TENERIFE 2026
TENERIFE
BASED AT COSTA AEDJE
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2026
After going to various Canary Islands for many years, we decided it was time to add Tenerife to the list. Although it's the most-visited of the islands, we'd just never been!
We had read some bad comments about the area we were staying, 'like Blackpool on acid' etc, so we deliberately chose the quiet end of the town, right next to La Caleta, a perfect decision, as it turned out.
The flight out was just over four hours, as normal. I always love seeing the snowy mountains out of the plane window.
Another worrying thing we'd heard was the spasmodic long queues at the airport. It was all down to luck - some sailed through, and some - like us, got this!!
We queued outside for an hour (luckily, it was overcast and not too hot), then another 90 minutes inside the security building.
Enough said about that. :-(
Before long, we reached our hotel. We normally go either B&B or self catering, but this time we decided to push the boat out and go half board at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel. We've stayed at other H10 hotels before, and know they are usually a cut above the rest - this one was no exception!
The hotel lobby - a real WOW effect when you first walk in.
The rooms are HUGE, with a good balcony and mountain views
(if you looked left).
This'll do!
What more could you want? Well, there IS an upgrade called 'privilege', but to be honest, we were VERY happy with this.
Our first sunset from the beautiful hotel rear grounds.
The hotel seemed pretty quiet - I'm not sure what the occupancy was while we were there, but it all seemed really relaxed and no problem with sunbeds, food queues etc.
The hotel had several of what we assumed were costumes from recent carnivals (which the Canaries are famous for).
This ostentatious one is right inside the entrance.
The care and attention to detail is stunning on the costumes.
They must take an AGE to make,
AI made the costume dance for me.
The balcony view, looking left.
And, as you step out of the hotel doors,
this is the view that greets you, today complete with rainbow.
The view directly opposite was the Tivoli hotel.
We quite liked the red stone.
We decided to have a little walk around to familiarise ourselves with the locale. The gardens were beautiful at night.
The hotel had a gate that opened directly onto the promenade and beach.
The prom' was typical of the Canaries - and we love them! Often, you can walk for MILES exploring, but tonight, we just wanted a local bar and a cocktail.
Mission accomplished!
The whole place and front were quiet. SO relaxing for our first night. No booming music, no crowds - just chilling.
We'd find out later that the main town of Costa Adeje was pretty busy, but this vibe suited us right down to the ground!
Walking along the front, there were the usual rock balancing stacks (lots) and some really good sand sculptures. The guy on the right was the builder, and he spent his time guarding them and playing chess.
Looking down to the hotel lobby from the floor above.
To the left is an area to relax and listen to the pianist or gentle singer they had in the evenings.
We snuck up to the 'privilege' area of the hotel. Our 'pleb' cards didn't allow access, but the door was ajar, so we crept in, trying to look 'privileged' 😉
That's La Caleta on the promontory.
Soon though, we returned to the 'rough area' for those
of us non-privileged.
Just look how harsh conditions were!
Gathering clouds, and really cool...... oh no, wait - that's back home
😊
This was unusual - as a nightcap, I asked for two brandies in warm glasses. They sat the brandy over glasses with hot water in.
Cheers!
The next day, we had arranged to go on a stargazing trip to Mount Teide national park. One of the highlights was the sunset over the cloud inversion.
Teide had snow on the top (not unusual this time of the year).
In the gloaming, it looked pretty impressive.
We arrived at the spotting (or gazing?) location just before dark & after watching the sunset. We were treated to a very simple meal of chicken and potatoes & bread, with a bottle of wine.
Nothing special, just a 'filler' really.
Soon it was time to go outside for the main event.
See the stars? I must admit, I'm not really into astronomy, but our guide was REALLY into it, and his enthusiasm showed that. He and the other guides were full of knowledge, and answered any questions we had.
The guides had five telescopes, plus laser pointers to locate and describe various constellations and planets.
There were about 70ish people on the trip. There were 5 telescopes set up (plus I'd brought binoculars with me), so there was a queue for the scopes. These pics are with my camera held up to the scope viewer.
Nice!
It was pretty cold (we HAD been warned about this though, and the company even had spare coats for those who'd forgotten to bring one).
