Imserso 2026/27: the Canaries book from 16 September — who qualifies and how it works

The calendar — and why the Canary date is the 16th

Imserso splits the regions into two blocks. The first — Andalusia, Madrid and Galicia among them — starts, on the ministry note of 18 August 2026, on 14 September (preferential) and the 15th (the other accredited users). The second block, with Asturias, Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearics and the Canaries, follows only on the 16th (preferential) and 17 September. On the 18th the distinction between preferential and non-preferential falls away while the provincial boundary stays: every accredited island resident competes for what is left of the islands' own quota. Only from the 19th is it possible to book what went unsold in any province at all.

Who qualifies: the four routes

Imserso names four groups, all of whom must be resident in Spain. First, retirement pensioners of the Spanish social security system, with no minimum age. Second, widow's and widower's pensioners from 55. Third, recipients of other pensions — permanent incapacity, for instance — or of unemployment benefit and allowance from 60. Fourth, insured persons or dependants of the Spanish system from 65, even without a pension of their own. To these are added Spaniards living abroad and returned emigrants of Spanish origin drawing a public pension from their country of emigration — the one point at which a foreign pension expressly counts.

The conditions do not apply to companions: a spouse or registered partner may travel without meeting any requirement, as may children with a disability of 45 per cent or more. All must be able to look after themselves, evidenced by a declaration of responsibility. The window for new applications ran from 22 June to 10 July 2026; those already accredited had nothing to renew.

German and Italian pensioners: what the rules actually say

The question asked most often on the islands — and the answer is not where people look for it. Nationality does not appear in Imserso's conditions of participation at all. No clause excludes a German or Italian passport. What decides it is residence in Spain and a link to the Spanish social security system. A German registered in the Canaries who paid contributions here and today draws a Spanish retirement pension meets the first condition.

Someone who draws only a German or Italian pension, by contrast, is not covered by conditions one to three; those require, in terms, a pension "of the Spanish social security system". The Imserso question-and-answer sheet circulated by the ministry through its labour and migration offices abroad states expressly that pensions from non-Spanish sources do not qualify; the exception applies only to returned emigrants of Spanish origin.

That leaves the fourth door: insured person or dependant of the Spanish system from 65, the only route without a Spanish pension — through a spouse insured in Spain, for example. Whether an EU pensioner whose Spanish health card rests on an S1 form, with treatment charged back to the home country, counts as "insured in the Spanish system" cannot be answered from any published Imserso text. We found no official determination and we are not inventing one: ask Imserso beforehand, through its electronic office or the Servicios Sociales of your municipality, and get the answer in writing. Independently of all this, one route stays open — travelling as the partner of an accredited user, where passport and pension origin make no difference.

How booking works: letter, code, agency

Everything rests on the accreditation letter — around 2.9 million of them, on Imserso's figures. It names the booking day and carries a four-digit code reissued every season; if it has not arrived, a duplicate comes through the electronic office. Online, lot 2 (island coast) runs through Mundicolor and lots 1 and 3 through Turismo Social; you need the identity-document number and the code. At an affiliated travel agency the identity document alone is enough.

Preferential accreditation is not applied for, it is awarded: Imserso scores the applications — age up to 20, disability 10, income up to 50. If the quota runs dry, 19 September remains; and across the season cancellations keep returning places.

What it costs and what the price contains

On the programme's figures the range runs from 132.91 euros for four days in a provincial capital in low season to 564.72 euros for ten days in the Canaries with transport in high season. Included are the shared double room, full board (half board in provincial capitals), transport on those options that state it, a collective insurance policy, general medical attention at the hotel and an activity programme. Supplements come on top: a single room at about 22 euros a night, a second trip in the same season 100 euros.

Island residents can also book lot 1 (peninsular coast) and lot 3 (short breaks, the interior) — but transport is provided only for destinations with a direct connection from Gran Canaria or Tenerife North. Otherwise what remains is the without-transport option: the trip is booked, and you pay for the flight yourself.