Legal excursions in the Canary Islands: how to recognise and book a route with guarantees

You are in a Facebook group, someone offers an excursion to Masca or the Teide at a good price, you reply on WhatsApp and that is it. It sounds easy, personal, even more authentic than an agency. The problem is that many of those routes are organised outside the law, and that is not just a bureaucratic detail: if something goes wrong, the one who pays for it is you.

In the Canary Islands, guiding a group through the mountains or the sea is not only a matter of knowing the terrain well. Active tourism (turismo activo) is regulated, and that regulation exists to protect you, the traveler. This guide explains how to recognise a legal excursion before you book, without the jargon and with the official sources at the end.

Why in the Canary Islands not just anyone will do

Active tourism activities (guided hiking, canyoning, kayaking, climbing, wildlife watching and a long list of others) are regulated by the Government of the Canary Islands. The rule in force is Decreto 138/2025, of 27 October, which updates the previous framework and sets the conditions for operating legally.

In practice, a company cannot simply start taking people into the mountains. Before operating, it has to submit a declaración responsable (a responsible declaration) to start the activity through the electronic office of the Government of the Canary Islands and be listed in the Registro General Turístico de Canarias (General Tourism Register of the Canary Islands), which assigns it an identification code. Anyone who guides without that step is, quite simply, operating illegally.

How to recognise a legal excursion (and a legal guide)

You do not need to be an expert in the regulations. There are three signs that a serious operator can show you without any problem.

The registration number

A legal company is listed in the Registro General Turístico and has a registration code. It is perfectly normal to ask for it before booking: an operator who works by the rules will give it to you without any awkwardness. If your question is met with evasions, that is the first warning sign.

The insurance

The regulations require active tourism companies to hold a public liability insurance and an accident insurance covering the participants, including the costs of rescue, transfer and assistance throughout the activity. That insurance is exactly what disappears when you sign up for an "off-the-books" route: if there is an accident, there is no policy to answer for you.

The guide and their qualification

Here it is worth distinguishing two things. The official tourist guide (for cultural visits and heritage) needs a habilitación (an official accreditation) from the Dirección General and an official licence; their profession is regulated by specific rules. For mountain or adventure activities, the instructor must hold the legally required qualification or professional certification for that specific activity: it is not a single title, but the one that corresponds to each discipline. In both cases, a trained professional has gone through preparation in first aid, meteorology and safety. It is not a luxury: in a canyon or on a ridge, that training is the difference.

How to check it yourself before booking

The reassuring part: you do not depend only on the operator's word. The Government of the Canary Islands publishes openly the list of active tourism activities registered in the Registro General Turístico, a downloadable dataset that is updated periodically. You can ask for the company's registration code and verify it yourself.

Booking through platforms such as Civitatis, GetYourGuide or Viator, or through a local travel agency (which is also listed in the register), adds a layer of guarantee. Even so, the golden rule remains the same: being able to ask for the registration number and check it. The convenience of a platform does not replace that gesture.

Did you know? The Canary Islands register of active tourism companies is open data: anyone can download the updated list of registered operators. Transparency that works in the traveler's favour.

The controls are already real: the example of Masca

That this is not just paperwork is shown by the Barranco de Masca, in Tenerife. Since 2025 access has been regulated: you have to book a place in advance on the official website, the quota is limited (275 visitors per day) and entry is supervised. You must arrive half an hour early at the visitor centre for an access control where they check the booking, the ID document and the equipment. Closed mountain footwear is mandatory (no sandals or flat trainers get through there), the helmet is handed out at the entrance, and the accident insurance is included in the ticket itself. In addition, since late 2025 access is by compulsory transport (the TITSA línea 355 bus from Santiago del Teide, not by private car), the route is downhill with a boat departure towards Los Gigantes, and the return ticket is also mandatory. Access has a fee (from around €40 for a non-resident adult, IGIC included; reduced for Canary Islands residents and free for those from Tenerife once residency is verified), and the boat and transport are paid separately. The practical consequence? It is precisely the booking, the fee and the regulated transport that an "off-the-books" organiser tries to skip, and without those receipts you do not get past the control. Booking through the official channel is not bureaucracy: it is what lets you in.

What you are risking on an "off-the-books" excursion

Beyond any fine that the organiser may receive, the real risk falls on whoever goes with the group.

No insurance to respond. If the operator is not registered, they do not have the compulsory policy. A simple sprain on difficult terrain is no longer covered.
The rescue can be billed. In the Canary Islands, Ley 4/2012 allows certain search, rescue and salvage services to be charged for when the incident is due to recklessness or negligence in risk activities. This is not theory: the archipelago billed for a rescue for the first time in the amount of €4,172 (an intervention by the Grupo de Emergencias y Salvamento with a helicopter), with the rescued person's liability limited for now to a maximum of €6,000. The land rescues by the Guardia Civil (GREIM) remain free; what is charged is the intervention prompted by reckless behaviour. And a detail that few people know: when you call 112, you do not choose who comes to look for you. The coordinator sends the fastest available resource; if the GES helicopter goes out and serious recklessness is proven, the bill arrives in your name.
A sanctionable activity. Operating without the declaración responsable is an offence defined in Ley 7/1995 de Ordenación del Turismo de Canarias, with penalties ranging from a formal warning to heavy fines and the closure of the activity.

And the trend is getting tougher. In early 2026, the Government of the Canary Islands announced a draft Law on Civil Protection and Emergencies that aims to claim the full cost of the operation (helicopters included) from those who act recklessly, with the Policía Canaria identifying the offenders. For now it is a draft in progress, and its initial focus is recklessness on the coast (swimming when the red flag is up, ignoring storm warnings), but it makes the direction clear: less and less room for recklessness.

None of this is meant to scare you, but to lay the cards on the table. A legal excursion sometimes costs a little more, and that little is exactly what covers you when the day goes wrong.

Booking with peace of mind

Choosing well does not take the magic out of the experience: it adds to it. An official guide knows the terrain, carries the insurance, can read the sky before it changes and, almost always, tells you the stories that appear in no app. Ask for the registration number, check the insurance, and enjoy the journey with nothing left hanging in your backpack.

In our Masca gorge guide and in our island route guides you will see why it is worth doing it properly accompanied. And if you want to keep pulling the thread, this is the first of a series: in the coming instalments we will look at how to set up an active tourism activity legally if you are the one who wants to start a business, why undercutting harms the honest companies in the sector, and where to find the official register island by island.