel forest tends to be cooler (60 F) and damper than the south (usually mid 70s to mid 80s F). Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are a lot drier overall than the western islands and usually very warm (mid 70s to mid 80s F)
ACCOMMODATION: The tour stays at a number of hotels all of which have en-suite facilities.
TRANSPORTATION: Transport will be via mini-bus driven by the leader. Participants should be able to sit in any seat in the vehicle.
We’ll also take a few trips by inter-island ferry. These are large vessels with a variety of onboard facilities.
Updated: 14 February 2024