Tenerife - LONG
sue james
miss a spell of poor weather. Wrong! The wet and windy conditions persisted
and while the South West of Tenerife where we were based wasn’t as badly
affected as other areas we certainly didn’t have the holiday we expected.
Our first impressions of Tenerife – which were certainly confirmed
throughout our week – were of dire traffic conditions with far too many cars
using far too few roads – the topography simply limits road availability.
Lack of signs – either to places or telling you where you are - means
finding your way around is difficult, finding a parking place anywhere you
might want to be is near impossible. Many roads are narrow and in poor
condition and provide no opportunity to turn around if you discover you are
going in the wrong direction and, worst of all, local drivers are aggressive
towards those driving hire cars who stand out as tourists. The “aggression”
takes the form of driving a few inches off the back bumper when there is no
chance of overtaking and then dropping back to a more reasonable distance
anytime that there is a chance of overtaking. (There does seem to be a good
public service bus network but again running into large buses around tight
corners just adds to the problems already described.)
We had intended to drive through the main tourist resort of Playa de las
Americas just to see it for ourselves – but quickly abandoned the idea on
the grounds of traffic. From the motorway behind it we could easily
appreciate its size and density of occupation. We also saw Puerto de la Cruz
from its urban motorway – it’s not on as large a scale and places near to it
seem attractive. Much of the coastal plain in the west is still given over
to banana plantations enclosed by ugly cinder block walls. We never quite
reached the western tip of the island, the Punta de Teno, as we took notice
of the signs in several languages that say the road is closed. Instead we
found an attractive place to eat near Buenavista (on the shore near some
natural rock pools and the town’s Piscina).
We did manage to see some of the places we’d hoped to visit but in some
cases felt the effort of accessing them means we’d hesitate to recommend
them. We had been advised that the village of Masca was exceptional but that
the road to get there involved “curvas” – true on both counts. We were
certainly impressed by the cliffs at Los Gigantes and by the neighbouring
Playa Arena with its black sand beach and crashing waves. Parking spaces at
the latter meant we went there a second time. We also managed to get to
Adeje in the hope of walking through the Barranco del Infierno only to
discover it was closed due to high wind. We were among dozens of people who
were turned away – and we rapidly realised the only reason we’d managed to
park anywhere near it was due to its closure!
The high point of our trip was undoubtedly the Teide National Park which
almost felt like an alternative world. Each time we went there we drove
through the clouds to emerge in brilliant sunshine on the other side in an
amazing landscape of rock, lava and snow. Even here there was no way to
avoid traffic (particularly tourist buses on the blind bends) but once you
find a parking place it’s easy to get away from crowds by walking along the
well designated trails. There were plenty of other walkers but enough open
space for everyone to enjoy solitude. The cable car wasn’t operating (on
account either of snow and ice or wind) on three of the five days we were
there. From our point of view visiting the cable car station on a day it isn’t
running has the advantage you can park there – and it does enjoy a stunning
view.
There is only one place to stay within the National Park – the Parador –
which, by virtue of being modern, has an unprepossessing appearance. This is
very forgivable given that it has tremendous views and a welcoming
atmosphere. It’s very popular and we were very thrilled when we managed to
get a room for our final night on Tenerife, at our third attempt (Internet
booking had been unsuccessful, attempting to make a booking in person had
been unsuccessful but finally phoning Central Reservations early in the
morning on the day itself paid off).
Teide is the one place on Tenerife we’d like to revisit but while there are
other parts of the island we’d like to go on the grounds that we didn’t
manage to see them on this trip we are now much more aware of potential
problems. There seems to be a lack of accommodation for “touring tourists”
as opposed to those content to stay in the large resorts or to book a block
of time in self-catering accommodation. There’s even a scarcity of
restaurants compared to “the Peninsula”. These factors, together with the
traffic conditions, would make us reluctant to contemplate an
“improvise-as-you-go” type holiday.
Sue and Mike James
Roger Warwick
Thanks a lot for the account of your trip. I'm sorry to hear it wasn't
quite as good as you expected and this certainly doesn't match my own
experience, although perhaps my experience was slightly different, since
we stayed at one hotel and didn't have to drive around looking for
accommodation.
First of all, we visited in late October, which certainly didn't seem to
be peak time and yet the weather was still good enough to bathe in the
sea.
We stayed at the Hotel Barceló Santiago in Puerto Santiago on the west
coast. We had asked for a room with a sea view and while we weren't
looking out directly to the open sea, we were more than rewarded with a
view of the Gigantes cliffs, and a small cove with a natural swimming
pool, where we bathed a couple of times in an absolutely idyllic setting.
We used the hotel as our base for the 4 days we stayed in Tenerife, and
this perhaps more than anything helped to make our stay enoyable, since we
didn't have to worry about finding other accommodation. We used our hire
car to explore much of the west and north-west coasts, although we too
were thwarted in our attampt to get to the Punta de Teno tip - that road
must be closed year round. But we didn't find the roads a problem - for
us, part of the enjoyment was taking our hire car round endless curves
high up into the mountains - we stopped several times to take photos of
the breathtaking views.
