Canary Islands

The Canaries are a seething mass of oiled flesh, and offer the worst of mass tourism: concreted shorelines, tacky apartment blocks, and bars where you can pretend you've never left home; but they also offer some of the best beaches within easy escape from a snowy European winter.

Luckily, it's not all mass tourism. Beyond the mega resorts you can still find tiny fishing villages, whitewashed hamlets perched on hilltops and even a few wild places within the dull roar of a volcano or with mist dripping through primeval forests.