Tenerife has been at the centre of a lot of conversation in the last few weeks, as holidaymakers have been left baffled by how “dead” the island is, and wondering about the lack of tourists travelling there.
Some have speculated that the island has simply become too expensive to visit but after a recent trip there myself at the start of September, I have to say I was left bemused by this line of argument, and similarly so by how quiet the island was, as others have said.
Having never travelled to Tenerife before – or any of the Canary Islands, for that matter – I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect in terms of how popular it might be. Certainly, my fiancé and I usually deliberately plan our holidays for the first week of September, after kids have mostly returned to school, to ensure our destinations aren’t rammed with families.
But that being said, having gone away during the same week for the last few years now, this was definitely our most peaceful (and least touristy) trip so far. Yes, Tenerife is small, but when I think of the Canaries, I consider it among the most well-known of the islands.
However, while others appear to be concerned about the lack of holidaymakers in Tenerife this year, and some even seem to see it as a sign to stop going, I was not in the least bit deterred by the mostly empty streets and quiet beaches, and was fascinated by the rocky, volcanic landscapes.
As someone who is fairly well-travelled (with 34 countries under my belt, and counting), I love being able to visit a place and say it’s not like anywhere I’ve been to before. And within just hours of landing in Tenerife, and travelling by coach from the airport to our hotel, I’d already voiced this opinion to my partner.
We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Playa Paraiso, just a short, six-mile journey along the south-west coast of the island from some of the more popular tourist towns such as Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos.
We knew before travelling that Playa Paraiso was a more quiet neighbourhood, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that outside of our hotel and the neighbouring hotel complex, we barely saw anyone on the main stretch of road we were situated on for the entire week we stayed there.
For those arguing that the cost of Tenerife might be what is keeping people away, we certainly didn’t encounter this – with dinners on most nights costing little more than £20 a head, including an alcoholic drink for each of us.
Certainly, one of the highlights for us was finding a tiny German pub tucked down a side street round the back of our hotel, run by a lovely German couple who had been in Tenerife for 30 years. Best of all, you could get a stein of beer for just €1.50 (£1.25).
Even public buses into and around Los Cristianos cost us under £3 each for a whole day fare, and when we decided to take a stroll from Los Cristianos along the beach towards Costa Adeje, the beach and the boardwalk area were almost deserted, including the bars and cafes dotted along the beachfront.
But, as I said, this didn’t lessen our opinion of Tenerife in the slightest – in fact, it worked out in our favour, giving us more space to enjoy our first trip to the island, and also allowing us to be seated and served faster when we fancied a mid-afternoon snack or drink.
The busiest place we visited during our week in Tenerife was the Monkey Park in Los Cristianos, one of the top-rated tourist attractions on the island – but even this only cost us £10 per person for entry, including a pot of food to feed the monkeys and guinea pigs. (If you’re planning a trip to Tenerife, I highly recommend visiting here!).
All in all, I would say if you’ve read or seen anything recently about Tenerife being “dead”, and you’re wondering whether it’s still worth visiting – I’d recommend going for it.
It’s a really easy flight from Bristol Airport with Jet2, the weather was perfect at this time of year, and as long as you’re not going too crazy with fancy dinners every night, it’s a very easy place to visit on a budget, without breaking the purse strings.