Great Family Destination (Tenerife)

Member Name: MrsE

Product:	Tenerife
Date:	06/11/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads to do and the weather good

Disadvantages: Las Americas busy and noisy

I first travelled to Tenerife just after 2000. Me and my now hubby stayed just outside Playa de Las Americas. Being 9 years younger and in my early twenties staying in Tenerife's most lively resort didn't put me off. Now, however in my thirties it is a whole other ball game. I will only review the south side of the island as this is where I have visited.

~Tenerife the Island~
Tenerife a Spanish island is the largest of the 7 Canary Islands and is just off the coast of Africa. It has about 5 million tourists visit the island every year and is getting more popular with each year that passes. Santa Cruz is the capital of the Island. Tenerife is a volcanic island with Mount Teide being the highest mountain in all of Spain. Tiede is also the third biggest volcano in the world. In April of 2009 the volcano was officially announced as dormant, but is still one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island.

~Travel~
The journey time is approximately 4 and a half hours give or take, depending where you fly from. Most major Tour Operators fly there and there are some smaller airlines that also fly there with some incredibly good deals.

~Playa de Las Americas~
Like I said my first visit to Tenerife was staying at Americas in a very basic hotel which was on the outskirts of town. Playa de las Americas is situated in the south of the island. The hotel was clean but very near to the main town which is incredibly noisy. The beaches are man made with dark volcanic sand and can get extremely busy during peak season. The main reason a lot of people visit this part of Tenerife is for the nightlife and if that's the case then you won't be disappointed. The most popular bars (from what I remember) were Lineker's, Tramps and Veronicas'. The partying will go on until the early hours of the morning and pretty much anything goes. This part of the town is also very hilly. You must check out exactly where the resort you want to stay in is situated in case mobility is a problem for you.

~Adeje~
On our first holiday to Tenerife we got accosted by a man selling holidays. The basic deal was two years in Tenerife for £1,800 for two of us including flights. After much checking this guy and the company was for real we signed on the dotted line and paid our deposit. When we returned home and the infamous name of Mr Palmer came up I was convinced we had been conned. Luckily my irritating need to check everything when I was there paid off and two years later we were off to our second visit to Tenerife. This time we were staying in Adeje which is about a half an hour walk from Las Americas. Boy, were we surprised when we arrived. We stayed in a hotel called Club Flamingo's (which we now know is part of a Timeshare). The hotel was absolutely beautiful and it was almost impossible to believe we were on the same island that we had previously visited. The hotel was set on the top of a bay overlooking a small beach and was located in what they call the Puerto Colon area. In the two years we visited we stayed in the Flamingo but having got to know the area there are some beautiful places to stay for all price brackets. Right below the apartments the beach was lined with bars and restaurants and this extended either way towards or away from Las Americas. The prices for food was very reasonable and depending on your budget you could decide to eat at one of the restaurants offering a three course menu for a set price (around Euro8 at the time) or go further away from the beach to some of the very plush fish and steak restaurants that overlook the sea. I didn't drive whilst I was there but hiring a car is relatively easy as there are many hire places dotted around. We found that we could take a leisurely walk to Los Christianos which took us around an hour and then we would stop for some lunch. Los Christianos is lovely but a bit quieter than where we were. I found that where we were situated there were many families and couple and a bit of entertainment of an evening but not the type to keep you awake late at night. Every restaurant we visited served great quality food and the drinks too were reasonable. When we did venture to Los Christianos, we walked through the town of Las Americas and I realised to my horror just how dirty the place was. I even saw cockroaches skittering across the pathways during the day. When the bars and clubs aren't open the place looks a lot less inviting. However, having said that I was a little bit older and wanted a different sort of holiday. In comparison the place and area we were staying in was clean with great amenities and friendly people.

~Excursions~
There are a lot of excursions you can do in Tenerife and they cover activities for all ages. I will list some of the main excursions that you can do but there are plenty more (too many to list).

* Mount Teide - There are so many of these excursions I cannot explain them all but you can visit the Volcano with many different guides and do a mixture of things. You can do all day, half day, visit just the Volcano or put it in as part of an overall daytrip.
Prices vary wildly so won't attempt to put details here.
* Aqua Park - Aqua Land is located in Adeje so it's not far from any of the southern resorts on Tenerife. It is basically a standard water park with all the usual water rides. The cost for an adult is around Euro25 and a ticket for a child is around Euro18-23. Children under 4 go free.
* Big Game Fishing - This is offered by an English guy who is well known in Tenerife and you can choose between a half day and full day fishing. You can expect to try and catch Tuna, Dorada, Blue Marlin, White Marlin and other types of bog fish. The cost is Euro49 for half a day (4 hours) and Euro89 for a whole day (7 hours). All equipment, bait and soft drinks are included. There are many other fishing excursions that can also be booked.
* Dolphin Watching - There are many variations on how to do this but this is well worth a trip. The prices and times and sort of boats you can go on vary as do the prices. At the time we paid around Euro25 for 4 hours and we chose to go on a smaller boat with max 10 people and I must say this is a much nicer experience than the bigger boats where there can be up to 50 people. Trust me, when you do see them they almost seem to perform for you. We did 2 of these trips and it was absolutely wonderful.
* Jungle Park - This is a zoological and botanical park with over 500 animals. The park is very well tended and the animals treated exceptionally well. This park isn't far from Las Americas and you normally get collected by coach or bus although you can choose to get a taxi. The cost is Euro25 for adults, Euro15-18 for kids and kids under 4 go free. They do spectacular Birds of Prey show which I would highly recommend.

There are many others, too many to list but some of the other major attraction include Scuba Diving, Jeep safaris, Loro Parque (North of the island so a longer journey), Trekking and Quad Biking.

~Disadvantages~
The touts in Tenerife are notorious and you really do need to be prepared for them. They stand along the beachfront walkways ready to sell you anything from Timeshare to their own Grandmother. Please do not be swayed by promises of free cigarettes of booze as trust me, they are persistent. My advice would be a firm no and KEEP WALKING! Apart from this, and the fact that Las Americas is very much the nightlife place to go there aren't any other disadvantages I can think of.

~Overall~
I think Tenerife is a lovely holiday destination. This applies to people of all ages and all situations. The weather all year is reasonably good with the highs hitting around 26C and the lows being around 15C, however do be aware that there is a vast difference between the South and North of the island. The South and west of the island generally gets the best of the weather and the north tends to be somewhat cooler.

Summary: Great overall holiday