After a while, and I'm sure the guides would be horrified to hear me say this, we got a bit bored and cold, and were ready to go back. We were picked up at 18:30, and it would be after midnight before we got back, so it's quite an investment, time wise.
Ah, that's better - back to the warm sunshine!
Right outside the hotel was a 'lump' of rock that the authorities had added a path and seating to, Mirador Sobre la Piedra de Dorota. I bet everyone used to just scramble up here before, because the views looking each way, and of the hotel, are fabulous! Now, it was even wheelchair accessible.
Our hotel, pools and dramatic mountain backdrop, with La Caleta to the left.
The Tivoli hotel (right) and the 'privilege' balcony, left, of the H10.
The main H10 garden area, with the north wing on the left.
The beaches immediately outside our hotel were pebbly, but sandy beaches were nearby (just around that corner), and also the hotel had sandy areas with sunbeds on. This is the view south from the rock outside the hotel.
We do still like to explore anywhere new, but the grounds in this hotel were so lovely, we spent more time here than we usually would.
This infinity pool was a particular like. You could swim, rest overlooking the sea, or just relax in the warm water on the inbuilt sunbeds.
A nice touch - when we got back to the room, the hotel had left a little box of chocolates for us.
Gathering clouds - a portent of rain, perhaps?
As it would turn out, our weather was a little mixed, BUT we only got rain on our car trip, which was ok. We were to learn later that the Canaries had had one of their worst winters in memory, and after we left, the whole area was battered by storm Therese, so we considered ourselves lucky!
The next day I went into the centre of Costa Adeje - I must admit, I did NOT like what I saw! However, that was where all the action was, and for anything like car hire, the biz!
They gave me a hybrid - my first ever drive in one! It took a little bit of getting used to (silent take off), but I was soon 'in the groove'.
We set off for Teide national park. The plan was to try and get on the chair lift to the top, and if we couldn't, just mooch around the area.
The roads up to it are 'quite interesting' once you leave the highway.
This one is affectionately known as 'nipple mountain'.
On such a beautiful, clear day, the views we were getting were exceptional!
We reached our first real village, and decided a coffee break was in order. This lovely mural was on the wall in Vilaflor. There are many such murals on the islands, and also some great sculptures.
Our coffee stop was this little café, or restaurant Teide Flor to give it it's correct name, obviously a favourite of the many cyclists who toil up the challenging terrain of Teide national park.
I have to say, the prices in both the café AND the 'Flor de Lava' shop we really fair. I bought several items from the shop.
After the very pleasant stop and basking in the sunshine, we resumed our journey towards Teide summit. We had been told the actual summit road was closed, due to snow, but the Teide we were seeing had even less snow on today than previously, so we decided to chance it.
Uh oooh! Gated and manned - this was as far as we could go. There were LOADS of other vehicles that had the same idea, but as one, we were all turned back. As you can see, we did wonder, given the conditions here, if they were being a bit 'jobsworth'?
Anyway, we really enjoyed this place, and again, the views were just stunning!
Teide, behind us at the lay-by where we were turned back.
We did see some snow in the forest, and it's a tradition on Tenerife that, if you DO see snow up here, you build a little snowman and put it on your car to see how long he'll last.
Look at Sue's face 😂😂😂
Not ones to buck tradition, we entered into the spirit.
LOOK! I'm NOT the best at building snowmen - OK???
Just LOOK at what we were seeing - we were over the moon with this, despite being denied the top of Teide.
LOS GIGANTES
After being denied access to the top of the Teide national park, and the mountain itself, we headed onward and dropped into a place we'd always wanted to visit, after seeing it on TV programs - Los Gigantes - The Giants! A very impressive set of sheer cliffs, with a harbour and town below.
This was a sculpture on a traffic island.
The small harbour, which protected the boats from the worst of the Atlantic weather. In bad conditions, the sea crashes over the wall spectacularly. It WAS coming over a little while we were there, but we've seen it when it's so bad, they close off the walks.
The big 'giants' to the left.
Some fun graffiti in the town.
Well......be rude not to 💋💕
The Giants - looking moody in the clouds.
