City guides Spain
Las Palmas
Spain's nomad visa, the UK's time zone and a city beach with a reef, in a working port rather than a resort. Average highs run from 21 to 27.5 degrees all year. The catch is that everyone has noticed: rents around Las Canteras are now the highest in the Canary Islands and still climbing fast.
Every figure checked 2 Oct 2026
- EUR 17.00 per square metre a month Asking rent, Puerto-Canteras
- EUR 13 Menu del dia
- EUR 14 for 90 days Resident bus pass
- Country Spain
- Time zone UTC+1 06:26 there now
- Language Spanish
- Currency Euro (EUR)
- Plugs Type C and F, 230V
How far English gets you Fine along the Las Canteras seafront, in coworking spaces and tourist-facing bars. Outside those, Spanish is expected, and in practice it is required for the padron, Extranjeria, the tax office, most landlords and the everyday bars of La Isleta and Triana. Even the resident bus pass is applied for in Spanish.
Honestly
Is this your kind of place?
It suits you if
Remote workers on UK or European hours who want mild weather twelve months a year and a city with a life of its own, not a resort strip. It suits anyone who will stay long enough to register on the padron, which brings island-wide buses down to EUR 14 for 90 days, and who is happy working from a flat with fibre near the beach. The visa is Spain's international telework visa, at EUR 2,442 a month gross in 2026.
It does not suit you if
Anyone expecting cheap Spain. Asking rents in Santa Catalina and La Isleta are the highest in the Canaries and rose by up to 21 per cent in a year, and a 2024 check found central listings 50 to 91 per cent above the government's own reference index. The coworking scene is small and mostly price on request. The city often sits under low cloud in summer while the south of the island is in sun. And nothing official happens in English: the padron, the NIE and the bus pass all assume Spanish.
Money
What everything else costs
| Asking rent, whole city | EUR 14.60 per square metre a month | Idealista, September 2026, up 4.6 per cent in a year |
|---|---|---|
| Asking rent, Vegueta-Triana | EUR 12.80 per square metre a month | Idealista, September 2026, the cheapest central district |
| Single bus ticket | EUR 1.40 | Paid to the driver on Guaguas Municipales |
| Contactless bus card | EUR 0.42 a trip | Open to anyone. The card costs EUR 1.50, minimum top-up EUR 8.50 |
| Coworking day pass | EUR 16 to 20 | Talleres Palermo EUR 16, White Forest EUR 20, as listed on booking platforms |
Paperwork
Can you legally stay?
| Dependants | EUR 916 a month more for the first, EUR 305 for each one after that |
|---|---|
| The threshold moves | It is pinned to the SMI, which is reset every year by royal decree. On the 2025 SMI it was EUR 2,368 |
| Official name | Visado para teletrabajo de caracter internacional, the international telework visa, created by the 2022 Startups Law |
| How long | Up to one year as a consular visa, or up to three years if you apply from inside Spain. Renewals run two years |
| Tax | Employees on this visa can opt into the Beckham regime: a flat 24 per cent on employment income up to EUR 600,000, for the year you arrive plus five more. You must not have been Spanish tax resident in the previous five years |
| Canary income tax | The Canaries set their own half of income tax. Their 2026 scale runs from 9 to 26 per cent |
| Permanent residence | Five years. A new immigration regulation has been in force since 20 May 2025 and changed how absences count |
| Citizenship | Ten years for most nationalities, unchanged |
| Without a visa | British and American passports: 90 days in any 180 across Schengen. The Canaries are in Schengen |
| Tax residency | More than 183 days in a calendar year, or your main economic interests in Spain. The same in the Canaries |
Where to live
Where to base yourself
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Santa Catalina-Las Canteras
About EUR 18.30 per square metre asking (Fotocasa, December 2025)Las Canteras beach and two of the city's coworking spaces within walking distance
The catch The most expensive rental area in the whole of the Canary Islands: an 80 square metre flat works out at about EUR 1,464 a month
-
Guanarteme
About EUR 16.05 per square metre asking (Fotocasa, December 2025)The surf end of Las Canteras, with Talleres Palermo coworking on the doorstep
The catch Rents rose 12.4 per cent in a year, and the local coworking closes at 15:30 on weekdays
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La Isleta
About EUR 17.72 per square metre asking (Fotocasa, December 2025)The old port barrio beside the beach, with everyday local bars rather than tourist ones
The catch The fastest-rising rents in the Canaries, up 20.9 per cent in a year as demand spills over from Las Canteras
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Triana and Vegueta
