Beaches

The Granadilla Coast

The Granadilla coast has the island's best beaches, of fine golden sand. El Médano is a small, quiet, family holiday resort, with the longest beach in Tenerife (2 Km) and shallow seas. There is direct access from the TF-1 motorway.

The beach has changing rooms and showers in the square by the beach. There is a kiosk and many bars and restaurants in the area, as well as a tourist information office (Tel 922 176002), the constant winds in this area make El Médano ideal for windsurfing, winds are not so strong in September and October.

Another sandy beach in the area is El Cabezo, which is the next beach along to the north and several international windsurfing competitions are held here, such as the O'Neill Tenerife Grand Prix, which is on the Professional Boardsailing Association (PBA) circuit. Playa de la Jaquita is another beach in the area popular for wind surfers. A windsurfing school and board hire can be found in the Atlantic Playa Hotel (Avda. Europa. Tel 922 176240, 922 176054 and 922 176252)

Playa de la Tejita is a broad beach with fine sand and approx 1 kilometre long, it lies just south of El Médano, beyond Montaña Roja, there is a small cove at the foot of Montaña Roja which is a nudist beach, the currents make is somewhat dangerous for some people. There is a dirt track that goes down to the beach from the road between El Médano and Los Abrigos, although we recommend you do it on foot as the area has suffered greatly from off-road traffic.

A little further south, is the small beach of El Confital, which is a black sand beach, there are many excellent fish and sea-food restaurants in the nearby fishing village of Los Abrigos.

The Granadilla coast has several settlements and there are several small interesting beaches within the coastal village of El Porís de Abona, most of which can be reached by road just off the TF-1 motorway, there is also a small harbour where you can have a relatively comfortable dip.

Along one of the coastal tracks leading out from El Porís de Arona, you will the excellent sandy beaches of Playa de la Punta and Playa Grande. Along from Playa Grande you will reach the nearby Abona lighthouse.

Following the coastal path for a further 20 minutes approx, will bring you to more beaches, firsly Playa de Los Cardones and a few minutes further on from you get to Los Abriguitos which is another sandy beach. Continuing somewhat further south rings you to the fishing villages of Los Abades and San Miguel de Tajao.

La Laguna

Bajamar, a coastal town about 3 km from Tejina, has a complex of sea water swimming pools, two large ones and a children's pool, with showers and changing rooms, entrance is free, you just pay a small charge for the other services. There is also a small sandy beach next to the breakwater by the pools and there is a path along the coast from here and there are many bars and restaurants near the pools.

Playa del Arenal is between Bajamar and Punta del Hidalgo, it has black sand or pebbles, depending on the time of year and the tides. There is a walkway from the old Hotel Neptuno, on the main road, right down to the beach.

The road through Bajamar continues along the coast as far as Punta del Hidalgo. This little holiday resort and fishing village has a small municipal sea water swimming pool on the coast at Los Areniscos and entrance is free. There are many coves and inter-tidal pools along this stretch of coast, especially in the area of Las Furnias.

Another stretch of coast known as El Buigo, which is suitably equipped for camping, has a lovely beach called Playa de San Juan at the end of this coast and is very popular when, especially when the sea is calm. You will also find a number of popular restaurants here near the main road and others in Punta del Hidalgo.

Costa de Valle de Guerra and Tejina have several small coves and the beach known as La Barranquera is well sign-posted as it is used by the locals. Los Callejones and Las Salinas beaches are close by along with Playa de Jover (pebbles) which is on the Tejina coast, access to these beaches is along the coastal track from El Trapiche (local rum factory in Tejina). As it is protected by a small break water, it has a semi-natural bathing pool.

Arona

The coast between Playa de las Americas known as Playas de Troya and the harbour of Los Cristianos has several good golden sand beaches, like Las Caletillas and El Camisón which run along the stretch of coast at the back of the apartment complexes of Parque Santiago III and the Sir Anthony Hotel.

Beyond the Camisón point is Playa de las Vistas, which has been refurbished with sand from the sea bed, making it one of the best and longest beaches on the island. On all these beaches, you can hire sun beds, pedal boats and wet bikes, there is also plenty of bars and restaurants in the neighborhood of Playa de las Vistas, there is also tourist office in the area (Tel 922 797668), in Avda. del Litoral, next to the City Center shopping centre.

Los Cristianos is practically part of Playa de las Americas and has a broad beach of golden sand opposite the harbour from which the ferries leave for La Gomera and El Hierro. Fishing is still fairly important to the harbour and the town. There are many boat trips that leave from this harbour, both leisure trips and fishing excursions. There is a colony of pilot whales that live off this coast too.

There are many bars and restaurants near the beach and a pedestrian precinct takes you up to the town centre. A coastal pedestrian promenade takes you to the nearby Guaza mountain.

Las Galletas is a fishing village in the borough of Arona. There are two exits from the TF-1 motorway, one near Los Cristianos, through Guaza, and the other near Tenerife South Airport. It has a beach of black sand and pebbles, down by the fishing harbour, next to the sea front promenade. There are good fish restaurants in Las Galletas.

The nearby Palm-Mar complex also has a pebble beach with some black sand, where you will find caravans and tents at weekends and in the summer.

Between Las Galletas and the motorway, in Cañada Blanca, there is a camp site with full facilities (Camping Nauta; Tel +34 922 785118).

Near the village of Las Galletas is the complex of Ten-Bel, with an extensive sea water pool for residents. Close to the pool, there is a track that takes you along the beautiful coastal cliffs, with several paths down to the sea for a dip.