Our Small Group Tour and Conference to The Canary Islands in March 2020 is perfect as a stand-alone conference or paired up with our Magical Morocco Conference for those with a little extra time available to them.
Running from 26 March – 2 April 2020, the Canary Islands are an archipelago of seven main islands lying approximately 100km from the south coast of Morocco. They may be part of Spain but seem a world away. Looming volcanoes with lunar landscapes, prehistoric sites, lush banana plantations, tiny villages dating back to the 16th century, pine forests, and sand dunes that look as though they should be in Namibia.
Many of the Canary Islands have been awarded UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status due to their unique volcanic landscapes and national parks.
Our itinerary will cover three of the seven islands — each offering a distinctly different landscape, history, and uniqueness. You begin in Gran Canaria — home to the capital of the Canaries. Often nicknamed the mini continent, the islands gets its nickname from the unrivaled diversity of its landscapes and climatic zones within a relatively small territory.
You then move to Tenerife, the largest of the Canaries. The island landscape is dominated by Mount Teide, the 3rd highest volcano in the world. On the southwest coast whale watching is in abundance year-round. Up to 26 species are found just off the coast including baleen whales, killer whales, pilot whales, and dolphins.
The final island on the itinerary is La Gomera. Travel from landscape to landscape through palm-filled valleys, ancient forests, and black sand beaches. A World Biosphere Island it is known for its pristine nature and terrestrial ecosystems. The pre-Hispanic whistling language of Silbo is still used throughout the island.
The Canary Island itinerary offers exceptional value for money — with all accommodation, tours, activities, meals, and beverages covered in the package cost.
As with all Amaco tours though, we’re keeping a few surprises up our sleeves . . . things that will help turn this memorable conference itinerary into an unforgettable experience.
We hope you can join us as we travel around the Canary Islands in March 2020. For your comfort and touring pleasure, we’ve limited the number of participants to just 40 people. Register today or you will miss out!
Do not hesitate to give us a call. One of our expert team is available and would be happy to answer any questions you have.
1300 668 149 or +61 3 9545 0906
info@amacotravel.com.au
Start Gran Canaria – End Tenerife
18th March 2021 @ 2:00pm
25th March 2021 @ 9:00am
Conference Participant: $995 pp
Non-Conference Participant: $695 pp
Amaco Family Price (for previous Amaco Conference Participants): $6,995 pp
Early Bird Price (if booked on or before 27 September 2020): $6,995 pp
Standard Price (if booked on or after 28 September 2020): $7,195 pp
Canary Islands Single Supplement (if traveling alone): $1,495 pp
On arrival into Gran Canaria Airport, you will be met by our local operators and transferred to the group hotel. Following check-in, you are free to relax or enjoy the facilities of the hotel.
A Networking Dinner is planned for this evening.
Overnight: Lopesan Ville Del Conde
Included Meals: Welcome Networking Drinks & Dinner
Conference Session 1 & 2 will take place this morning.
After lunch, you will discover one of the most character-filled districts of Gran Canaria, the area of Vegueta where the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was born. Enjoy a cultural walking tour with time to experience a little Canarian gastronomy along the way.
Dinner this evening will be hosted within the walls of the towns Literary Cabinet, the Gabinete Literario.
Overnight: Lopesan Villa Del Conde
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today you set off to discover the true essence of the Canaries far away from the main tourist trail.
As part of the full-day tour, you will explore landscapes of the island such as the Bandama Volcano, the endless coastline, and traditional villages. You will experience the local culture and neoclassical architecture around the island.
A delicious island dinner is planned – highlighting Canarian gastronomy.
Overnight: Lopesan Villa Del Conde
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today you farewell Gran Canaria and board a flight to Tenerife, the largest island of the archipelago. After the short flight, you will explore one of the oldest traditions of Tenerife — winemaking. Located 600 metres above sea level Bodegas Monje offers breathtaking views, taking in the sea and mountains surrounded by vineyards.
Enjoy a cellar tour and learn about the local grape and unique production methods. A traditional Canarian lunch will be served at the winery before we head to the hotel to check-in. The remaining afternoon is at your leisure.
Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight: Gran hotel Bahia del Duque Resort Tenerife
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast this morning you will board our privately chartered catamaran and sail through the clear blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Tenerife is one of the three places in the world where whales live all year round. It won’t be long before you have the opportunity to see dolphins and whales in their natural environment. Lunch will be served on board.
Following the cruise, we’ll head back to the hotel. Conference Session 3 & 4 will take place this afternoon.
Dinner this evening will be in the fishing village of La Caleta. The seafaring spirit of the island will be showcased tonight.
Overnight: Gran hotel Bahia del Duque Resort Tenerife
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Conference Session 5 & 6 will take place this morning.
After lunch at the hotel, you will depart in the early afternoon and head for Mt Teide National Park. The Teide volcano dominates the island at a height of 3,718m. You will experience the ever-changing landscape as you venture higher, encountering vineyards, almond and olive trees, and pine forests before you enter the lava fields.
After exploring you will enjoy a traditional dinner at the highest restaurant on the island. After dinner, an astronomy workshop has been arranged in the national park with expert astronomers. Mt Teide is well known for its pure and clear sky, and on many nights it is possible to observe 83 of the 88 officially recognised constellations.
Overnight: Gran hotel Bahia del Duque Resort Tenerife
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today you leave Tenerife behind and board a ferry to La Gomera. The second smallest of the Canary Islands, unspoiled and lost in a beautiful and fascinating time warp. You will visit Garajonay National Park, with its green mass of prehistoric vegetation unique to the Macaronesian region. You will learn about the pre-Hispanic whistling language called Silbo still used throughout villages to communicate.
