After living on Lanzarote for two months and exploring my first Canary Islands, including a short stop on Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, it was time to visit the largest and greenest Canary Island: Tenerife! Even though Tenerife hadn’t been on my bucket list as it felt like a touristy place for a holiday, I became quite excited after diving into all gems the Spanish island has to offer a bit more. Tenerife is the perfect match between beautiful and local towns to visit, lush and green national parks, the volcanic landscape near Mount Teide and amazing Spanish food. Combine this with the opportunity to relax at a beach and your holiday is complete! In this Tenerife Travel Guide, I’ll show you the best things to do in Tenerife including the bars and restaurants I liked best.
This article goes together with: My complete 7-day Tenerife itinerary for more information on how to plan a week in Tenerife, the best things to do in Tenerife for what you can't miss, an overview of the best restaurants in Tenerife and a detailed guide on where to stay in Tenerife.
This Tenerife Travel Guide provides a summary with my top recommendations and practical information.
Tenerife has two airports: Tenerife South (TFS) for beach holidays, and Tenerife North (TFN), which is more convenient if you are basing yourself near La Laguna, Puerto de la Cruz or planning to explore the north of the island first. Compare flights to Tenerife here.
Tenerife is in the shoulder season (March-May and September-October), however, Tenerife is the perfect all-year-round destination with temperatures around 20 degrees in winter. Something that is striking about this Canary Island is the difference in climate between the north and south of the island. When we visited in May/June, the weather on the South Coast was great, while there was quite a bit of rainfall at the Northern end. This is something to take into account when booking your accommodation.
The best way to get around the island is by renting a car. If you would like to explore all the different parts, actually the main way to get around is by car. Public transport is limited and if you don’t want to be bound by organized tours, I can highly recommend you book a car. Rental cars on the island were pretty affordable.
Tenerife uses the euro, and Spanish is the official language, though English is spoken at most hotels, restaurants and tour operators in the main tourist areas. One practical quirk worth knowing: the Canary Islands sit outside the EU VAT area, so shops and restaurants charge IGIC (7% on most goods) instead of mainland Spain’s 21% VAT — everyday things like fuel, alcohol and electronics tend to be noticeably cheaper here than on the mainland.
Coverage drops out in the mountains, Masca, Anaga and the Teide caldera all have dead zones, so download offline maps before you go, and get a local eSIM if your own carrier doesn’t cover Spain well.
Get an eSIM for Europe before you land
Set up in five minutes at the airport gate. Code IBT15 for 15% off through Simify.
Rather than a separate list here, the tours worth booking are linked at the thing they belong to throughout this guide: the Teide cable car and stargazing tours under Mount Teide below, and the guided Masca and combined Teide-Masca tours under Masca. My full guide to the best things to do in Tenerife also covers Siam Park, Loro Parque and Los Gigantes boat trips, all including the most relevant tours.
Tenerife splits roughly into three kinds of days: the village and gorge of Masca in the southwest, the volcanic landscapes and green north around Teide, Anaga and La Laguna, and the beaches and natural pools along the coast. Here’s what I’d build a trip around.
Don't forget to read: My best things to do in Tenerife gives a detailed overview on what to do in Tenerife, including the best tours.
First of all, Masca. Masca is a beautiful village in the South West of Tenerife and is seen as the Machu Picchu of Tenerife. From Masca town you can walk up to Mirador de la Cruz de Hilda, a great viewpoint overlooking the Masca Valley. There are also options to hike down from Masca to the beach. As it is in 2026 not allowed anymore to drive up here yourself, this now became quite a good option. Due to the new rules, you also must plan your trip better as you can’t just drive here.
How this works in 2026, if you are based in Los Gigantes:
A separate shuttle bus runs from Los Gigantes up to Masca village. Many visitors use this to start the hike from the top, walk down through the gorge, and then take the return boat from Masca Beach straight back to Los Gigantes, which closes the loop. If you want to do the full gorge hike, you need to book your entry permit, the shuttle and the return boat in advance through the official website, since hiking back up is no longer allowed. If you only want to visit the village itself without the gorge hike, no permit is needed, but car access is limited, so you also need to take the shuttle. From Santiago del Teide, which is the final small village before you start driving up to Masca, you should take the 355 bus to Masca. From Los Gigantes, you have to take bus 462 or 325 first to Santiago del Teide. Check out the latest information on how to get their on the website of Masca.
Lastly, something you have to do when in Masca is to have lunch at Casa Requelme, a great place with amazing views of the Masca Valley. There is a set menu with local dishes.
As planning to Masca became a bit more intense, you might want to book a day tour instead. This tour covers the village and the hike from Santiago del Teide. Alternatively, you can book a tour that covers both Mount Teide and Masca, this tour includes pick-up from the main tourist hubs.
