I wish it could be summer again. If I look out of the window, the winter blues is getting me, and I start dreaming of my next escape to sunny Egypt or Tenerife, maybe a summer trip to New Zealand, at least a shopping trip to Mailand or New York.

But browsing through the hotel-reservation sites to find that perfect hotel or the best hostel-deal in the destination of my dreams usually ends all these positive feelings – it is just a drag to have to enter your specifications over and over again, getting the same sponsored results that would never be my first choice, and then the search for more information, how many more clicks could there possibly be.

With HostelWorld.com I finally found my site – all the property types from Hotels to Campsites, videos and podcasts, free pocket guides and my own travel community, all the info and services I need for all those destinations worldwide, and everything just a click away. And what better place to dream about that next escape while being on the train on my way to work with those grey winter clouds – now they even have the HostelWorld-App.

Great!

The ambience in the guachinche is something really special. Normally those kinds of restaurants are established in garages or old canarian houses. It happened often to me that I wanted to visit a guachinche and didn’t have any idea where to find one. As well as if you live for a longer time on the isle you don’t know even the half of the guachinches and typical restaurants existing here.

Now there is a site, on which you can get wonderful insider tips about guachinches, restaurants and taverns. The site is called “De Picoteo por Tenerife”, which means something like gourmandizing all around Tenerife. Every month good insider tips about harmonic places to enjoy real canarian food are published.

The publications are a sort of field report. Those reports are accompanied with photos. Like this you can get yourself an idea about the ambience and the kind of dishes served. Watching the photos you get real appetite to taste the specialties and visit those places.

On the site it’s mentioned where the restaurants are situated and when they are opened. As well you get information about the kind of dishes and specialties offered. If there are some special events and offers the site is informing you about that. For example when there are special invitations for chestnuts ore suckling pigs in autumn.

If you want to know the canarian gastronomy, you can visit the page “De Picoteo por Tenerife” and get a good insider tip.

Here you are the direction of the webpage (Spanish):
http://www.depicoteoportenerife.com

This photo I made in Playa Jardin, the beautiful beach in Puerto de la Cruz in the North of Tenerife.

Unfortunately I don’t know how the name of this flower is, so if you know it, please make a comment!

The young and innovative company is called patea tus montes, what means more or less: hike through your mountains.

José and his team are offering their service since 1996. Their headquarter is located in La Orotava, in the North of the isle.

With patea tus montes you can hike all over the isle. Excursions are offered round Mount Teide National Park, the vulcanic landscape, in the Anaga mountains and Teno and many other interesting places on Tenerife. With the professional guides you get a lot of background information about fauna, flora and geological conditions of the isle.

We got some instructions from José before we entered the cave

José and his team are offering as well adventurous trips through caves and vulcanic tubes, which you can find with frequency on the isle of Tenerife. I participated on an excursion to the vulanic cave of San Marcos. It was really exciting, but with José the whole group felt quiet secure deep down inside a vulcanic tube. We got a lot of information about the origin and charcteristics of such a vulcanic tube.

Inside the cave of San Marcos

Nena and Ivan inside the vulcanic tunel system of San Marcos

After we went down to playa de San Marcos and we learned how to kayak! We learned the basic instructions and how to act in case of danger. We had so much fun out there with the kayaks. Some of us got dropped into the water.

If you want to make a tour by mountainbike on Tenerife, you can join patea tus montes. They offer mountainbike tours and trips with kayaks. The tours are organized in different levels for beginners and advanced learners.

Patea tus montes arranges as well climbing trips on Tenerife. If you join an excursion with patea tus montes you get all the necessary equipment provided. The trips include transfer and professional guide.

If you are interested in excursions, hiking, climbing and mountainbiking, you can find more information on the homepage of patea tus montes:

www.pateatusmontes.com

Dive and Sea Tenerife chose a variety of different locations which best match your experience level so that you can enjoy your diving experience. You can visit dive sites in the north as well as in the south of Tenerife. The diving school provides quality equipment for you to use on your dive.