Lunch will be served at a local restaurant. You will visit the historic community of San Sebastian and the remarkable vistas of Roque de Agando. You will take the ferry back to Tenerife in time to freshen up before dinner.
The Farewell Dinner takes place this evening.
Overnight: Gran hotel Bahia del Duque Resort Tenerife
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast check out of the hotel and transfer to the airport for your onward journey home.
Included Meals: Breakfast
Given everything that has happened in the travel industry of late – you’re correct to be vigilant about where you spend your travel dollar.
Amaco is not only a member of AFTA, the Australian Federation of Travel Agents but we are also ATAS Travel Accredited. This means we have met strict industry standards and criteria. Only the best industry agents achieve this accreditation meaning that you can travel with us knowing that you’re in safe and capable hands.
With almost 25 years’ experience in planning and running conferences, we understand that participants often want to add additional travel destinations and adventures either before or after the all-inclusive packages we provide.
Other operators might discourage you from doing this. Sometimes, it’s because of the added complexity it creates and at other times they’ll try to talk you out of it simply because they don’t have capable or experienced consultants with the breadth and depth of the consultants we employ.
Australia is such a long way from many of the places we conference in – so we encourage all participants to make the most of the time away. This might mean departing earlier than the rest of the group and visiting other destinations before meeting up with the main group at the conference or staying on at the conclusion and doing some additional travel.
Either way – our consultants are perfectly positioned to assist you with making these arrangements and will do all the hard work for you – seamlessly combining your personalised itinerary with the group program.
Yes… not a problem. We understand that people may have a preferred Travel Agent they want to use and we don’t have any issues with you doing so. We’ll advise you of suggested arrival and departure times to allow you to make use of our group transfers.
That said though… we do have experiences consultants who are ready and waiting to help… even if that means just giving you a comparison price – nothing wrong with some competition.
We do ask for a copy of your itinerary so that we can double-check it to ensure that it fits with our program and group itinerary.
One word of warning, however, when booking flights independently – as the non-ticketing Agent we’re not notified of any changes or cancellations to your booking. If anything changes with your booking, it will be up to your agent to contact you and then for you to contact us.
It is also worth pointing out that even though we’ll have experienced staff members escorting the group during the conference, as the non-ticketing Agent we are unable to make contact or deal with the airline on your behalf.
We used to include flights in our travel package but found that in many cases the fares were more expensive than the best available daily fares or were not applicable for people who were looking to extend pre or post the main conference travel dates.
We also felt it was unfair on you, as a participant, to unknowingly pay a premium for a more flexible group fare when you are already committed to attending the conference.
By not including the airfare in the package, you are able to work with one of our experienced and knowledgeable Travel Consultants to arrange flights on any airline and from any destination depending on your preferences…. including the class of travel.
In short….. Yes!
You’re encouraged to talk to our experienced travel consultants to learn more about the options open to you either before or after the conference itineraries. We will gladly work with you to put together a personalised itinerary that can include as much or as little as you want.
We believe it is important for your own peace of mind to know that our consultants are all employed directly by Amaco Small Group Tours and are located in our office.
We don’t subcontract out the travel to a third party which means you can be comfortable knowing that whatever arrangements you make through Amaco will be tied together with the conference program to make one continuous, seamless travel itinerary. We’ll put as much care and effort into your extension as we put into the planning of the conference.
Whether it is simply booking some airport transfers with a couple of nights accommodation through to more elaborate arrangements we are perfectly positioned to incorporate any individual travel plans into your overall conference itinerary.
Email or call us so we can put together your perfect itinerary.
Much has been said about the value of travel insurance – especially given the broad-based exclusion policies many underwriters have in place which protects them from claims resulting from pandemics and epidemics.
Amaco provides travel insurance from some of the most reputable companies in the industry including Cover-More, SureSave and AussieTravelCover – and always at competitive rates. Over the last few months, there have been a number of enhancements to the policies available which many of the credit card policies do not include.
Please call our office and we will gladly work with you to obtain a quote from any or all of our insurance suppliers.
Amaco is an Accredited Education Provider for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian College of Rural & Remote Medicine.
Each conference we run includes an education syllabus that assists GP’s, pharmacists and health professionals to improve the quality of care they provide to patients and customers while at the same time providing them the opportunity to travel to and experience new and exciting destinations.
Our conference to Alaska will allow delegates the opportunity to earn CPD points based on the content and time in session. As has been the case with past conferences, we will work closely with participants affiliated with other associations to ensure that they receive maximum recognition for attending the conference.
The content of the education sessions will be relevant to GPs, Medical Specialists, Pharmacists, Dentists, Nurses and other health providers. We encourage all attendees to register for the conference sessions.
The Education Committee for the Canary Islands Conference will be selected in the third or fourth quarter of 2020 with final conference topics to be chosen based on the feedback from our previous conference attendees and with input from the RACGP, ACRRM and Medical Journals. Suitable speakers will be approached based on the topics selected.
Subject to final accreditation, the Canary Islands Conference will include an Accredited Education Activity (formerly Category 1 Activity) affording delegates the opportunity to earn up to 40 points.
ACRRM members can also expect the education program to be accredited and to earn CPD points. RACGP and ACRRM accreditation will be applied for under the triennium 2020 to 2022.
As has been the case in the past, Amaco will work with pharmacy bodies and those affiliated with other associations to ensure that they receive maximum recognition for attending the conference.
We welcome applications from potential presenters and encourage anyone interested to contact us to obtain further information.