Informação Tenerife

General Facts:

Capital: Santa Cruz de Tenerife - population approx.: 250.000 Area: 2.034 Km² Altitude: 3.718 meter, El Pico de Teide Position: Lat: 28,25° North - Long: 16,58° West Distance to Africa: 275 Km Population: Approx. 625.000 Nearest Islands: La Gomera Shoreline: 237,8 Km Dimensions: 80 Km (N-S) x 90 Km (W-E) Tourists per year: Approx. 3.500.000 Country: Spain Region: Canary Islands Government: Autonomous Language: Spanish Main Airport: Santa Cruz Sea: Atlantic Ocean Climate: Atlantic Sub-tropical Time zone: GMT Religion: Catholic International dialing code: +34 Local currency: € Euro Canarian flag: Coat of Arms:

Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands with the same warm sub-tropical climate as Gran Canaria. This island has a great variety of landscapes with the green North of the Island, the extinct volcano the "Teide" and the dry and sunny South with the beaches and hotels. The city Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of the Western islands of the archipelago and consists of Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. Of all the Canary Islands Tenerife has the most tourist attractions. This island has two airports, Los Rodeos at the North and the busiest one, Reina Sofia, in the South.

Teide - 3.718 meter

About 20 million years ago the volcanic development of the island started and the oldest mountain of Tenerife raised from the Atlantic Ocean about 10 million years ago.The last volcanic eruption happened in 1909 near the village of Santiago del Teide.The natives of Tenerife were the "Guanches" which literal means "Son of Tenerife" and were known as the bravest and the most feared from the Canary inhabitants. In the language of the Guanches, Tenerife means "The snowed mountain". In 1495 the Spanish invaders took over Tenerife after a long battle with the Guanches and most of them were sold off into slavery and those that were left helped the Spanish invaders and started families with them.

City information:

Callao Salvaje Callao Salvaje is situated on the south west tip of Tenerife and is reputed to have the best weather on the island. About a 10 minute drive away for Las Americas you will find this small relaxed resort with a small sand/pebble beach. Callao Salvaje boast some of the most spectacular scenery on Tenerife and is an ideal quiet family holiday centre with some very good restaurants most of which are on the ocean front, shops, supermarkets, bank, chemists, doctor's surgery and some night life. It is perfectly located as a base for a touring holiday, not far from the buzzing areas and within easy reach of the rural centre with it's picturesque villages. With the new motor way system all the other major resorts are just a short drive. Golf and theme parks are nearby with the Adeje golf course only at a drive of 10 minutes away. Journey time from the airport is about 30 minutes by car or taxi.

Costa del Silencio/Las Galletas Costa del Silencio is about 9 Km from the airport and 6 Km from the popular Los Cristianos. Most complexes are two storeys. There are a few three and four storey complexes. The area is quieter than both Las Americas and Los Cristianos but there are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants in the area. Silencio, the holiday area, has grown to the east of the fishing village, Las Galletas, which has a small beach (sand and shingle mix) and a promenade. The roads slope down from Silencio to Las Galletas but the gradient is not too steep. There are regular cheap and clean bus services to the other parts of the island.

Golf del Sur Located in the sunny south of Tenerife, just a few minutes drive from the island's international airport, is Golf del Sur, one of Europe's best golf and leisure complexes. Covering about 410 acres of land, Golf del Sur is in essence a town with a golf course running through it, catering not just for the golfer but also for families who require a more up-market area, where the environment is clean and the scenery beautiful. If you are a golfer, then paradise awaits you here! If you think there is no better way to relax than on gloriously sunny championship fairways, then look no further than Tenerife, which has the only golf courses in Europe where you are guaranteed to be able to play with the sun on your back at Christmas. Developed along the coast between the little fishing village of Los Abrigos and Amarilla Golf, residents of Golf del Sur enjoy fabulous unspoiled views of the Atlantic Ocean as well as the mountains.

Los Cristianos Los Cristianos is the second largest holiday resort in the south of Tenerife, the largest being its next door neighbour Playa de Las Americas. Despite their close proximity to one another there is a distinct difference in the atmosphere of the two, especially at night. You will find it difficult to determine where Los Cristianos finishes and Las Americas begins. Both towns have been built up and augmented to the extent that the boundaries between the two become blurred, especially around the seafront area known as San Telmo, where you will find the excellent and newly completed beach Playa de las Vistas. The town has a history pre-dating its transformation into a tourist resort.

Prior to undergoing major development in recent years, Los Cristianos existed as a small fishing village. It has an old town centre, complete with Catholic Church, stretching from the port up to the main shopping streets. This grid-like centre is entirely pedestrianised, which is great news of course for tourists and people in a wheelchair. Los Cristianos offers beaches almost along its entire seafront expanse, the quality in these other areas can vary. All of the town's beaches are kept clean and well maintained by the local council. Many of the newer holiday apartments are about a ten minute walk from the beach and the town centre and there is a steady climb uphill and may not suit everyone, especially for those with mobility problems. The quality and variety of restaurants available for your lunch or evening meal is everything you could wish for ranging from - Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Spanish and Canarian of course, to name but a few. So, to summarise Los Cristianos in a few words: It's a fairly small town with a lively town centre but with spacious and relaxed 'suburbs', it has some fine beaches, usually good weather, an international clientele, all the shops and restaurants you could wish for, is in some ways more attractive, perhaps even more 'exclusive' than Las Americas but lacks the night time 'edge' of Americas, which some, particularly families and older visitors, may see as a blessing, while others might find it a bit 'quiet' at night.

