Normally in January we book something long haul and outrageous but this year we didn’t quite get around to it! In early Feb we worked out we could squeeze in 3 days leave and so get away for 5 days adding the weekend. We needed sun, a short flight and safety… The Canary Islands popped into view and there began my internet trawl to find a quiet corner. Easier said than done, although once I worked out where the busy upscale resorts were life was easy.
We settled on Tenerife’s Gran Melia Palacio de Isora Red Level which I reviewed for Boutique Travel Blog. Adults only with about 80 rooms, attached to the larger hotel but a world apart, drawing a well-heeled crowd. It’s tucked away down the coast from the resort town of Adeje and has incredible views – to the south the island of La Gomera, to the west Los Gigantos rock and to the north the stunning snow-covered Mount Teide (more of that later). Peaceful, relaxing and suitably boutique.
We had two plans for our break: to relax; and to go to the top of Mount Teide. I had done research on Pinterest in the run-up on what else to see, but by the time we’d got to Gatwick for our flight with BA I still hadn’t looked back at it so we ignored it, the sum-total of my planning was to book us the footpath tickets from the top of the volcano cable car to the peak… However this happened to the volcano the week before we arrived…
The volcano was shut. No climbing for us! We did take a morning to see how close we could get but they aren’t used to icy roads in Tenerife and so the access roads were shut even though the air temperature was still 12 degrees (chillier than the balmy 22 at sea level). Not defeated and loving the view of Teide and the volcanic scenery we had a morning of driving around – we headed over to the hidden perched village of Masca before lunch in Los Gigantos and then returned to the rarefied atmosphere of the hotel. It is an astoundingly stunning island as soon as you head away from the busy parts, just gorgeous.
After our mini-adventure we spent the rest of the break in our quiet sanctuary enjoying the view, reading our books, swimming in the pool and enjoying the cava (which was disturbingly good value)… After a busy year at work with new jobs for us both and 7 months since we’d last been somewhere warm and sunny (such a first world problem I know) it was just what a doctor would have ordered – refreshingly relaxing. That smell of sunshine on the skin after a hiatus – intoxicating!
So the Canaries and Tenerife in the winter – I would definitely recommend finding a quiet corner and kicking back! Enjoy! If you don’t believe me – Angloyankophile and The Travel Bunny were there at the same time – clearly we were all on to a good thing!
looks great! sun in January & warmth sounds awesome!
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Thanks Tanja – well timed indeed, took away the winter blues momentarily!
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So close – only 4 hours, we really should go more often!
Sometimes you just have to run away from the English winter!
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Unfortunately being dragged back into it, with a bug isn’t very enjoyable! Still worth it!
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Even just a few days is enough… then we come back and it snows (in MARCH)
I’m looking for a sun-filled getaway relatively close to Dublin and more and more I’m seeing Tenerife popping up in my blog feed. Unfortunately all of the trips have been focused on family travel so this adults-only option might be just what the doctor ordered. Off to research!
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I think it is finally coming out of the ‘take me out’ shadows… If you look away from the main resort towns it can actually be very chilled and grown up! We loved this place because there weren’t kids in our bit and it was off the beaten track. Also have a look at a website called One Off Places – they have some great villa options, and also the Paramor hotel group – lots of little boutiquey places. Good luck!
Been to Tenerife quite a number of times (but strangely to none of the other Canary Islands other than a day trip to La Gomera) – it’s usually a pretty fair bet for out-of-season sunshine without having to travel too far, so suited us well when our children were little and we didn’t want to do long haul. We usually stayed in Adeje but it was getting increasingly busy when we last there so I would imagine it might be quite overrun now. It seems to be getting increasingly difficult to find quiet spots away from the hoardes, is that fair to say?
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Totally – there are quiet spots, I suspect villa/B&B would still work in high season? I would love to visit La Gomera, it looks like my kind of place. I think the hotels may well struggle over the summer – the island is already busy because there aren’t many safe places to go with the same climate… I suspect it will be nigh on impossible to avoid the hoardes!
I haven’t been, but I love traveling in the shoulder season and being away from the crowds, looks so exotic and surprisingly cold at the same time. I would love to try the local bubbly, sounds wonderful and I’m sure the food is also amazing?
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I know – sat in a bikini by the sea and you look up at a mountain that’s knee deep in snow – very surreal. Yes – the cava is great – I just ordered some, it’s called ‘Anna’
I am always envious of you people in the Northern Hemisphere, with everything being so close to you. I would love to just pop over to the Canaries and Tenerife, or just go to Europe for a few days. I guess for us, our nearest tropical islands would be Bali, still 7 hours, Fiji – 4 and half hours, Bora Bora – 8 hours. Ok, NZ is 3 hours, but then again I guess we live on an amazing tropical island ourselves.
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You are miles from anywhere but on an incredible island… I know what you mean, it isn’t so easy to just hop on a plane somewhere… But Fiji – that sounds perfect, only 4 hours – I didn’t realise!
Tenerife is indeed like a paradise. It is just a small island but it has everything. From, beach diving and surfing all the way to mountain climbing, hiking camping, etc..Unlike, other country, if you want to mountain climb, you have to go to the other city and if you want scuba dive, you need to travel several hours again. But, in Tenerife, everything is already there in this small island. All you have to do is get some car for hire so that you can easily tour the place.
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I agree, car hire and making your way to a quiet corner is a treat!
This is nice. My wife and I are excited for the vacation we’ve booked in Spain and definitely we will go to the Canary. Tenerife is one of our eyeing place for our 1st stop 🙂 There so many thing we want to do from a page we’ve read https://www.canaryislandsinfo.co.uk/tenerife/things-to-do/.I wanted to know if you have experience traveling to this wonderful Island. Is there anything you can recommend aside from your past travel in in Spain?
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I’ve just been this one time and I think you have to spend time in Mount Teide national park (hopefully it won’t snow) and with more time than us you can really see the variety of the island and the black and white sand beaches. Perhaps a trip to the island to the south to see a more sedate pace of life?