Tenerife – 365 days Summer Island

Tenerife – 365 days Summer Island Travel with a kid is always a challenge, because it involves more planning and equipment than you would think. With a toddler, who is almost 2’s old, it is even harder. But, after all those long days of decision making, we thought that it will be great to choose a destination, where we can go and relax, and enjoy our first real holiday. We went to Tenerife. Tenerife is considered 365 days summer island as all year round has approximate 20-24 C degrees. Because, it is rounded by Ocean, the water is colder than expected but still acceptable. The island is a perfect destination to go with kids on holiday. We had stayed in an aparthotel, for different reasons:

• Our plans were to discover the picturesque landscapes of the island, and not stay all day long in an all inclusive resort
• Taste the best of the local cuisine
• Discover the best beaches of the island

Flights To book a flight from Barcelona to Tenerife is very easy, as there are a lot of flights daily. The best way to find a good price for the flight is skyscanner.com. We always use this flight engine for searching the best prices on flights. Hotel The aparthotel where we stayed is in Costa Adeje. It was booked for a very good price, €145 for 5 nights. The apartment we stayed had mountain views, a living room and kitchen. The hotel itself has a pool and sea views from it. We enjoyed the pool just in one of the days that we stayed there. Car We rented a car directly in the airport. Because, we had a bad experience previously while booking a car on renting pages. The best value in terms of personnel service, car, and good price is Hertz, and it is our personal opinion. They know how to make their clients happy. Things to see Tenerife are sensations at every mile, and it is true. We got very impressed of all the places we have visited there.

1. Our journey began at Puerto de Santiago – this place is related with “Acantilados de Los Gigantes” and “Playa de la Arena”. This place is well known for its grey-black beach. One of the natural beaches, which was made during centuries as a result of Teide lava. The beach is one of the cleanest on the island, and has been awarded the European Blue Flag for cleanliness. From this beach you can clearly see, the other main place to visit, “Los Gigantes”
2. “Acantilados de Los Gigantes”(Cliffs of the Giants), natural vertical Cliffs that extends on western coast of Tenerife.
3. Going further, we stopped to have our lunch in Masca. A very touristy village, where it is very difficult to park your car, but it worth to stop here. All restaurants that are here, have spectacular views over the cliffs and the ocean. The prices for lunch are quite higher that in the rest of the island, but even though you can eat cheap compares with other European destination.
4. “Buenavista” was our next stop. Nestled in the north of the island, the area is characterized by emerald swathes of banana plantations, laurel trees and infinite ocean.
5. Garachico – another town in the northern part of the island. As all the beach are from rocks, there are no beach worth mentioning as the coastline is volcanic debris, even though its charming views are a reason to visit it. The main beach, seems more like swimming pools, because of natural rock and paving that lies right in the water. We have seen a lot of kids swimming there, but I can firmly say that this place is for adventurous ones.
6. Icod de los vinos/ Arbol del Dragon- this place is worth to visit mainly for the Ancient Dragon Tree (El Drago Milenario: the Thousand-Year-Old Dragon), it has almost 1300 years. Situated inside a park which of course is not free of charge :), but it worth to see it.
7. Vilaflor/Mirador del Pino Gordo – this place is over 1400 m over the sea, where you can find the highest and largest trees in Spain. The largest tree has 8 m. The tree had a small hole in it’s trunk, enough to put in your hand in.  A local guide was telling to some Russian tourists that by throwing money there, your wishes come true ( a good alternative source of making money for the tourist 😛 )
8. Parque Nacional del Teide is the biggest park of Canary Islands and it is on Mount Teide. Landscape that we found here, were like in films about other planets. We remained very impressed. We haven’t went to the top of the mountain as we were not prepared to climb it.  As well, here we found the rarest plant called “Tajinaste flower”, that grows up only in Tenerife, and it lasts only 30 days in the year. Honey made from this plant has medicinal properties.
9. La Orotava – a town that holds breathtaking views over Santa Cruz de Tenerife and over the ocean.
10. Santa Cruz de Tenerife – the capital of the island. A beautiful city, but it didn’t impress us as much as other places of the island.

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Things to do with kids.

1. Enjoy the time at the beach, the most popular according to statistics are “Las Americas” and “Los Cristianos”. Even though in our heart remained “Playa de la Arena” with its grey-black sand. And another lovely beach “Las Teresitas beach” with its crystalline clear and calm water, yellow clean sand which is great for kids.
2. Loro Parque and Siam Park – we didn’t go to these parks as we had full 5 days agenda, but we heard that it worth to dedicate a day to go there..
3. Dolphin & whale watching. Perfect place to go with kids. We were too tired and slept all mornings, and here you need to go early in the morning to catch the best moments.
4. Teide – show to your kid a real volcano
5. Enjoy Spanish culture in all the villages of the island.