After Los Gigantes, we drove to Playa de Tajita on the south of the island. here's Sue by the sculptures at the front.
A really big 'un!!
Montana Roja, looking across the bay.
This was a VERY popular bay for all sorts of water sports, and they were REALLY showing off in the brisk wind today!
El Medano and Montana Roja.
We visited Cala de Tajeo to take a look at the famous seafood Taberna Maritima restaurant 'Agua y Sal'. Even at this time of the day, it was really busy.
We weren't hungry, but the food looked really good (and, as always, fresh).
There's an old boat on the beach, mounted so kids can play in it.
Here's a big kid playing !
We basked here in the sun for a while,
just relaxing and feeling the warmth.
As we walked back to the car, we looked in the restaurant - still really busy!
After stirring ourselves, we made our way back to the hotel.
The wonderful carnivals they have here on Tenerife are taken REALLY seriously, and some of the costumes are exquisite!
There were some displayed in the foyer of our hotel.
The pianist was particularly good in the hotel, so a cocktail and a comfy chair were the order of the evening.
The next day, we had booked a boat trip to (hopefully) see whales.
It left from Sodom and Gomorra - sorry, Costa Adeje!
I REALLY didn't like this place - it was like Benidorm on acid! However, it was where all the people were, and all the action was. It was very 'two euro's for a beer' type of place, and everyone seemed to be smoking! We made our way to the harbour and joined our boat for the trip.
Looking back as we made our way out to sea.
The boat, called Madoudou, was nice, the crew good, and it wasn't too packed, so we all had plenty of room.
I took SO MANY pics, these are just a few.
We'd been on this sort of trip before a couple of times, but this was the best one we'd ever done.
Here's me shipmate, shiver me timbers!
We could see the next village just a short walk from our hotel, so we decided to investigate La Caleta.
A lovely, steady walk along one of the promenade walkways the Canaries are famous for, led us to the front, with it's many bars and restaurants. The food at our hotel was good and plentiful, so we were rarely hungry.
However, we WERE thirsty :-)
Madam DOES love a cheeky cocktail of an afternoon.
Nice bit of mural art in La Caleta.
And the ubiquitous boat to pose on.
We had a walk up over the headland, just to be nosy. We saw a beach we'd seen from our boat trip - the skipper said it used to be really good for snorkelling, but the waters had been polluted by illegal settlers, and there was little life in it now.
HAD to be done!
We walked up the Mirador Sobre la Piedra de Dorota quite a few times - it was a natural magnet for views.
This is our hotel complex from it.
This was really good - from our balcony, we could see a great mountain panorama by looking left.
Again, it was 'a bit black over Bill's mother's!'
But, it has to be said, apart from while we were driving, we didn't ge the rain. Here we are, enjoying the hotel grounds.
Complete with infinity pool........
.....and integral water sunbeds!
The beach outside the hotel was shingle, but the locals didn't seem to mind.
Teide had a fresh fall of snow while we were there - looks good, doesn't it?
Driving across the island it's around here that the rain finally caught up with us.
Looking down to Mascar - a 'must do' place in Tenerife, but we decided not to go down in the car, as it was quite busy, and the roads were very steep and winding. This doesn't normally bother me, but today I just didn't fancy queueing.
This is the back country where the young guy disappeared, only to be found in a deep gully quite a while afterwards. The news was full of it in late 2025.
This sort of terrain is VERY unforgiving, I certainly wouldn't like to get lost out here..
Some quite large banks of cloud were threatening, so we had one eye on the sky.
Although it's really arid here, you can always find some flora, if you look.
Masca.
This feature was REALLY weird!! It looked like a wall across the landscape. It was a natural feature though.
To this day, I've no idea what they were, or what caused them. The locals just got on with it though, and terraced & planted the (what looked like) fertile areas in between them.
We drove on to a stunning place called Garachico, where we stopped to enjoy the wave action.
There was a LOT of action in the waves today.
That was the end of our car hire, so the rest of the holiday was just chilling out. This was our first time to Tenerife, and we quite enjoyed it. Im not sure we'd have liked the hot spots, like Costa Adeje centre, but where we stayed was just PERFECT for us.
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