Tenerife Shopping

The Canary Islands sit outside the EU customs and VAT territory, so the tax on goods here is a local one at a much lower rate than mainland Spain. That is why perfume, spirits, tobacco and electronics are cheaper, and it is worth knowing before you buy any of them at home.

The more interesting shopping is the island's own. Wine from the five protected regions, honey rum, palm syrup, goat cheese, mojo in jars, gofio, and the small dense bananas that do not travel to northern supermarkets. Craft work means basketry, pottery made without a wheel in the old Guanche manner, and the timple, the small five-string instrument that carries Canarian folk music.