Where to stay in Tenerife
The south for the beach, the north for the island as it is, and a handful of bases in between
- First visit
- Costa Adeje or Los Cristianos
- Quiet
- Los Gigantes
- Greener
- Puerto de la Cruz, cooler and cloudier
Where you sleep on Tenerife decides the weather you wake up to, since the south is drier and sunnier and the north cloudier and wetter. Six bases cover the island, from the hotel strip of Costa Adeje to the old university town of La Laguna. Each one trades something for what it gives.
Costa Adeje and Playa de las Américas
For a first visit, Costa Adeje is the base most guides reach for, and the reasons are practical. The sun rarely lets you down, the choice of hotels is large, and the airport and the motorway are close. Playa del Duque, about 700 m of fine pale sand, is its main beach.
Playa de las Américas sits next door and carries the nightlife, so the two feel like different places despite the shared stretch of coast. Costa Adeje is the calmer of the pair. Los Cristianos lies about 10 minutes away.
Check the same room on both sites: price and cancellation terms can differ.
Los Cristianos and El Médano
Los Cristianos is the family base, a harbour town where the ferry to La Gomera leaves from. It has no big beach to speak of, and that is the trade. What you get in return is how much sits close by.
El Médano belongs to a different crowd, the one that comes for the wind. Kitesurfers fill the bay, and the neighbouring beach of La Tejita is a natural stretch of sand with room to spread out. The village is about 5 km from Tenerife South airport, which makes it a tidy choice for an early flight, and the sea is rarely calm.
Quiet and cliffs
Los Gigantes is where people go when the south feels too busy. A natural black beach sits at the foot of the cliffs, there is a marina, and the village is about 40 minutes from Costa Adeje. In exchange there is almost no nightlife and few quick connections, so every trip out of the village is a drive.
Puerto de la Cruz
Puerto de la Cruz is the oldest resort on the island, in the green north, with black sand and a climate that runs 2 to 3 °C cooler than the south in summer and 4 to 5 °C in winter. Its signature is Playa Jardín, a beach designed by César Manrique, with gardens behind it and a view of Teide. Two more beaches, Castillo and Punta Brava, share the coast with Charcón, the one with the fewest people.
La Ranilla is the district to know, the heart of the restaurants. Driving from Costa Adeje takes about an hour over 67 km, so a stay here suits people who want the north and Teide from the Orotava side. It suits less those who want a week on one beach. There is no parking beside the sand.
Santa Cruz and La Laguna
Santa Cruz is a real city with a tram, the home of the island's carnival and the city beside Las Teresitas, while La Laguna next to it has been on the UNESCO list since 1999. Neither is a resort, and that is the point for people who want a street life that does not depend on tourists. On Tuesday 23 February 2027, Martes de Carnaval, both towns take a local holiday.
One base or two
By road the island is smaller than it looks. From Costa Adeje, Puerto de la Cruz is about an hour and Masca about 1 hour 15 minutes up narrow bends. From Los Cristianos, La Laguna is about 40 minutes on the TF-1. One base with a car therefore works for a week, and two bases only make sense when the north is the aim of the stay.
- One week with a hire car: stay in Costa Adeje or Los Cristianos and drive out for Teide, Masca and the north.
- Five to seven days with the north as the goal: split the stay between the south and Puerto de la Cruz, and skip the hour-long drive across the island.
- A short stay for walking in the mountains: take Puerto de la Cruz alone, and leave the beach for Playa Jardín.
Where to next
The Tenerife the guidebooks skip: Garachico, the Drago tree and Izaña
→A harbour buried by lava, a dragon tree in Icod and an observatory at kilometre 37
Seville · 1406 km
→Five centuries under the mosque, nearly eight under the cathedral
How well does Tenerife suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Nomadinho scores out of 100, the same ones behind “Where to go”.
If you like Tenerife
Three places with the closest scores, from any country.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Where should a first-timer stay?
Costa Adeje, or Los Cristianos as a harbour town close by. Both sit in the sunnier south, with links to the airport and the motorway, and each is about 10 minutes from the other.
Can you stay without a car?
Yes, with the right base. Costa Adeje and Puerto de la Cruz both have a bus to the Teide cable car, line 342 from the south and 348 from the north. For Los Gigantes and El Médano no bus line is documented, so a car is the safer choice there.
How far is Los Gigantes from the airport and Costa Adeje?
Los Gigantes is about 40 minutes from Costa Adeje. That is why it suits people who want a quiet base and are content to drive for everything else.
Ready for Tenerife?
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