Hello,
We’ve booked flights to Tenerife in the Easter hols, and we need to sort some accommodation.

The general vibe we’re looking for is fairly relaxed but active. Do some mountain / woodland walking, eat some nice food, time with the kids (10 and 8) on the beach or in the pool. Might squeeze my bike in but this is last on the list of motivating factors, sadly.

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for somewhere that might be good for this sort of thing?

We want to stay away from the chavvy / busy areas however being close to a town with a few local bars / restaurants /supermarket would be good.
We’re not bothered about being right on the coast, but reasonable access to the Beach would be nice (maybe within 30 mins drive, we’ll have a car). If we’re some distance from the coast then a pool would be nice.

Any recommendations?

Also are we better off on the South, North, East, West of Tenerife for sun / avoiding the wind.

Bit moon on a stick I know, but any recommendations or advice are appreciated!

It rains in the North, there’s nowt much on the East coast and there’s a big mountain in the middle so base yourself somewhere on the South West coast. It’s a small island so it’s pretty easy to get around.

Los Cristianos is pretty family oriented.

Icod de los vinos? few bars\food places in the town, not far from more of everything in puerto de la cruz, beach at the bottom of the road.

I’ve been researching exactly the same thing recently. Another forum I visit has the town of Los Gigantes on the west coast as a good bet if you’re after family-friendly town that still has a fair bit on the go. It apparently has some especially good restaurants.

Have stayed in Adeje town a few times. Couple of miles from the coast, bit further to Los Cristianos, easy airport transfer.

Siam Park and other stuff for families, Barranco Infierno trail and a great hike up the Roque Del Conde from Arona or walk it from Adeje if you’re feeling adventurous

I’ve been out to Tenerife about a dozen times, making use of the parents timeshare!

Los Gigantes is a fairly good shout, the new motorway around the south coast makes getting there a fairly easy affair. I can recall when it took hours bouncing on local tracks/roads.
You don’t need to stay in LG specifically, there are some quite good hotels just along the coast to the east.
Walking is good, but you may struggle to make a circular walk work. The classics are Baranco Del Inferno, but I haven’t walked this in years and believe they now operate a permit systems with limited numbers each day. To be honest I mostly remember turning up to find the path was closed for no particular reason.
The route from Masca down to Masca Bay and the boat back to Los Gigantes is another good walk. You’ll be in shade most of the day due to the height of the gorge walls but there is good swimming off of a jetty when you do reach the see. If you’re lucky you can see dolphins during the boat ride back.
Also, if you’re feeling slightly masochistic the walk up Teide is a cracker. It can be quite windy/chilly at the top and the fact you ascend from basically sea level can make the final couple of Km seem quite knackering. You can then get a 1-way ride down on the cable car, or walk the route in reverse to get down. If you do this walk, go early and park in the footpath car park about 2km beyond the cable-car car park, its small and fills up quite quickly, but always used to be free!

You can also walk on top of the cliffs at Masca by parking the car and heading west from the top of the road before it begins to descend into masca. Again, this is a there and back again walk, no loop possible.

Sun, stay in the south. The wind direction is normally quite kind, so sea facing balconies/terraces should be OK. The weather is generally good, but you will quite often get good mornings, then midday cloud, and a good evening.
If you get sick of the sun then head to the north coast for a daytrip, as has been mentioned it is a totally different island up there, and the road which runs along the spine of the mountains is positively tropical in places.

We stay inland of Los Christianos at a place called Chayofa.

If you want to go to Los Christianos try and stay up the hill a bit, generally the nearer you are to the sea the more built-up it is. Also, at the risk of sounding disgustingly middle class, if you don’t want all night music, legless louts and an STI, avoid Las Americas.

Any more queries let me know.

R

From your requirements, I’d say somewhere away from the coast is your best bet, but don’t have anything to recommend.

We’ve been to Playa Paraiso & Alcala. Both away from the super-chavvy spots of Playa Las Americas, but definitely not Notting Hill on Sea either.

I’m sure I read somebody of this parish has a holiday home there so hopefully they will pipe up 🙂

I lived there for 12+yrs and two forum members still do.
For what you’re asking ignore most and look at agrotourismo.
There’s been a huge push over the last 20yrs to sack off the “lager-louts” crowd and move it upmarket.
Its not been hugely successful but you can’t get a holiday there for anywhere near what you used to be able to as they’ve hiked the costs on purpose.
La Camella, Arona, right up in to Vilaflor, Valle san Lorenzo, Jama, El Roque, etc all have Fincas that now house beautiful hidden hotels, rooms, etc designed to be integrated into the land rather than a blot on it like Las Americas, etc.

This site gives you an idea – Rural Tenerife

We stayed here: http://www.11holidayhomes.com

Cool owners to add to the amazing accommodation.

A short walk to a traditional village at Los Abrigos and a 5 min drive to the hippy cool town of El Medano.

Not actually stayed at Los Gigantes, but we went there for many day trips away from costa Adeje and los cristianos etc when in Tenerife last year. Magic place! The wee beach beside the harbour was great fun, nice snorkeling, boogie boarding (with our 5, 8 and 10yr old kids) flying fish!!, whale trips from the harbor etc etc

If we go back to the island, I’d happily stay there.

Oh, and I was similar to you, OP, in that I did not take the bike. Next time I definitely would, spent the whole time going ‘ooh, there’s a good looking trail’ wherever we drove 🙂

I was there in early december for some road cycling. We stayed in Las Americas which I have been to loads of times. The place is fairly awful these days and we got hassled constantly by big africans fellas trying to sell us coke even whilst pushing a punctured road bike. Also hassled by hookers if we dared venture out after 11pm.
So in answer to your question stay in El Medano which is basically below the airport but very cool.

We went last year and stayed in Vilaflor – found a house/villa through airbnb and it was great. Pool wasn’t heated, which made for a quick but bracing dip (it was about easter ish) but you are up in the pine woods, and it’s much cooler and quieter than the coast.
About an hours drive into the main bit/beaches/siam park – i liked being a bit ‘out’.

Vino collapso was less than a euro a litre.

We went in November. Stayed in a Timeshare place in Adeje because they offered us a cheap week in return for a high pressure sales presentation which we succesfully withstood. The whole place was pretty ghastly.

El Medano was better. A real town, (when you meet some people who are neither tourists or work in the tourist industry) but as windsurfers we are bound to think that. Los Abrigos was charming. Not a full English on view, and a lack of HP sauce and TVs in restaurants. Los Gigantes was bearable and up north Garachico had its merits. Except the sand is black.

Thanks all, we decided to risk the weather in the north and plumped for la orotava, as it seems a nice relatively authentic Canarian town rather than the potential cesspits in the south.

And even though it’s last on the list…Been looking at the local trails…Not too shabby, it seems!

If anyone knows the local area, would be interested to hear any tips (bike or non bike)

I’ll stick another vote in for El Médano. Probably one of my favourite spots here. Can be a bit breezy, which is why it’s popular with the wind and kite surfers. However, get yourself on the beach by the Hotel Médano in the centre of town and you’re well sheltered from the prevailing winds. Very chilled out spot and some nice trails behind the town and around the airport for a bimble.
Los Gigantes always reminds me of a giant retirement centre and some of the hotel pool areas have been jokingly referred to by visitors as resembling a scene from the movie Cocoon 😆