Dive and Sea Tenerife offer Scuba Diving Courses for beginners and advanced divers.
One of the most popular courses is the open water course. With this level you can dive anywhere in the world up to 18 m of depth.

The courses offered range from Discover Scuba, open water, advanced, rescue diver leading through to your dive master, specialities and ERF. Dive and Sea Tenerife also offer Dive packs at very competitive prices you can find a huge amount of courses and activities in the Dive and Sea Tenerife diving school. You can start your diving course from only 10 years old.

Dive and Sea Tenerife also offers Snorkelling trips, Boat excursions, and Boat Taxis to interesting locations along the coast of Tenerife.

If you are interested in booking a diving experience in Tenerife, you can find more information and details about prices and courses on the homepage of Dive and Sea Tenerife:

www.diveandseatenerife.com

The Official Test Centre is situated in the South of Tenerife, in El Médano. The centre stocks equipment from nearly every major windsurfing brand. The equipment is available to test for all the key disciplines from wave to crossover and from freestyle to freeride.

Equipment in the Offficial Test Centre

In El Médano the surfing conditions are ideal and you can find three superb sailing areas. On the beach of El Médano you can enjoy realistic coastal freeride conditions. One of Europe’s best wave sailing arenas – El Cabezo – is situated as well in El Médano.

The OTC (Official Test Center) provides equipment from more than 18 important windsurfing brands. You have the opportunity to test all kind of equipment for different disciplines before you decide which one to buy.

In the OTC you can test the equipment and enjoy a relaxing holiday surrounding.

For more information,
email: info@otc-windsurf.com,
phone +34 922 179 401 or log onto: www.otc-windsurf.com

This Park is like a botanic garden and a zoo. Herre you can find many attractions beside a huge variety of animals. Early Loro Parque has been a zoo for lots of species of birds an parrots, some of them in danger of extinction. Nowadays it is one of the most famous and visited tourist attractions on the isle of Tenerife.

If you visit Loro Parque you can get immersed in the fascinating world of animals and also some exotic flowers and plants. One of the highlights in this zoo are different animal shows, which you can enjoy in Loro Parque. The latest attraction is a show with Orcas, who have been braught to the zoo in 2006. As well you can enjoy a great show with dolphins, sea lions and parrots with their trainers. Another thing you should not miss in Loro Parque is Planet Penguin. Here you can see different species of pengiuns. A special part has been formed into a perfect habitat for some of them. The climate of the Antartic has been formed with tons of ice and snow. You really feel like in the Antartic if you see how its continuately snowing.

one of the orcas in Loro Parque

Dolphin show

Sea lion

Penguins in Planet Penguin

In Loro Parque you can observe lots of animals, a very special habitant of this zoo ist a white tiger.

White tiger

The whole surface of this park is more than 135.000 m². In Thai Village, an originally thai village has been built inside Loro parque, you can buy some souvenirs and other things. It’s easy to get there, from the center of Puerto de la Cruz you can take a train for free, which is bringing you to the entrance of Loro Parque.

Here you will find more information: www.loroparque.com

But it does not seem so exotic any more. Volcanoes of Tenerife make this place look so special!
Have you ever heard about Mount Teide?
This place has hardly been touched by the modern civilization. There are 600 volcanoes on the island of Tenerife and Mount Teide is the highest and most impressive one.
It is like a mysterious unknown world. The volcano is sleeping (last eruption in 1909), and the access to danger is what attracts most.

The Teide Parque Nacional is a small paradise for those who love nature, hiking or trekking. Nothing can stop you from enjoying the beauty of the virgin place.
Even the air smells different.

If you want, you can spend the night walking above, being right there on the top of Pico del Teide, when the sun rises..

This would be an experience, you’ll never will forget.

Stunning landscape, light clouds …

You realize that is one of the challenging places you have ever been to.

Now, you have a chance to discover a mystic place, which is situated closer to you than you could ever think.

“The Forgotten Village” of Masca on the Isle of Tenerife is set in the north western part of Tenerife, just in the heart of the Teno Mountains. Its extraordinary character is stressed by the fact that until 1991 there were absolutely no roads to get there. Masca is an idyllic place, where the time has simply stopped.

