Tenerife is only a 45 minute flight from Lanzarote, making it easy to island hop in the Canaries. ACE airport in Lanzarote links to TFN airport in the North of Tenerife. We flew with Binter Canarias who have a generous allowance of 20kg per person included on their flights, collected our hire car on arrival and drove for approx 1 hour to reach our hotel on the South coast.
We stayed at the 5* Iberostar Sábila which opened in March 2018.
On Friday night we dined at the Gourmet Market in our hotel, it was fun browsing the different food stalls which is open Wednesday to Sunday.
On Saturday morning we went for a fabulous drive, heading for Vilaflor on the TF-51 we climbed steadily up towards el Teide, in search of the dramatic Tajinaste rojo flower which was just coming into season. Turning onto the TF-21 we continued upwards through the forest and as if by magic at 2000 metres we broke through the cloud into blue sky and rewarded with a stunning view of El Teide. The roads up here are fabulous, smooth tarmac cutting through the volcanic landscape, even the arnco has been thoughtfully covered with wood to blend into the countryside. There are 37 different walks mapped out with the Teide National Park!
We took the TF-38 back down to the coast as we were heading to Los Gigantes for lunch at their Craft Beer Festival.
We called in to 2 shopping centres on our way back to our hotel, the 1st stop was the impressive Plaza del Duque with a good selection of luxury shops, plus the budget friendly Galeón Outlet.
After a chilled couple of hours at the hotel, we dined at Delhi Darbar which proved to be an excellent Indian restaurant just around the corner from where we were staying.
The breakfast buffet is impressive at the Iberostar Sábila, we know from previous hotel visits that gastronomy is very high on the agenda with this hotel group and this hotel is no exception.
On Sunday we caught the best of the weather on a 10km walk along the front from Playa Fañabe to Los Cristianos, returning through the streets to our hotel. We decided a fresh fish lunch on the seafront was in order, and enjoyed a meal at La Farola del Mar.
In the evening we strolled around the corner to Puerto Colón and had our first Russian restaurant experience at the excellent Bar Baku. Our waiter Mikhail was brilliant advising us on the traditional dishes from Azerbaijan, we ordered a cheese Kutab (flatbread) and Lula kebabs (minced meat pork/beef or lamb/beef) cooked on the grill with vegetables.
We checked out of our hotel on Monday morning and decided to visit some of the smaller villages / resorts on our way back to Tenerife North airport.
We started by driving the short distance past Playa del Duque to La Caleta, which still retains some of it’s fishing village charm and restaurants despite the construction of 5* hotels in the vicinity.
Next we decided to explore the coast between Los Cristianos and El Médano. We were surprised at the size of Las Galletas, expecting a small village, it’s a seaside town with a marina, fish market and beach. We weren’t drawn to explore Costa del Silencio, content with seeing the apartment complexes from afar along with the cliff paths to access the sea.
Instead we drove through the Golf del Sur and onto the delightful harbour area of Los Abrigos, definitely a place we will be returning to, for a seafood gastronomy experience.
We love the laid back surf resort of El Médano, it’s so self contained and easy on the eye. Our lunch was a fritura of seafood sitting on the promenade, content with watching the world go by.
We still had some time to spare, so we joined the TF-1 to head North, it’s such a boring road that we made the decision to climb up 300-400 metres and drive a section of the twisty TF-28, descending to have a final break in the lovely plaza at Candelaria with Guanche statues and Basilica.
We stumbled on a secret petrol station around the corner from the airport called Oceano, which was perfect for topping up the fuel in our hire car, and one we’ll definitely use again (on Cmo La Villa) at the Taxi Cooperative of La Laguna.
You find our album of photos from this trip here: Tenerife Weekend May 2018