Like you, we loved Playa La Arena and also of course the Teide Park which
has to be the highlight of any trip to Tenerife. We certainly didn't
experience the same problems you had with lack of restaurants or the
friendliness of the people. We had a couple of really enjoyable meals in
Puerto de Santiago and La Caleta - the waiters were fun and accommodating
in some places and in others the view to the sea overshadowed any other
factors.
When I look back on my visit to Tenerife the words that come to mind are
romantic, spectacular, idyllic, peaceful, relaxing.
Isn't it strange how one's own experience can be so different from another's?
Roger.
http://www.GoLisbon.com - Lisbon city guide
mike james
>
> Thanks a lot for the account of your trip. I'm sorry to hear it wasn't
I wouldn't say it wasn't as good as expected - in many ways it was better -
but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting at all. If the weather had been
better
perhaps we would have stayed down on the coast and then it might have been
more
in line with expectations. We had packed shorts and swimming things but they
all stayed in the bags.
> Like you, we loved Playa La Arena and also of course the Teide Park which
> has to be the highlight of any trip to Tenerife. We certainly didn't
> experience the same problems you had with lack of restaurants or the
> friendliness of the people. We had a couple of really enjoyable meals in
> Puerto de Santiago and La Caleta - the waiters were fun and accommodating
> in some places and in others the view to the sea overshadowed any other
> factors.
The problem is possibly that we had high expectations - after Lanzarote.
The restaurants were mostly in the "ok" class - but nothing to put on
your list of "must go back to" --- with the possible exception of, as you
say, the views.
In one case the terrible service at a sea front place in the north was easy
to forgive
simply because of the location, however we didn't go back because we both
agreed that
we had eaten the only things on their menu that sounded interesting.
I was surprised by the attituded of a lot of the people we interacted with.
Waiters were
mostly silent almost to the point of being rude (and we did speak to them in
spanish).
It could have been my imagination but sue commented on it as well - and once
noticed
it did seem to be common.
Of course there were
exceptions - like the two ladies in the local supermarket who seemed to want
to chat about
the weather and so on. But for me this simply highlighted the poor attitude
of the other people
we were dealing with i.e. you noticed when people weren't indiffernt to your
existance.
Some how it was very unspanish... if you see what I mean.
Now I don't want the group to get this out of proportion. I think just a
slight change in the
balance (luck maybe) and you would probably wonder what the fuss was about.
> When I look back on my visit to Tenerife the words that come to mind are
> romantic, spectacular, idyllic, peaceful, relaxing.
Yes I'd agree about spectacular but not sure about the rest :-)
We did have a wonderful time but it was because we spent most of it
walking up and down the volcanic fields and cones of the teide national
park.
I ended up thinking about the island as two different places - the bit down
below which was
a bit tired of tourists and the bit on top which was a million miles away.
> Isn't it strange how one's own experience can be so different from
> another's?
Yes indeed.
I can see that with minor changes to the weather, avoiding the worst of the
roads,
picking non-weekends to visit popular places and having the luck to pick the
good attentive places to eat then we could have had your experience.
The whole thing has worried me about returning to Lanzarote which was
"romantic, spectaular,
idyllic, peaceful, relaxing"... what if I was just lucky the first time or
what if its a change
about the islands since I was last there.
I guess I'll just have to go back and find out :-)
For the record.... we had a really great time and would/will (sue?) go back
but all because of the existance of tiede national park rather than the rest
of the island.
mikej
Mac
least (I had been considering it) would not suit our 'wandering around
the back roads finding interesting places to stay' style of discovering
more of Spain. There are so many parts of the mainland we've not
visited yet, so I think we'll put Tenerife further down the list.
Mac
sue james
On the whole it made us appreciate "the Peninsula", as they refer to it in
the Canaries, more than ever - so much so we've already booked flights for
next month!
We'd chosen Tenerife for various reasons and it excelled for one of them -
volcanic landscapes - and failed to deliver for the other - warm winter
sunshine. We were unlucky with the rain and wind which certainly detracted
from our enjoyment - for one thing driving through fog you don't see the
landscape. Luckily Teide normally is above the clouds so we did get plenty
of sunshine, it just wasn't warm!
We normally enjoy driving in Spain - the roads tend to be quieter and the
drivers more courteous than in the UK - but that was not true of Tenerife.
Since coming home I've discovered that friends who holidayed there a few
weeks prior to us decided not to hire a car to explore once they'd seen the
state of the traffic.They kept this secret from us so as not to put us off
but gave us that "we could have warned you" look when we told our
travellers' tale.
Sue
LesterOR
out-of-place compared to your usual Spain experiences. I have thought
of someday exploring more of the Canaries; this report is a good
warning -- not to stay away, but to plan well in advance to know what I
want out of another trip there.
Lester