Tenerife... ideas

Off to Tenerife in a weeks time!

Easily the most exotic place we can get to for less than 200.00 each flights+hotel. We are staying in the south of the island and I'm very excited about going to places like Las Canadas del Teide, Masca, and Punta de Tena. Anyone have any special must-see spots / walks they'd be willing to share?

Going to the north of the island looks like a must, but I want to minimise driving, so I wonder if any Tenerife experts know whethre/how we can see the best of the north in a couple of afternoon trips (setting off from near the southern airport).

Sorry I can't help with walks and things - I've never been further than the airport in Tenerife.

I've photographed Teide though, from La Palma.

If you can get a boat trip do so - you should see pilot whales, and dolphins and if you are really lucky a sea turtle, barracuda or similar.
Some boats have a glass bottom which is just great for viewing the beasties.

Be prepared for some rain - November is rainy season. But it is mostly only rainy at night.

Have fun.

Is it too late to change it to Gran Canaria

Mount Teide should be OK if you can get there before the coaches, otherwise any landscapes you want to do are ruined by tourists

Funnily enough we were thinking of Gran Canara first, as its also pretty cheap to get to, but Tenerife looked slightly more impressive. Yes i'll be avoiding Teide itself, period. But the caldera it sits in is massive, hoping I can escape the tourists in the lava flows. Probably better to look at Teide from a distance than from close up anyway

Would have loved to go to La Palma but I couldn't find cheap flights.

But hopefully we'll be able to get across to La Gomera on the ferry for a day at least. May even see some whales

You need to fly from Manchester for La Palma I believe.
It ain't as cheap as the other islands though. But then it's not as crowded, and a lot greener too. If ever you do go try and stay on the west side of the island.

We've practically given up on Cuba for winter sun and will probably go back to La Palma again. Either that or we'll go in June for a big festival there with lots of dogs of the same breed as one of ours. A lot depends on whether my husband's contract gets renewed or not at the end of the year.

If I spoke better Spanish I could happily retire to La Palma .

Gran Canaria has some lovely scenery once you get away from the tourist belt.

But I am sure you will enjoy Tenerife - it has to be better than Worcester in November no matter what .

There's lot of info on Tenerife on the web btw .

Would that be the indigenous Canarian breed of sheep/cattle dogs? Sturdy looking short-eared beasties? One of my guidebooks has a couple of pages on them.

They come only from La Palma - Perro de Pastor Garafiano, aka Garafiano.

There is also the Bardino, which come from a couple of the islands, including Tenerife, and of course the Dogo-Canario which is a different kettle of fish entirely.

Have a look at www. garafiano.com for information about the breed.

Forgot the podenco canario - a greyhound type of dog too - but capable of jumping over 6 ft fences as if they don't exist .

Well the Garafianos are lovely, what an elegant dog.

Actually they are galumphing great idiots and soft as they come .

We hired a car and drove up Mnt Teide but the higher we got the cloudier it became and in the end my wife decided she didnt want to carry on and made me turn back. Was quite relieved actually as I couldn't see a bloody thing and all the little crosses on the side of the road where cars had driven off was quite worrying.

Would have helped if they had crash barriers going round the edge but it was just a sheer drop.

Wimp!

Cool, that sounds awesome

I might let myself get used to driving on the right side of the road before I attempt it though

Think you missed out though, Mike. I read in my guidebook that on a cloudy day, you can usually drive above cloud level and be under a clear blue sky at the top of the crater

The North coast of the island is much more interesting IMHO than the South. Although if you don't want to venture far from the tourist zone in the South, try El Medano (not far from the airport), usually loads of windsurfers out if it's windy - quite the pros training ground so you can get some spectacular shots if it's windy/wavy.

The drive up to Mt Teide is well worth it, even if it's cloudy as it's often sunny at the top as you'll often drive thru the cloud and out the other side - I'd go early on in the day to avoid the coach loads. I've been up there a couple of times when it's been frosty at the top and that adds an interesting dimension to the volcanic landscape. Night shots with star trails are another option as it will be crystal clear up there on a cloudless night.

Enjoy... it's a lovely island!

Oh I know we missed out but with a very nervous wife in the car and a 2 year old it was hinted that it was not in my interest to carry on up the mountain.