I’ve never been anywhere with travel agency in my life, because I always book flights and accommodation by myself, wherever I may go. That’s why I was a bit sceptical about three hundred quid offer to spend a week in Tenerife. Yup, $300 for flight, 4 star hotel and all inclusive food and beverages.
I’ve decided to give it a try, after all what could go wrong? I’ll get a room without ocean view? Who spends his vacation sitting in hotel and staring through windows?
We flew out from Manchester on Sunday, twentieth of November. You’re right, November and February are the rainiest months in Canary Islands. It means possibility of two rainy days in a week. More or less. It’s not a problem if you have books to catch up with and all inclusive. Also, there’s between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius, so you can swim in the ocean and sunbath a little.
Travelling with an agency you’ll attend a welcome meeting on your first day of stay. To be fair it’s designed to sell you excursions, but more on that later.
We touched down on the southern airport, so a coach had to take us north, to our destination, Puerto de la Cruz. The town attracts mostly elder couples looking for some peace and quiet, and during the summer more Spaniards from the continent, as they prefer mild climate of Canaries. You can hear English from locals less frequently than in Playa de la Américas, or on Gran Canaria in Playa del Inglés.
4 star hotel Be Live Adults Only deserves a few words. Most of rooms are with ocean view, ours had Mount Teide visible as well. Overall cleanliness and marvelous food are hotel’s advantages. Now, Adults Only in its name has nothing to do with porn or orgies, it’s there just to let people know there are no installations for children, so the hotel is not suitable for families with little ones. Because of that, you can clearly see, this hotel is dominated by elderly folks. Primo, all evening animations are surely meant for seniors (bingo!), secundo, the gym is literally non existant (one cannot call a stationary bike and a treadmill, a gym). For me it didn’t matter at all, as in my travels I require a bed, a roof and a bathroom. I can sort out the rest myself.
MONDAY
At 9am, after the breakfast, we attended so called “welcome”. The travel agency rep, Jewels, told us about Tenerife’s finest attractions and excursions offered to see these attractions. As I mentioned above, it’s more of a sales pitch. You have to consider well those trips, because some of them might not work out (take weather conditions for example), or they might not be worth the money. Imagine you’ve paid for night under the stars near Mount Teide, which is quite expensive, and you can’t see the stars because of the clouds. You’ve paid for a meal and fizzy wine away from your hotel, that’s what you’ve paid for.
Or €54 per person for taking a coach tour to Icod the los Vinos, Masca and Garachico, when for €35 you can rent a car and drive there yourself. Without time restrictions or, you know, other people.
We bought catamaran cruise in pursuit of dolphins. It was sold out for Tuesday, so we took Thursday one. We decided to rent a car and drive around as well.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach close to the hotel (this black volcanic sand!), at the pool and in the bar.
TUESDAY
November reminded us about itself and it was cloudy with occasional rains throughout the day. Well, it’s not such a bad idea to take a break from sunbathing for a while. It’s good for your skin. Three hours of table tennis saved the day. In the evening we decided to visit the only live casino in Puerto de la Cruz – very tiny, only two roulettes and one black jack table. Tuesday’s bright spot? We were happy that catamaran cruise had been sold out for today. I wouldn’t want to be there with all these clouds and rains.
WEDNESDAY
It wasn’t clear in the morning how the weather will be during the day. Despite this, after the breakfast we rented Seat Ibiza. I remember that in Tuscany, Italians locked €1000 on our credit card to cover eventual expenses, tickets and so on. On Tenerife a guy asked only for €60 to cover fuel in case we didn’t refuel.
We drove to Icod de los Vinos, where a thousand years old dragon tree grows (Drago Milenario). We stayed there for a while to taste some local wines, cactus marmalade, palm tree honey, liquors (delicious ronmiel – rum with honey), almogrote (local bread spread made of hard cheese with olive oil and spices), mojo (something like pesto in Italy) and other goodies.
From Icod we headed in the direction of Santiago del Teide. We wanted to see Masca. However, since we were driving, we might as well visit the Los Gigantes cliffs a bit further, and even the Teide volcano. And so we did. We took some pictures of Los Gigantes from a view point above the town and then we went on towards Teide. The landscape over there is crazy! Looks like another planet or road to hell with rocks and mist. The mountain itself is worth a detour.
