Tenerife Family Holidays & Breaks

Things to Do at Mount Teide

• Explore Teide National Park, mostly above 2000m and a glorious moon-like spectacle due to its volcanic terrain. Kids love taking the cable-car to within 200m of the summit of Mount Teide (3718m) for outstanding views, including four of the other Canary Islands. You can book tours from the the north (which goes up through the Orotava Valley, with a stop in Orotava to look around its historic centre) and the south (which takes the Chío road between the Chinyero and Pico Viejo volcanoes, or there are public bus routes from Puerto de la Cruz and Playa de las Américas.

• Stargaze from the Teide Observatory with its state-of-the-art solar telescopes you can peer through on a guided tour or on summer open days. You can also spend one night at the top of Teide, in the Altavista Refuge at 3,270m, or you can stay at the foot of the volcano at the sustainable Parador de Las Cañadas del Teide mountain lodge, with telescopes and an indoor pool. In October, the Starmus Festival celebrates astronomy, space exploration, music, art,and the natural sciences, while San Cristobal de La La Laguna has the Museo de La Ciencia y El Cosmos Museum of Science and the Cosmos.

Things to Do in South Tenerife

• Enjoy the many leisure facilities, outdoor activities and shop of the very lively south. Nearly all have excellent conditions for diving, surfing, kite-surfing, windsurfing, sailing and canoeing, along with other watersports.

• Hop aboard one of the whale- and dolphin-watching trips from the main resorts to view the colonies off the south coast.

• Have fun at Europe’s biggest waterpark, Siam Park in Costa Adeje near Playa de las Américas, with state-of-the-art slides, rivers and rapids, and play areas for children.

• Or try Aqualand Costa Adeje, with more waterslides, rapids and lots of swimming pools.  

Things to Do in North Tenerife

• Explore the popular resort area of Puerto de la Cruz–Valle de La Orotava. Some of Tenerife’s best beaches line the coast here, and you’ll also find the Complejo Martiánez, an impressive complex of swimming pools and natural pools.

• Discover buzzing, cosmopolitan Puerto de la Cruz with its a great range of hotels, restaurants and shops ( accommodation in neighbouring La Orotava and Los Realejos is mainly in rural houses) and its botanical gardens. Other attractions of this area are the traditional cuisine, outdoor activities and historic buildings.