Tenerife- 5 things to know

If you are wondering if to go or not to go here’s my advice: just go. Any destination is a new adventure.

Ready? Steady. Go!

The flight was awfully tight. Or it should have been by the hours we saw on the tickets. But hey, we already did a rehearsal when we went to Rome and it was doable. We can do it, we said. And we did.

Do you know the usual airport vibe, when everybody is trying to catch the plane, running with their trolley bags in a crazy but perfectly imperfect order? Yup, not here! It was a never-ending vacation vibe in the airport! I know, right? I never thought I would see something like that.

Well, hello Tenerife! l already love your vibe! Before going there we did some research and here are some important things to know:

Choosing an Airport

Here’s the first question we had while planning our vacay. What airport to pick? Well, this one is quite easy. Will you rent a car? If yes, just pick the one with the lower fair because the gas is crazy cheap there and you get to see a bit of the island on your way. If you don’t plan to rent a car pick the one closer to your accommodation. I remember seeing buses, taxis… or maybe your hotel provides a way to reach your destination.

To rent or not a car?

With the first step I took outside of the airport it hit me: the hot and humid air. I adapted well, I guess it my inner lizard kicked in. Next stop was to pick up our rental car. We picked a tiny, little car: a Hyundai i10. Why did we rent a car: the island is not huge, but we thought we needed a quick way to get from A to B. Especially because we decided we wanted to see it all- all the island! We took the insurance for it too and it’s a good thing we did. We found the car with a scratch in a parking lot. So here’s my second need to know: if you do rent a car, don’t save on the insurance part.

Where to stay

Location is another thing you really need to do some planning. First things first: you should decide if you want to party all day, or if you prefer some quieter locations, amazing hiking trails, nature, city life or remote beaches. Do you have an answer? So do I. Long story short if you are a party animal I would advice you to stay in Los Cristianos or Costa Adeje. If you are looking for a quiet place to relax and chill you might want to get closer to Puerto Santiago or Los Gigantes. And if all you care about is hiking you should check out La Laguna and La Orotava. Do you enjoy city life? Give Santa Cruz de Tenerife or Puerto de la Cruz a try. Or you could go crazy, and no matter where you stay you could try a different place each day. Or two, or three, or four… like we did.

What’s the weather like?

Ever wondered how is the weather in Tenerife? When is the best time to go there? Well, you should know that in Tenerife has a sort of never-ending spring and summer time. Temperatures are somewhere in the mid-20s even in winter and spring.

Do you want some snow too? February and March are the months when you might get some snow on Teide. How cool is that? Summer and winter on the same island. Please know this is the second high season since this is the warmest place in Europe. The pace is slower than summer, the ocean is kinda cold, but you can still enjoy the sun.
If you go there in spring but you are looking for warm weather my advice would be to pick the south side of the island. The island is not so busy, but they do celebrate Semana Santa and during that period the pace changes a bit. If you want a more relaxed setting just avoid that period.
Did you say summer? The island gets busy in the summer, especially between July and August. The chances of rain are zero and temperatures often rise above the 30s during the day. If you want to swim a lot this might be the best time to go because the ocean is warm too. Summer is also perfect because you can pick the side of the island that works the best for you- it’s warm everywhere! One downside is that you might need to think to plan and book ahead, as the prices tend to rise quite high and we don’t want to pay a small fortune, do we? Ah, most of the beach parties and music festivals happen now. You know, party all night, lazy day at the beach afterwards, repeat. Do know this the full season in Tenerife an that you will see a lot of people.
Tenerife in autumn- perfect time if you want to explore the entire island. September is as hot as August, October just a bit below the 30s. It’s the perfect season to hike and just chill.

What to eat and drink?

The prices are wonderfully low. You can find a high concentration of pubs and restaurant. It is amazing that in such a relatively small island you can find restaurants of most types of cuisines for any type of tastes. The best experience we had was at la Brujula. The staff is very attentive without being pushy, oh this is so hard to find. The tasting menu was excellent. Totally a go if you have a stop in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

I guess this was the fifth need to know on the list. Don’t worry, I’ll be back with more about Tenerife, I really enjoyed my time there.

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