I'm going to Tenerife!!!

LondonDiva

Thanks to everyone who came up with loads of ideas & suggestions for my winter getaway.:grouphug:

I've finally settled & I'm flying to Tenerife on Friday... _party_

Having never been to the Canaries (or done a package holiday), I'd be gratefful for any tips/ideas/suggestions you may have.

We are either going to be staying at Peurto de la Cruz or Los Gigantes.

Details for anyone as nosy as me - Thompson 4* Gold hotel, £319pp; hb; 7 nights

Any help gratefully appreciated!

Diva :D:D

Saint_Chris

Can't help you as i've not stayed at any of these resorts, but the weather looks great at the moment. How do i know as i'm of on the 11th nov for 1 week staying at las americas.
If you decided to do any trips mount tiede is great and so is a day out at la gomeras

Here are a few web sites that might help you. There is some great reading on them.

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/index.php

trisha

I haven't stayed at the Los Gigantes hotel, but I know it well, I am told they tend to put their towels on the sunbeds in the early hours of the morning, and that'sthe British, not the Germans :-)
It is a nice hotel though, and no kids.

Los Gigantes has a lovely cakey bun shop, we always go in for a coffee and a gooey cake when we are there. It is a small resort, but has a good few bars there, tennis courts, you can walk over the headland to Playa las Arenas if you are fit.

Puerto de la cruz is a lot bigger and has lots to see and do, we are going for a month over Xmas and new Year, we love it there.

Enjoy :-)

RightRevBod

Good luck, and I feel sure you should enjoy it. I echo what Saint_Chris says. Mount Teide is something that you should aim to do. Either take an excursion, or drive yourself. Some of the road to the cablecar base station is a little exiting, but nothing too bad. If you do decide to drive there, I suggest you get a car with a bit of power, as the gradient can be hard going for a car with a tiny engine.

I took my then 4 year old son in a 1200 Clio and it was OK. If the whole family had gone then it would have stugled a bit.

Also for Tiede, make sure that you have warm clothes - in layers. There was snow on the top when we went in June. We wore T-shirts and shorts on the drive up, added a tracksuit at the cablecar base, and put our coats on as we got out of the cablecar at the top.

At the top take things slowly. The air is thin, and you will get out of breath if you get too energetic.

shelly

Only advice I can give if you're staying anywhere near las americas.....watch out for pickpockets and thieves. Hubby and I went there a few years ago and wasn't warned about how bold and brazen the pickpockets and thieves are. We aren't daft and know you get them everywhere but I was left speechless at the boldness of them. We were sitting on the beach and they just come up and rifle through peoples bags....take what they want and leave. When they get caught they are back 2 hours later doing the same. We also saw a lady have her bag snatched off her shoulder and we too had our bag stolen from under our noses. And we thought we were cautious and keeping an eye on it.

I know I make it sound real bad but we weren't warned about this at our welcome meeting and Iv'e never been anywhere as bad as las americas for thieving. Maybe we just got unlucky



Other than that the holiday was fine

jaymac_2

We went to Los Gigantes - told the rep it was our anniversary and we'd prefer there to El Tope in Puerto. Lovely hotel but LG is not very big so it's quite quiet. You can walk - or get the bus - to the next resort and you can get the bus into Playa de las Americas. It takes about an hour but is only a few euros. It's so long since we went to the north that I can't really comment but the weather is supposed to be better on the south side. Have a great time!

Funkymum

Hi
We stayed in Los Gigantes last year & had a lovely holiday. Theres a small beach there which the kids loved. We stayed at the Poblado Marinero apartments which were very nice.
Mount Teide & Loro parque are good trips to go on. We always hire a car as its so much cheaper than going on excursions. The kids really enjoyed going on a boat trip to see the dolphins too. We saw several as well. My hubby did some scuba diving whilst there & really enjoyed that.
Have a lovely holiday
Funkymum

LondonDiva

thanks to everybody for their suggestions & thoughts!

Unfortunately, my body now seems to be going into shutdown mode:( I have a sore, scratchy throat, feel a little slow (well slow er than usual! ) and really tired ... I can feel a bad cold coming on.

:(Diva:(:(

coolbreezes

LondonDiva wrote:

thanks to everybody for their suggestions & thoughts!

Unfortunately, my body now seems to be going into shutdown mode:( I have a sore, scratchy throat, feel a little slow (well slow er than usual! ) and really tired ... I can feel a bad cold coming on.

:(Diva:(:(

Poor you I am sure when you get out in that sun you will be fine.
I have been to Tenerife many times and its a great place to have a winter break. Lots of bargains to be had so allow for a little Christmas shopping. Go out in Las Americas yeah it can be tacky but loads of fun. If so try the Wigan Pier. Lots of restaurants have special menu deals they are fantastic value so save some room for a nice evening meal.

Use local tranport to get round the Island you will meet locals who will give you lots of advice of places to visit, eat etc.

I am lucky I have friends who have bars there so normally stay with one of them.

Have a ball :beer:


PS I am sure with Thomsons you have nothing to worry about. Have travelled with them way back in my package holiday days.

callansdad

If its open (i dont know), Take a trip to Loro Parque. Its technically a zoo, but its so much more, we had a fantastic day there and would go back in a second!

I dont know exactly where it is in relation to you cos we took a day trip from Gran Canaria, but it was a great day out!

RightRevBod

Loro Parque is in the North of the Island - worth a trip if only to see the completely different climate in the North.

My favourite part of Loro Parque is Plannet Penguin. A large climate controled building containing (guess what) penguins. You stand on a moving pavement, and cruise past giant windows onto the peguin area. With snow falling as you watch.

Also on the shopping note - remember it is all duty free!

We are going to Lanzarote in December, unfortunately a bit too late to do the Christmas shopping for this year. However, we can make an early start on next years.