After Mount Teide we came back to our original route to Masca. The road from Santiago del Teide to this little village is and adventure itself. Tight hairpin turn on which passing the bus gives you more emotions than a thriller. My passenger was more stressed than I was, but that’s probably because she looked down more often. Until sixties of last century the only way to get to Masca was on a donkey. The view that unfolds from Masca immediately calls to mind Andes. It explains why this place is often referred to as European Machu Picchu. Amazing landscape to look at whilst drinking coffee with cactus cake on the side.
We very much wanted to see Garachico, about which they say it’s the most beautiful town of the island. It was already a bit late but I was hoping to make it before sunset. Instead of going back to Santiago del Teide w drove further into the mountains, to Buenavista del Norte. From there it’s relatively flat and straight road to Garachico. Before entering the town, there’s a nice viewpoint to take a few pictures.
There’s another thing that Garachico is known for, apart from its charm. On the 5th of May 1706 the infamous eruption of Teide begun. It lasted for several weeks and during that time lava filled Garachico Bay. Without the bay whole export of malmsay wine and other local products had died. Even today you can see traces of that eruption in town and also in Google Maps.
We were caught by the sunset in Garachico. It was beautiful.
Back in Puerto de la Cruz we refuelled and returned the car. Total cost of our trip closed in €80: 35 for the car, 15 for the gas and 30 for coffee, palm honey and other stuff. If we wanted to do the same buying excursions from agency, we’d have to pay almost €170 and that’s without seeing Los Gigantes and without shopping.
THURSDAY
Catamaran cruise! To actually get there we had to take a coach to the south. It was supposed to take us from neighbouring hotel at 11:01 and it showed there on time. It took us about and hour to get to Puerto Colon, where we boarded Freebird F13.
This type of catamaran in two thirds of its length has normal deck between the hulls. In one third though, on the bow, there are nets instead of a deck. Before anyone found out it’s allowed, I was lying with my camera at the bow. I took tens of pictures of the coast, the Los Gigantes, dolphins and small whales. One of the dolphins emerged under our net! So close to us!
When I wasn’t shooting, I was lying on my net as on hummock enjoying sun, wind and occasional splash on my face. On board they served paella and drinks. The cruise took about four and a half hours, but it seemed a lot shorter. Near the end some DVD’s (€29) and photographs (€10) were available to buy. Before eight in the evening we were back in our hotel.
Dolphin cruise is one of excursions that can fail easily, as the weather may be bad and there’s always possibility that you won’t see any dolphins. They told us that on that day there was 60% probability of spotting the dolphins. However I do recommend this, you have to do it once in your life.
FRIDAY
Sunny day spent entirely on sunbathing, swimming in the pool and relaxing in general.
SATURDAY
The weather in the morning wasn’t too good. We nearly overslept and missed breakfast, after which we came back to bed and then nearly overslept for lunch! After 2pm we’ve decided to take a walk to gardens of Puerto de la Cruz.
Entry to the Sitio Litre costs €4,75. The name of this garden is derived from the first owner of the estate, Archibald Little. Little’s Place, in Spanish Sitio Little, in time became Sitio Litre. Currently the house is a private property, but owners decided to open garden to the public.
Since 1774 many people have visited the garden, either as house or party guests. Among the most famous you’ll find Agatha Christie, William Wilde, Alexander von Humboldt and Marianne North. Even today in Sitio Litre there’s six hundred years old dragon tree, very tall norfolk pine, collection of orchids and probably the best smelling rose that I have ever smelled. There are also fishes in the pond and little parrots. Worth a visit.
To the botanic garden you can enter for €3 and it is worth it as well. Eucalyptus, banana trees, coffee tree, pecan, avocado, palm trees, autocarpus, carambola, ginseng, aloe, cinnamon tree, litchi, enormous ficus macrophylla with numerous columns and more. Plants from all continents.
Both gardens are definitely precious and worth a walk.
In the evening I won the quiz about Tenerife! We spent Sunday on the beach waiting for a transfer to the airport.
For a first holiday with travel agency I am very pleased. We’ve met wonderful Dutch couple, we’ve seen a lot breathtaking things, we’ve walked in Puerto de la Cruz eating roasted sweet chestnuts. The hotel was quite all right: delicious food, clean, close to the beach, pleasant view and nice service.
There are two world’s most recommended on TripAdvisor attractions on Tenerife that we haven’t seen. Siam Park – I’m not a fan of water parks, and Loro Park – well, I’m not a big fan of parks with animals as well. Maybe another time.
Finally I highly recommend Canary Islands for their summer lasting all year round. One place that is actually still in Europe – no passport required for EU nationals – although it’s technically Africa and near the tropic. Also, you can have nice, worm holidays in January!
