Tenerife – one of the most popular escape Islands for frozen central and nothern Europeans during long and cold winter times. Though Swimming is only advised in heated Swimming pools, West Coast Tenerife is dry, warm and great for hiking with a view during the cold season.
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| Destination | Tenerife, Spain |
| How and when I got there | Ryanair; return flight from Cologne/Bonn; February 2018 |
| Where and when I stayed | 1 bedroom-Apartment in La Matanza, North Coast: Faisan Azul, https://www.airbnb.de/rooms/8512000 1 bedroom-Apartment in Los Gigantes: https://www.airbnb.de/rooms/10805053 February 2018 |
| Restaurants | Restaurant Casa Juan in La Matanza, https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g1064202-d3192919-Reviews-Restaurante_Casa_Juan-La_Matanza_de_Acentejo_Tenerife_Canary_Islands.html, http://casajuan.net/welcome Restaurant Casa Mediterranea in Puerto de la Cruz, https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g187481-d3498983-Reviews-Casa_Mediterranea-Puerto_de_la_Cruz_Tenerife_Canary_Islands.html , no own Website Restaurant Tas-K in Los Gigantes, https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g673870-d3625318-Reviews-Tas_K-Los_Gigantes_Tenerife_Canary_Islands.html, no own Website |
| Things to do | Hiking – Tenerife is a paradise for hiking! Good guide: “Rother Tenerife – the finest walks on the coast and in the mountains”: https://www.rother.de/rother-english%20titles-tenerife-4809.htm
wind and kite Surfing in El Medano check out more: https://www.tripadvisor.de/Attractions-g187479-Activities-Tenerife_Canary_Islands.html |
| Recommendations in a nutshell | North Coast: generally more humid/rainy and colder at night (make sure your accommodation offers heating); if you prefer the sun: look for an accomodation in the south-western part (that’s usually the sunniest Region on Tenerife) and rent a car for visiting the North. |
| Recipe | Orange Chicken |
Here you will find the second part of our Tenerife journey, which lead us into the warm and dry western parts of the Island. The first part (North Coast) you will find here.
Here Comes the Sun…
After one week of more or less rain and temperatures below 20 degrees, we were quite happy to leave the north and head south, arriving at Los Gigantes in the afternoon and being greeted by a glorious blue sky. Our apartment was located at the northern end of Los Gigantes and thus had a great view of the sunset over La Gomera, the smaller island just west of Tenerife.
Our Apartment – like hundreds in the area – featured a large terrace with a perfect view of the cliffs, the sea and La Gomera. And on our first day, we even had a gorgious rainbow above the cliffs – which obviously impressed a pigeon as well:
Los Gigantes itself is a quite touristic place. Most houses are built into the steep mountain. At the bottom there’s a small Harbour and a Kind of town Center, including two supermarkets that offer everything for self-sustained accomodation.
Los Gigantes is – at least during Winter – a kind of huge British retirement home.Despite th, there are enough alternatives to British cuisine if necessary. We preferred a tiny Tapas place in the back alley of the harbor, Tas-K. It’s operated by a team of young people and features a quite creative kitchen. We went there three times and loved it.
Abama Beach – nice, if you want to afford it
Having been a bit deprived of sunshine, our first day in the West was dedicated to sunbathing at the beach. The Los Gigantes beach is nice, but small and – on that day – windy. So we searched the west coast for a cosy and windless bay, and we found the perfext spot a bit south: Abama beach, next to the gorgious Hotel Ritz-Carlton. The beach is public, and – for some Euro – you can rent sunbeds of the Hotel beach Club.
Guergues: Great Hiking Trail in the West
In the vicinity of Los Gigantes there are several nice hikes, and we tried some. We liked the “Guergues” trip (no. 25 in the Rother guide) best, which leads from the road above Masca (only a few parking spaces available!) to the coastal cliffs.
Some parts of the trail are Close to a steep abyss, but it’s OK if you stay on the path.
The trail went up and down and took much longer than anticipated, but in the end the view was spectacular and really worth the effort. The path ends at a plateau high above the sea. There’s an ancient small stone circle, a perfect place for resting and enjoying the view of La Gomera and the entire west coast of Tenerife.
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Traffic at Masca
The most famous hiking trail is the one that goes from the small settlement of Masca down to the shore, through the Gorge of Masca. Unfortunately, nowadays there’s a pilgrimage of thousands of People on the trail and there’s constant heavy traffic in Masca, and so we decided to skip this tour. And still happened to suffer the traffic chaos in Masca. A Spanish guy managed to look at the landscape, not realizing that he left his side of the extremely small road – he crashed directly in the left front of our rental car! Which meant for us getting to the next Avis office (after hours of figuring out where that might be…) and reporting the damage. Thanks a lot! At least – thanks to our “Super Collision Damage Waiver”, it just cost us time, but no money.
After the “Guerges” trail, we suffered of sore muscels and opted the next day for a more relaxing activity.
Whale respectively dolphin watching…
…we thought, should be nice. The dolphins are always there – we could even watch them with magnifying glasses from our terrace. And they are easily found by the tour boats. Our boat met a large group of 20-30 animals, and we came really close.
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Still, we were quite ambiguous afterwards, as the boats move too close to the animals and literally chase them – despite being obliged to stay away at a certain distance and not to hassle them. However, the boat trip itself was nice, providing a good voew of the Los Gigantes cliffs amd the bottom end of the Masca Gorge from the sea:
Recoverd from the muscle ache, we tried another walk, this time no. 29 from Arguyao to Santiago del Teide. A bit up and down, but a lot less tiring than the Guergues trail. In January and February a major attraction are the almond blossoms everywhere, a very beautiful sight:
To the Top
Due to heavy snow during our first week on Tenerife all roads up to the Teide National Parc were closed. During the second week, the roads opened again, and so we saved the best for last: going up to the top of the Teide crater by cable car. On the way up we left the clouds behind:
Approx. 3 Kilometers before you reach the bottom Station of the cable car tehre’s a short, but very nice walk to a picturesque rock Formation called “Roques de Garcia”:
Even outside the high season it is absolutely advised to reserve tickets – otherwise you may end up standing in line for an hour and finally not getting one. Tickets Reservation, however, is easy and can be made online. You have to indicate a certain time, but in case you’re showing up early they might let you go earlier.
The Teide is the highest mountain of Spain, around 3.700 meters, and the view is absolutely gorgious, even without a clear sky:
So Overall, Tenerife has a lot to offer beside beach Holidays. During our 2 weeks, we just managed to walk 6 out of the 80 described trails – there’s definitely a reason to come back.
And here’s my favorite recipe from Los Gigantes – we had this dish at the wonderful Tas-K Restaurant. I’m sure their recipe is still better, but this one comes close.
Orange ChickenIngredients for 2 persons
Coat the pieces of chicken breast with 3 tablespoons starch, salt and pepper and fry the meat in vegetable oil until golden and crispy. Mix all ingredients for the sauce, add the sauce to the frying pan. Cook until the chicken is well done and the sauce has acquired a thick consistency. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with Basmati Rice. |
Related Post:
 Tenerife, Spain – North Coast |
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