Why Tenerife Should Be on Your Travel Bucket List

If you think Tenerife is just package holidays and sunbeds in Playa de las Américas, I understand why, but you've been sold a tiny slice of the island. It's a place where you can stand on Spain's highest mountain in the morning and be swimming in the Atlantic by mid afternoon, and Isle of Tenerife is a good place to start planning once you're convinced. Here's why it earns a spot on your Tenerife bucket list, and how to do it without wasting a day.

Is Tenerife Really Worth Putting on a Bucket List?

Yes. I'd say that even if I didn't write about the place for a living, which I don't, not in any way that pays.

Most bucket list destinations ask for a lot. Long flights, jet lag, a visa form, a second mortgage. Tenerife takes about four and a half hours from the UK, uses the euro, and has a climate that's mild even in January. That's the whole trick of it. You get an island with real wildness, volcanic and strange and varied, without the logistics of a once in a decade trip.

And it's properly varied, which is what the brochures never manage to say. The north is green, damp in places, full of laurel forest and steep villages. The south is dry and bright and almost desert in feel. They're less than an hour apart by road. It's like two countries sharing one island.

The Volcano You Can Actually Stand On

Mount Teide is the reason Tenerife belongs on a Tenerife bucket list. At 3,715 metres it's the highest peak in Spain, and the third tallest volcano on Earth when you measure from the ocean floor.

You don't need to be a mountaineer. The cable car takes you up to around 3,555 metres in a few minutes, and the view from the top station is the sort that makes people go quiet. The ground up there is rust red and black, crunchy underfoot, and smells faintly of sulphur near the vents. The air is thin enough that you'll notice it on the stairs.

Two practical things, and I mean it when I say nobody tells you these. Book the cable car online ahead of time, because queues in high season can eat half a morning. And bring a proper jacket, sorry, a warm jacket, because it can be 20 degrees cooler than the coast. People turn up in flip flops. They regret it.

If you want to walk to the very summit, you'll need a free permit from the national park, and they go quickly. Apply well in advance.

The Best Time for a Tenerife Bucket List Trip

I'll be blunt: there isn't a bad time, only a wrong place for each season.

Summer is hot and busy in the south. August is when the resorts feel full and the beaches feel like someone's lent you a square metre of sand. Winter is when the island is at its most comfortable, with the south regularly in the low to mid twenties while Britain is grey and sodden. Spring is the one I'd pick if I had to choose, because the north is green and the flowers on the Teide slopes are out.

November, which is when I'm writing this, is quiet and warm and lovely. If you can travel outside school holidays, do.

Where to Stay in Tenerife for the First Time

This is the question underneath most searches, so here's a straight answer.

Costa Adeje is the polished one, with good beaches and lots of choice for families. Los Cristianos is older, calmer and walkable, with a working harbour that smells of diesel and grilled fish in the evening, and I like it more than I expected to. Puerto de la Cruz in the north has more character than anywhere in the south, with black sand, a proper town centre and a feeling that people actually live there.

My honest opinion? Don't pick one and stay put. If you've got a week or more, split it between the north and south, even if it means one night's packing. It changes the whole trip.

Whales, Dolphins and Boats That Don't Feel Like a Circus

The strait between Tenerife and La Gomera is home to a resident population of short finned pilot whales, which means sightings are far more reliable than in most places. Trips run from Los Cristianos and Los Gigantes.

Here's the bit I'd press on. Choose an operator that keeps its distance and doesn't chase animals. Look for smaller boats with a guide on board, and ask how they behave around the whales before you pay. It's the difference between a lovely afternoon and an awkward one.

Masca, Anaga and the Walks That Make the Trip

If Teide is the headline, the walking is the real reason I keep going back.

The Masca gorge is the famous one, a steep drop between rock walls to a small cove on the coast. It's dramatic, but it's also regulated now, so check current access and booking rules before you set off. Don't just turn up and hope. And remember that the walk back up is the hard part, though most people do the boat back instead.

The Anaga mountains in the north east are, for my money, better. Mist drifts through ancient laurel forest, the paths are mossy and quiet, and you'll hear water more than other people. It's the part of the island that surprises visitors most. Bring a rain jacket even if the forecast looks fine.

What to Eat on Tenerife (and What to Skip)

Skip the menu with photographs outside, I'm sorry to say. Eat where the locals are.

Order papas arrugadas, small wrinkled potatoes boiled in very salty water, with a green or red mojo sauce. The first time I had them I went back the next night and ordered a second plate before I'd even looked at the menu. Try grilled goat cheese with palm honey, fresh fish by the harbour, and gofio, a toasted grain flour the islanders have eaten for centuries.

In the north, look for guachinches, which are casual, seasonal places run from family homes, where you eat simple home cooking and drink local wine. They open and close without much warning, so ask around.

Stargazing, Which Nobody Mentions Enough

Tenerife has some of the clearest night skies in Europe, and the Teide area is protected for it. On a clear night up in the national park, the Milky Way is so bright it almost looks fake.

There are guided stargazing evenings, and they're worth the money because you get telescopes and someone to point out what you're looking at. Wrap up warmly. I mean it again, because the cold up there is no joke.

How Many Days Do You Need?

Five days is the minimum for the highlights. Seven to ten is the sweet spot, enough for Teide, a boat trip, a couple of walks and some time doing nothing at all.

A hire car is worth having. The buses are decent but they won't take you to the quiet corners, and the roads are good, if twisty in the mountains. Fill up the tank before heading up Teide, and drive slowly on the bends.

One Last Thing

I started going to Tenerife for the sun, like everyone does. I keep going back for the strange, quiet moments: the cold air on a volcano at sunrise, a plate of potatoes in a harbour bar, mist moving through a forest older than anything you've stood in.

Put it on your Tenerife bucket list, and leave a day with nothing planned. That's usually the one you'll remember.