About EUR 12.80 per square metre asking (Idealista, September 2026)The cheapest central district per metre, with the old town and Casa de Colon on the doorstep
The catch The far side of the city from the beach, and one listing checked in 2024 was asking 91 per cent above the official reference index
Timing
The best time to come
- Jan 21C, peak-season prices
- Feb 21C, still peak season
- Mar 22C, 229 hours sun
- Apr 23C, almost no rain
- May 24C, prices 30% below winter
- Jun 25C, cheap, cloud arrives
- Jul 27C, city often cloudy
- Aug Hottest, 27.5C
- Sep 27C, crowds thinning
- Oct 26C, before the peak
- Nov Prices climbing
- Dec Wettest, 31mm, Christmas full
Come now Fine Avoid
There is no bad month for weather; the real swing is price. Winter is peak season, with Christmas occupancy around 85 per cent, and tourist accommodation in May and June costs about 30 per cent less than in November and December. The sunny figures come from the airport 20 km south: in summer the city itself often sits under the low trade-wind cloud locals call panza de burro.
Connectivity
The internet, honestly
That is the median fixed download for Spain as a whole, from Ookla data for January 2025. There is no figure for Las Palmas or the Canaries, but fibre is standard in Spain and a flat with a fibre line is the reliable option.
The beachfront cafes are fine for email, but there is no source on their wifi, so do not plan calls around them. The coworking scene is small: check the opening hours before you commit, because Talleres Palermo in Guanarteme closes at 15:30 on weekdays.
Work
Remote roles open to someone in Spain
A remote job is not in any one city. These are roles whose employer will hire someone living here, pulled from the board as you load the page.
Eating
What to eat, and what it costs
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Menu del dia
EUR 13Three courses at lunchtime, and Las Palmas has the cheapest average of any big Spanish city
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Bocadillo de pata
Price not checkedRoast pork leg in a roll, the city's signature snack. La Pata Caliente in La Isleta is cash only
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Papas arrugadas con mojo
Price not checkedSmall potatoes boiled in salty water, with red or green mojo sauce, on every bar menu
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Barraquito
Price not checkedThe layered Canarian coffee with condensed milk and a dash of liqueur
Days off
Worth a Saturday
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Casa de Colon, Vegueta
EUR 4A Columbus museum in a colonial house in the old town, open Monday to Saturday. The library is free
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Roque Nublo
Booking free, shuttle fare not checkedThe island's summit rock. Since February 2025 daytime access between 9am and 5pm is by advance booking only, on the island council's grancanariasenderos.com, with a shuttle bus and no parking at the site. August slots sell out
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Las Canteras beach
FreeA city beach with a natural reef offshore, walkable from three of the four neighbourhoods here
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Vegueta old town
FreeThe colonial streets around the cathedral, where the city began
The rest
Things the other guides leave out
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Get on the padron
Registering your address unlocks the EUR 14 resident bus pass, and almost every other process assumes it
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No VAT, IGIC instead
The Canaries are outside the EU VAT area. The general IGIC rate is 7 per cent against 21 per cent IVA on the mainland, and mainland shops ship to the islands as exports
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Regional income tax
The Canaries set their own half of income tax, with a new scale for 2026 running from 9 to 26 per cent
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Airport weather is not city weather
The official station is 20 km south. Las Palmas often sits under panza de burro cloud in summer
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Asking rents beat the index
A 2024 check found central listings 50 to 91 per cent above the government's reference index. It is worth knowing when you negotiate
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Your passport is biometric at the border
EES has logged every Schengen entry and exit by fingerprint since April 2026, and the Canaries are in Schengen
Work out whether you can actually afford to go
Every role on the board says which countries you can live in and still take it, so remote means remote.
Every figure on this page was checked on 2 Oct 2026. Prices move and rules change; tell us when something is wrong and we will fix it.