Next up, Mount Teide and its national park are one of the main sights of Tenerife and are worth a visit. We visited on a cloudy day, which was the perfect decision as the National Park is located at 2000 meters, which meant for us that we had a lovely sunny day above the clouds. In Mount Teide National Park, you can take up the funicular to Mount Teide (which we didn’t do) or do several hikes in the park. We decided to go for the latter and drove around to take in the amazing views and scenery, and honestly this might be my top pick from the best things to do in Tenerife.
Read my full guides to the Roques de García trail and the Montaña Samara Loop hike for the full route details, since these two pair well together in one day.
The cable car return tickets cost €92 return including transport and can be booked online. If you want to hike to the summit, you need to book a tour and permit online in advance.
Another popular activity around Teide is to go for dinner and stargazing!
Playa Teresitas is also in the north, and it’s the one large sandy beach on this list: white sand, imported all the way from the Sahara Desert. Rent a beach bed for the day and enjoy fresh seafood at the beachfront restaurants and bars; smaller sandy beaches are dotted around Los Gigantes and Costa Adeje in the south. Tenerife’s other natural wonder is its natural pools, scattered along the coast: beautiful to see even if you only have a day, and a great place to cool down when the weather allows (it can’t be too windy). My guide to the 7 best natural pools in Tenerife has the full overview of where to go.
Four more things to know about, covered in full in my complete list of the 10 best things to do in Tenerife: Siam Park, a Thai-themed water park in the south rated among the best in the world, Los Gigantes, the harbor town under 600-metre cliffs that’s also offers dolphin and whale watching trips, and La Orotava, above Puerto de la Cruz, with the best-preserved traditional Canarian architecture on the island.
Reminder: My best things to do in Tenerife gives a detailed overview on what to do in Tenerife, including the best tours.
A few places stood out for dinner:
Bodega Frontos, a small winery in the southeast that felt more local than the better-known Bodegas Monje.
Dabeke in La Orotava, for the seafood and steak tartare alone were worth the visit. Great for a more fancy dinner.
Tas-k in Los Gigantes, our go-to tapas spot for its daily-changing menu (new management since 2026, same quality).
Casa Riquelme in Masca, already mentioned above, was still one of the most fun meals we had on the island.
Tenerife isn’t really a nightlife island, so end the day with a drink on the terrace instead: KV Bar Gourmet at the harbor in Los Gigantes is a good spot for that, and try a barraquito wherever you see it on a menu.
Must read: My full guide to the best bars and restaurants in Tenerife covers the rest, including four Michelin-recognized picks and the island's wine culture.
Tenerife is a pretty big island, and even though you can explore the full island from one base, it saves you quite a bit of driving if you divide your stays. Most itineraries and most of the things to do are easily accessible from the south, close to Los Gigantes. However, it also includes more of a switch to the north around Puerto de la Cruz and Anaga in the final days. Below you find one pick from each budget below. However, see the full hotel list in one of my other guides if you want to have a proper breakdown of the regions and want to learn where to stay for different occassions.
Two bases beats one: if you can swing it, split your week between a south base near Los Gigantes and a north base near Puerto de la Cruz, instead of driving back and forth every day. In my 'where to stay' in Tenerife guide, you will find the best hotels in both areas.
A 10-minute walk from the beach in Puerto de la Cruz, with a gym and a rooftop terrace with a small jacuzzi. My pick for the best value for money.
From: €60/night
A beautiful pool area overlooking the sea in Los Gigantes, with decent rooms and a great location for exploring the south.
From: €125/night
An adults-only resort towards Costa Adeje, the pick if you want to splurge on a full beach-resort stay, pool loungers and all.
From: €210/night
Questions
A minimum of 7 days, enough to see the highlights across the north and south of the island. For a more relaxed pace, with real beach days built in alongside sightseeing, 10 days is ideal. Less than a week means choosing between the north (Anaga, La Laguna) and the south (beaches, Masca, Mount Teide) instead of fitting in both.
Yes, for this itinerary, a rental car is essential. Public transport covers the main towns but doesn’t realistically get you to Anaga National Park, the natural pools, or most of the hiking trailheads. That said, you’ll need to take a bus to Masca either way in 2026. Rental cars on the island are generally affordable.
As of 2026, private car access to Masca is restricted under a traffic management plan. Most visitors now arrive via an official bus from Santiago del Teide, and the full gorge hike needs its own permit and a return boat on top of that. This is a real change from a few years ago. A visit now takes more planning than it used to.
Shoulder season (March to May and September to October) offers the best balance of weather and fewer crowds. Tenerife also works as a year-round destination, with winter temperatures still around 20 degrees. The north and south of the island can have very different weather on the same day, so check both when planning.
Yes, for anything popular: the Teide cable car, Siam Park, a Masca day tour. Book online a few days ahead in high season.
Just some links to the websites I use to book my trips. I receive a small fee at no extra cost to you when booking through these links. Thanks for your support ♡
Save this guide for later
Pin it now, come back when you’re actually planning the trip.
Keep planning