It is a must especially for walkers and hikers or those who seek for traditional atmosphere of little tapas bars, tiny churches and cosy huts.

You may choose from the wide range boat tours from Masca to Los Gigantes (Cliffs of the Giants). This natural phenomenon is a very popular tourist attraction due to its beauty and scenic situation.

The coast offers excellent diving and fishing conditions.

In the Los Gigantes Town you will find some great pubs, restaurants, cafes and resorts. There is also a wide choice of diving excursions and watersports.

It is worth pointing out that you may take sailing lessons in a sailing club which is based there.

The Guanches lived in all over the Canary archipel but it seems they did not have connections between the ilands. What they all had in common with each other was the language. The word Guanche means the native people from the Canaries. Some words of this language are even found in todays language or dialect.

By the 14th century the islands were conquered by the Europeans and they discorvered the Guanche society. Many Guanches were killed or enslaved. The concquerors described the Guanches as tall and strong people, many of them with blond hair and blue eyes.

Today we find in memory of the Guanches, in front of the main square of Candelaria, statues of the last kings-guanches, callled Menceys. It´s worth to visit the Guanches of Candelaria one day and enjoy the surroundings of Candelaria on the Isle of Tenerife.

Around 3000 people live in this lovely village that is situated in a wonderful landscape with a lot of wonderful flowers.

The climate up in the mountains is very clean and fresh. Thats why the village is very suitable for a sanatorium.

Vilaflor is the starting point for several very interesting walking tours to the Paisaje Lunar or the Cañadas.

Above the village one can see some very big stone pines. Some of them have a hight of up to 45 meteres. Its really worth a visit.

One can also see very interesting stoneformations of vulcanic origin.

Even though there is low rainfall in Vilaflor and the surrounding regions, people practice very intensive agriculture. One can see very picturesque terrace fields on both sides along the road towards San Miguel.

Worth a visit is also the church Iglesia de San Pedro Apóstol, build in the 16th century on an older chapel. What is very interesting is the cross with Jesus sitting next to it. Its very recommendable to visit this church while being in Vilaflor.

A really nice sight near Vilaflore is the Parque Natural del Teide.

Particularly, the southern part of the island has very easy access to water. In the major tourist resorts of Playa de las Americas, Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje, you will find some of the island’s most spectacular beaches.

It is worth pointing out that several of them gained a reward of the European Blue Flag for their clear water and clean sand.

In Los Cristianos you will find two main beaches and several smaller ones, which are situated close to the hotels. The Los Cristianos beach is suitable especially for children. Additionally, it posses plenty of playgrounds and guarantees a great family atmosphere.

Playa de las Americas posses probably the most famous beach on the whole island of tenerife: Playa de Troya. It has not only shallow water and a great selection of restaurants and bars, but also many water sports options, particularly surfing due to large waves, which appear when the sea is more rough than usual.

If you would like to snorkel or to have some good fish on lunch, you should definitely spend some time on the coast of Costa Adeje with its small and rather stone beach: La Caleta.
This is also a perfect place to rest from other tourists, as a little known cove with a sandy beach: Playa de la Enramada is situated just between Las Americas and La Caleta.

However, Playa Jardin, which is a black beach close to Puerto de la Cruz town, belongs to the most famous on the whole island.
The black colour of the sand has the volcanic nature. Few people know that a direct skin contact with the black lava sand has an anti-rheumatism effect.

In consequence of Tenerife’s evolution, only a few natural beaches were formed. Due to the increasing number of tourists, the growing demand for public beaches appeared. Beaches created by men are the constant element of Tenerife landscapes. Created around the tourist resorts, they are of the best quality and cleanliness, with access to restaurants, bars and water-sports.

Playa de las Teresitas is one of the best beaches situated near by the capital Santa Cruz. The extraordinary thing about it, is the fact that its sand was importet directly from Sahara.

