Other islands are day-trip material from a west-coast base, and that is an underrated luxury. La Gomera floats on your horizon every evening; the ferry port that serves it is only half an hour away. Fares and times below are as listed in July 2026; both ferry companies price dynamically, so check before booking.
La Gomera: the classic day trip
Fred. Olsen Express and Naviera Armas both cross from Los Cristianos to San Sebastián in about 50 minutes, with six to eight sailings a day between them — out around 08:45–09:30, back as late as 20:00, which buys a full nine-to-eleven-hour island day. Foot-passenger returns start around €85 at non-resident fares. Taking a car adds roughly €21–27 each way, but most hire firms bar their cars from ferries and the local exceptions require written authorisation, so going as foot passengers and joining a tour or hiring on arrival is usually simpler.
What fills the day: San Sebastián, where Columbus provisioned before the 1492 crossing; Garajonay National Park, a UNESCO-listed laurel forest that has survived since before the Ice Ages; and Silbo Gomero, the island’s whistled language, UNESCO-protected, still taught in every Gomeran school and demonstrated at restaurant stops on most organized tours. Coach-and-ferry day tours with lunch run from roughly €75–100 per person; most pick up in Costa Adeje or Los Cristianos, so plan the short drive to the pickup point.
La Palma: the green island and the new volcano
The fast ferry from Los Cristianos takes about two and a half hours (from around €51); Binter’s thirty-minute hop leaves from Tenerife North, an hour and a quarter from here. Three rewards justify the longer crossing: the vast erosion crater of Caldera de Taburiente; daytime guided visits to the Roque de los Muchachos observatory at 2,396 m (about €20, book ahead); and Tajogaite, the 2021 volcano. Its crater zone opens only with authorised guides (around €40 for a three-to-four-hour walk, superbly reviewed), while public viewpoints and lava-coast boat trips from Tazacorte are free alternatives. Realistically this is an overnight rather than a day trip.
Further afield
Gran Canaria works as a long day (fast ferry from Santa Cruz, ~1h20 to Agaete with a free bus into Las Palmas, from about €49; or a half-hour flight). Lanzarote and Fuerteventura deserve a night or two: fly Binter or Canaryfly and build the trip around Timanfaya’s fire mountains. El Hierro, the wild end of the archipelago, is about 2 h 30 by Armas ferry from Los Cristianos (from ~€46). Inter-island flights generally run €30–80 one way for visitors — the astonishing fares locals mention include a 75% resident discount — and popular routes sell out weeks ahead in high season.