Additional information of Tenerife

Tips for a pleasant holiday in Tenerife

Holiday time in the summer

Those who fly to Tenerife in the summer months will be spoiled with permanent sun shine and nearly no rainy days. Most of the times, the temperatures stay during the day at a pleasant level below 30°C, but at nights they do not fall under 22°C. As the hotel rooms and the appartments heat up a lot during the day, one should pay attention to have an air conditioner, specially in the summer months, as with a room temperature of 25°C and a high air humidity, it is very hard to fall to sleep, even if one is very tired.

Travel time in the winter

Tenerife is a popular holiday destination for germans who are annoyed by the coldness in the winter time. Most of the times the temperatures are pleasant in the winter months with a little more than 20°C. But in the winter there are numerous banks of clowds over the island; as the sun is covered by the clowds, it gets cold soon. In the winter time, there are also rainy days, it can even rain during a week with no break. Many hotel rooms and appartments have indeed an air conditioner but no heating. The temperatures in a room in the winter time can easily get under 20°C. This is why one should definetely take warm clothes with him, even if one of course hopes not to have to make use of them.

In the winter time it is better to go to the south of the island

Specially in the winter times, the very big strongholds of tourists at the north coast of the island attract with bargain offers, while at the south west coast, high prices are demanded. This is essentially due to the climate and weather conditions. In the winter time, the climate of Tenerife is dominated by the north east tradewind, so that the north east mountain sides are permanently covered with crowds, while the south west coast in the slipstream is sunny.

For the inhabitants of the island, the consequence is very simple: at the week ends they go to the south west for bathing and getting out. Those who travel in the winter time to Tenerife should take an hotel in the south west of the island, as the north east is mostly covered with crowds.

When it is raining and the sky is covered with clowds...

While a rainy day is something pleasant for a local person, the bathing vacationers are soon bored and frustrated. But this does bot have to be! There is one thing I have learned in the Canarian Islands: if it is raining at the place where I actually am, it does not mean at all that it is raining in the whole island. Many times, it rains in one side of a mountain and at the other side the sun shines (very extremely in La Palma and Teneriffa).

Thus, if it is raining or the sky is clowded in the place where one is actually on vacation, one should simply take his rented car and trudge round the island. Of course, it is easier to ask the reception fot the weather in the island. The employees themselves live spread over the island so that they can give the best weather reports.

Visit of the the national park of Teide and visit to the peak by gondola

A visit to the national park of the Teide, as described in the respective Webseite belongs to every visit to Tenerife; Every day, hundreds of full travel buses are driven to the national park that is at a height of 2300 metres; of course, the buses have to contend to get ahead on these partly very cliffy roads. Therefore: those who drive up to the nationalpark of Teide with the rented car should start at least at 08.00 in the morning in order not to get into the daily jam of the travel busses.

During the visit to the national park and the trip on the funicular to the Teide itself, many tourists forget that the weather changes by increasing the height; I talk about the differences in the temperature. If there is a temperature of pleasant 25°C close to the beach, the temperature in the national park at a height of 2300 m is only 15°C and at the peak of the Teide eventually a few degrees over cero. Therefofe, during the visit of the Teide national park and the Teide itself one should in any case wear long trousers and take a warm coat to the excursion. Otherwise, the trip with the funicular will become a shivering party.

Claims, grievances

If the fish in the restaurant cost more than announced in the menue card, if the hotel room has no hair dryer as promised or if the tank of the rented car is not full, then one should never accept this but write down his frustration. Each restaurant, hotel and car rental has to have a complaints book that is to be given to the customer if required; As a guest or a client one simply asks for the Libro de reclamacionces and/or the pages of complaint Hojas de reclamaciones and writes down his problem in his mother tongue.

Each sheet of complaint has a reference number and has to be forwarded from the respective company to the tourism authorities where each complaint has to be handled. If certain indicents happen repeatedely, the respective company can loose its license. For a gastronome or a car renter, the worst thing is that can happen is when a client asks for the complaint book. Most of the times, only by requiring the Libro de reclamaciones is enough and the problem will be solved to the client's favour without burocracy.

The right place in the plane

Normally, the landing planes are coming from the south west and the planes that take off start in direction to north east. Those who sit at a window in the left side during take off and landing can see the Teide, the island and the coasts in its glory. Those who sit at the right will see a lot of water and, if lucky, the neighbour islands. Therefore, I recommend either for the outbound flight as also for the return flight to sit at a Window at the left side of the plane.

Doctors and chemistries

The medical attention is very good in Tenerife, not at least because numerous german or english doctors made their dream of working in a sunny island come true. The doctors work in a hard competition to each other. Also, many nationals doctors compete to get the preference of the tourists by speaking german or english themselves or by employing medical secretaries who speak several languages.

But a visit to a doctor is very costly in Tenerife; here, the doctors really pitch in. And it is always payed cash. After a visit to the doctor, one should without fail get a bill that can be passed ove rto the health fund in Germany after the holidays. In the big tourist centers there are one or several chemistries that sell many medicines also without prescription. Many times it is enough to talk to a chemist in order to get the right medicine, a costly visit to the doctor is not always neccessary.

Decorative arts and souvenirs

The native decorative art that in reality was mostly extincted, is experiencing a new flourishing since the mass tourism; Numerous tourists buy a lot of souvernirs in the island before going back home. There are hundreds of souvernir shops in the island. In each tourist city and at each sightseeing there are offered in souvernir shops everything from a postcard up to ceramic pots. But be careful: the traders have already noticed that it is less costly to sell cheap imitations from far east than the national staff. Original native produvts are available in the little villages in the interior of the island, where the craft is really practised.

Be careful with the customs!

The Canarian Islands belong to Spain and Spain belongs to the European Community. Anyhow, the Canarian Islands from a free trade zone, so that as a vacationer one can not, as in the case of the other states of the EU, buy anything wanted and take it home. Many vacationers do not know this until they get into the customs cotrol and are completely surprised. There are the same rules of import applied like the ones for non EU countries, thus for example a maximum of 200 cigarettes or 1 litre high proof alcohol.

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