One of the latest attractions in northern part of Tenerife is the Lago Martianez and the Martianez Beach in Puerto de la Cruz, which is being developed and modernized since the end of year 2007. The beach offers perfect conditions for surfers.

The unique combination of spectacular landscapes, live music, sunny weather and first of all the great fun is common for this island.

Additionally, a lot of festivals promote folk and rural traditions. For example “romeria” festival is a well-known-way to honor different patron saints. It is a pilgrimage of folk music and traditional Canarian clothes and what is more, of colorful oxen-drawn carts.

One of the most popular traditional “romeria” festivals takes place in Tegueste, a municipality of the northern part of Tenerife in Santa Cruz de Tenerife province.

The Romería de San Marcos in Tegueste is a famous traditional festival, which main aim is to honor Saint Marcos. The festival promotes, but first of all conserves and cultivates old Canarian traditions. That is why; it is a great and unique opportunity to experience some of time-honored activities, Canarian dress, wonderful folk music and dance of traditional folk groups.

If you would like to experience a great atmosphere and to find yourself in the middle of a colorful and traditional festival, where the locals know exactly how to celebrate, the Romería de San Marcos would be perfect for you.

The Teno-range in the west of Tenerife and the Anaga-mountains are a famous destination for active holiday makers and those who like hiking and exploring.

The visitor finds many small original villages, which escaped from the mass tourism because of their location far away from the popular beaches and the big cities. One learns about the roots of civilization of Tenerife and can enjoy the intact landscape and meet the autochthonous people living there.

We explored the moste interesting and charming places of the island to give you some usefull tips.
One of the most beautiful beaches, called Playa de las Teresitas, is situated in the north-east of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the island. Playa de las Teresitas has been created artificially with sand from the Sahara desert, you can enjoy a safe bathing pleasure as well adequate for children.

In the south of the island of Tenerife you can find different natural sandy beaches at El Medano and artificially created ones in the tourist resorts like Las Americas and Los Cristianos.

La Tarta:

The most important place of this beautiful village is the small plaza at the church. The whole hamlet is devided into parts and distributed to several mountain sides.

Masca is well-known for its tasty onions, potatoes and garlic but also the yame-fruit, plam juice, citrus fruits and goat chees are delicacies.

Furthermore especially the type of construction of the houses is very conspicuous because of the way they are built into the mountain side.

One of the most famous hiking-tours begins in the middle of the village and leads trough the barranco, which means canyon, to the sea – it takes about 6 hours bidirectional (descent and ascent)

Indeed, it is celebrated only all five years, then, however, the whole island stands during two weeks under the sign of the celebration of the patron saint.

In a church parade the patron saint of the island, Nieves, is carried from the chapel into the city center.

Part of the celebrations are performances like the traditional minuet at the Plaza de Santo Domingo in the commune of La Guancha which aductes the spectator in the world of the 18-th century with original costumes, music and folcloric dances. The absolute climax of the celebration is the dance of the dwarfs.

In the late spring or early summer, in the months of May and June is the time of flowers in Tenerife.
In the rest of the year Tenerife, and the national park Teide resemble a moonscape. But in may it’s the time of the anthesis of the flower tajinaste.
The tajinaste, (tajinaste rojo, Echium wildpretii, Tower of Jewel) is a columnar flower with a beautiful and lush red colour.

It is among the category of the tropicals and tender Perennials.

It is 4 to 6 feet high (or 1,2 to 1,8 metres). Birds, bees and butterflies love the tajinaste flower.
It sows it’s seed for itself. The leaves are herbaceous.

The climate on Tenerife is very comfortable with temperatures that rarely get too high to practice physical activities, so for sports conditions are almost ideal.

The most popular courses are in the south, but some people seem to prefer the northern part of the island that is more green and also offers some very nice golfing facilities.

What makes the golf courses of Tenerife so attractive is the care with which they are laid out, giving the impression of a genuine Canarian garden. Some courses have very reasonable prices and special offers for families.

Tenerife has many attractions to offer but it is certainly a place to consider, if one likes to spend a holiday on the golf course.