Los Gigantes Los Gigantes is a very pretty resort about 20 miles north west of Playa de Las Americas. If you or any member of your party has mobility problems or you have young children or babies in a pram or pushchair, then give Los Gigantes a miss. The roads in Los Gigantes are very narrow, with a one-way system operating throughout most of the town, and it is next to impossible to ever find a parking space in the centre of the resort. Now that's the bad news out of the way, let's tell you about the good news. Los Gigantes has probably the best climate on Tenerife. It has a beautiful harbour and a small beach and everything is within 10 minutes walking distance. It's peaceful, friendly and relaxed and you can take a boat trip out to see the dolphin and whale colonies, which live between the west coast of Tenerife and the neighbouring island of La Gomera. The town's commercial centre is just inland (and therefore, uphill) from the marina. Although small, it hosts a variety of bars and restaurants, plus shopping. In the central square (the Plaza) you'll find a pedestrian zone based around the old church.

Playa de la Arena Playa de la Arena (or in English ..... Sandy Beach) is a modern development built to cater for the increasing tourist trade. In our opinion, Playa de la Arena has one of the finest beach in this region. Although smallish, and has black volcanic sand, it can confidently stand comparison with any other beach of similar size on the island. The beach is situated centrally along the main coastal thoroughfare, which has relatively easy parking facilities. For a relatively small resort, Playa de la Arena boasts a mind-boggling array of bars and restaurants of all shapes and sizes, although 'nightlife' in the sense of clubs and discos, while it undoubtedly exists, is on a much smaller scale than the larger resorts in the south.

Playa de Las Americas The main tourist resort in the south of Tenerife is certifiably crazy and just waiting to pounce on the unwary tourist! Whatever you want Las Americas offers it all to you with a sunny smile and a glass of your favourite tipple! If you are seeking peace and quiet, Las Americas isn't for you. Las Americas is big and just keeps expanding. You can now include several satellite areas like San Eugenio, Fañabe, Costa Adeje, Porto Colón and Torviscas, which are all bustling mini-resorts in their own right. Playa de Las Americas is situated at the southern end of the west coast where the climate is arguably one of the best on the whole island with some of the best beaches in Tenerife, all of which meet European Commission cleanliness standards. The waters off Las Americas' beaches are warm, generally calm and safe, with breakwaters constructed to ensure safety in all but the most adverse weather conditions which, thankfully, are rare. Las Americas is a tourist haven pure and simple, with no pretensions to be anything else.

It is geared to fun, fun, fun all the way. And what's wrong with that? Las Americas offers every water sport possible including a superb water park, but if you'd prefer to stay dry there are many other activities to tempt you, including crazy golf, tennis and 10-pin bowling, visiting the nearby zoo or how about a flight in a big balloon that takes you high up in the air and gives you an aerial view of Las Americas. For the golfing enthusiast, there is a nice golf course situated between Playa de Las Americas and neighbouring Los Cristianos, which is a 18-hole, par 62 course. After an hectic day, just sit back and try to decide where you're going to eat tonight. There's an array of first class international cuisine: Spanish, Canarian, Indian, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, French, Swiss, Lebanese, Thai - you'll honestly be spoilt for choice. There's a wide choice of things to do at night in Las Americas including two casinos, several disco's, nightclubs, bars - that stay open till dawn or you can shop till you drop as the tourist shops stay open till around 10 at night. If you're after a fun packed holiday then Las Americas is the place for you.

Puerto de la Cruz Puerto de la Cruz is the major tourist resort in the north of the island. On a cloudless day it boasts spectacular views of the volcano the Teide. Like Los Cristianos in the south, Puerto de la Cruz began life as a small fishing village and grew into a major tourist resort. Unlike the dry and arid south, the north is very green and therefore, in the eyes of northern European visitors, is much more reminiscent of home and less 'foreign'. The town boasts many good quality hotels and plenty of bars and nightlife, but relatively little in the way of decent beaches. There is the Lago de Martianez, which is a very impressive public pool only a matter of yards from the sea itself, where there is plenty of room both to swim and sunbathe. It's nearly always cooler in the north of the island and best suited to the spring and summer months. If you book a 'last minute' holiday, where the tour operator names the location upon arrival, you may end up at Puerto de la Cruz in the winter. It's warmer then in the North of Europe but has more rain than the south of the Island.

Puerto de Santiago In Puerto Santiago you'll find a small fishing port but you're limited in terms of beaches. The resort is rather sprawling, a mixture of homes, hotels and apartments. As you would expect from a tourist resort, there is an assortment or bars, shops, restaurants, but little in the way of nightlife. Like Los Gigantes (see above), the roads throughout Puerto Santiago are very hilly and may not be suitable for the elderly, the infirm or wheelchair users. If you're after a quite and relaxing holiday then Santiago may be ideal.