Small country hotels, holiday cottages, chalets and fincas offer the adequate accommodation. One can book his holiday through various tour operators or without any problems directly by the Internet.

Tenerife is not one of the cheapest holiday destinations, but with a bit of luck you can find a good bargain.

Journeys to the isle of Tenerife are particularly popular at Easter, Whitsun, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

However, unfortunately, this boom has a very strong influence on the prices.

The island of Tenerife offers extensive possibilities to everyone who wants to practice physical activities and does not only want to lie on the beach in the sun.

Hiking, climbing, trekking, diving, windsurfing, surfing, mountainbiking and not at least golf are examples for a variety of holiday activities.

Flora and fauna have to offer a huge diversity to the visitor. The whales can be watched during a boat trip between the two islands Tenerife and La Gomera. Dolphins attract many animal enthusiasts, and can be watched as well on special organized boat trips in their natural surroundings.

The vegetation over all in the north of the island is very interessting and influences on the charming abmience.

The splendid gala to nominate the annual carnival-queen is among the most impressive moments fullo of rhythm, colours and fun without limit.

Thousands of joyfully celebrating dressed ups are dancing on the streets and enjoy themselves till the early morning hours.

The carnival of Tenerife is a great spectacle, which you should’nt miss in any case, surely you will be impressed.

In San Lorenzo, Adeje and Arona you can find a lot of lookout points ofer a rugged area with canyons and isolated mountain paths with a magnificent panorama view over the south of the island, which is a famous sunbathing area with beaches.

The regions we mentioned for you are a paradise for nature lovers. But also climbers and mountaineers.
Under mountaineers and hikers Tenerife is a very popular destination. Guided groups and individual hikers find accommodation in mountain cottages, small mountain hotels, youth hostels.

Guided holidays for hikers can be booked in advance in internet.

The colour palette of the isle is dominated by the black lava sand, some ocher coloured sand beaches and a deep green of the varied vegetation.

The colour green of the vegetation is dominating on the three smaller Canary Islands of La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.
Instead on Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote the landscape is formed by drough rocks and desert regions similar to the Sahara.
A lot of creativity from the native canarys has been necessary to make agriculture and cultivation possible.

The attraction of Tenerife is its versatility. There are lively colonial towns and romantic mountains which are crowned by a volcano, the Pico del Teide. The volcano is 3718 meters high and is Spains highest mountain.

You can get to know Tenerife on extensive walks through hidden mountain pathes. In the range of Anaga and on an exciting discoverer tours in the Teide national park or in the mountains of Teno you can discover the soul of the vulcanic island.
Where can you see such a bizarre volcanic landscape full of craters, solidified magma rivers like on Tenerife?

Tenerife has a surface of 2.068 km² and a population of approximately 800.000 inhabitants. In the language of the aborigines called “Guanches” Tenerife means “snow-covered mountain”.

The “Pico del Teide“, the highest mountain of Spain, situated on the isle of Tenerife, divides it into two climatical different parts:

The north is very fertile and abundantly covered by vegetation, while the south of the island is very dry and similar to a desert. Therefore, sometimes Tenerife is called the “island with the two faces“.

The volcanic landscape in the middle of the island covers two thirds of the whole island. The peak of the vulcano Teide reaches a height of 3.178 metres. He is the highest mountain of Spain and the third highest volcano of the world after two in Hawaii.

Almost all inhabitants of Tenerife live distanced from the sea in the valleys, near the area of agriculture like in La Orotava
.

The so called queen of the Canary Islands guarantees temperatures of over 20 °C in winter as in summer with many sunny days to take a sunbath. Over all the south of the island is well known for nearly any cloudy or rainy day. Most beaches are situated near the holiday centres like Los Christianos or Playa de Las Americas.

The holiday-maker has a lot of hotels and a perfect tourist infrastructure with appropriate restaurants, amusement parks and much more on his disposal.

It is a quite special experience for every tourist to visit Santa Cruz during the carnival time the months of January and February. Thousands of people dressed up with colourful costumes dancing and celebrating on the streets of the capital of Tenerife.
The carnival is accompanied by Salsa, Merengue and Samba rhythms. The carnival of Santa Cruz is after the one in Rio de Janeiro the most popular worldwide.

So, you see, you have many possibilities to escape from the cold winter months in Germany.

The visitor finds the most varying landscapes on this island that you can immagine.Tenerife is called as well “island of the eternal spring” due to the mild climate during the whole year, that’s why it is a famous destination as well in the winter.

The countryside on Tenerife is very charming. In the area round the vulcano mount Teide you find far-ranging woods of canary pines.
Between the drought and ocher coloured south and the deep green north full of vegetation is a very interesting contrast, you will discover making some excursions.

The island with its mild and pleasant climate is a popular holiday destination, because in winter we never go under less than 18 °C and in summer the temperature is more than 27 °C.

The altitude and the pure, fresh air form the Atlantic Ocean are very good conditions for persons suffering from rheumatism or respiratory diseases.

The wonderful mild and pleasant climate all over the year is one of the biggest advantages of the archipelago. In winter hardly less than 18 degrees and more than 27 degrees in summer.

You can book a typical holiday package in the south of the isle in tourist resorts like Los Christianos and Playa de las Americas. An alternative is to spend your holiday in a nice country house offered by rural tourism in the area of Puerto de la Cruz in the north of Tenerife.

Stylish typical canary accommodations are offered far away from the hustle and bustle in country houses and fincas on the countryside of Tenerife.

You find a great supply of different private holiday cottages and holiday dwellings in all regions of the island. With a rental car or with the public transport system you can discover many beauties of Tenerife.

You can admire wonderful landscapes of vulcanic origin and fertile, green areas abundantly covered with exotic plants.

Tenerife is an ideal tourist destination at any time of the year. The island can be reached in only four hours of flight from Germany.

Many flights arrive and leave daily at the two airports of the island.

Tenerife offers a huge supply of accomodation like for example exclusive hotels, rural hotels, country houses and appartments.

The tourist infrastructure of the island of Tenerife is ideal for all kind of holiday makers, for those who like shopping centers, beaches, restaurants, museums, hiking paths, discotheques, bars, sports facilities or wellness facilities.

One can watch dolphins and whales on the Ocean between the two islands Tenerife and La Gomera, neighbouring island.

The Loro Parque, a wonderful zoo in Puerto de La Cruz, sustains over 1.000 different kinds of parrots is a visit worth.

For active holiday makers who like hiking and exploring the isle of Tenerife has a lot of wonderful mointain pathes to discover.

One of the most popular destinations in Europe is Tenerife, primarily for it’s pleasant climate and spectaclular landscape.

If you visit the isle of Tenerife, at least you should taste something from the traditional cuisine.The small idyllic restaurants offer a varied and palatable kitchen with ingredients like fish, seafood, meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other kinds of vegetables combined with exquisite spices and fresh herbs.

Primarily fish, the paella, the different Tapas, the goat’s cheese, potatoes with a salt crust are very popular. As well as tortilla, the Alioli dip, Empanadas and the Canary fish-soup.

So take the opportunity to taste some tipical canary dishes when you make a stop during an exciting excursion on Tenerife.

Within a few minutes, anyway one comes from a climatic zone by car into the next one.
So for example it can happen that you start from the Puerto de La Cruz in the north of the island with cloudy weather and you drive in direction to Bajamar or Tacoronte, only a few kilometers, and you will find sunshine there.

The complete northeast of the island of Tenerife is formed by a rugged area. The massif rises steeply up from the Atlantic, which is forming the precipitous coast. The range of Anaga is abundantly covered with vegetation for the most part and sometimes veiled by clouds.

Places you should visit are the botanic garden and the Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz, or the small idyllic mountain village Masca situated in the romantic range of Teno.

Another highlight of Tenerife are the historical centers of La Orotava and La Laguna. For who is interested in winegrowing culture, the wine museum in El Sauzal in the north of the island, would be interesting to visit.