What to do in Tenerife

Tenerife carnival and Tenerife fiestas

While visiting Tenerife you really should find time to go to one of the fiestas, it could well be the highlight of your holiday. The fiesta is an essential part of Canarian life; these traditional festivals are celebrated outdoors and are centered around the town or village square. The music is loud and upbeat, giving the opportunity for everyone from great grandparents to grandchildren, to dance, sing, eat, drink and be merry.
Many people say that carnival is one of the most well known features of the island of Tenerife and the best after that of Rio de Janeiro. All the islanders gather together at these annual festivities in a mass outburst of collective gaiety.
The main celebrations take place in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the plaza de espana near the port where people dance till daylight to the sound of the best Salsa groups.
During the carnivals on Tenerife Island many important festivities are held, such as the election of the Queen, with competitions for street bands, dancers, comedians, and many other cultural and sporting events and above all the impressive cavalcade which blends "Caribbean" and "European" into a garland of colour and spectacle.
Who ever visits Tenerife Island during carnival time (usually) in the month of February should not miss the vibrant and bustling celebrations and if possible join the crowd in fancy dress. For those that cannot make it then there are other fiestas large and small throughout the island every week after easter but nothing like as big as carnival. Something else well worth seeing is ‘corpus christi’, this is in June and most towns, decorate the streets with carpets of flowers or different coloured sand in intricate patterns or designs; the most noteable towns for this are Puerto de la Cruz or La Oratava.

Pyramides in Tenerife, Guimar

Tenerife Island has its own pyramids. According to some scientists, and the current favourite theory of how they came to be built is that they’re step pyramids similar to those found in Peru and Mexico. World famous explorer and author (and Tenerife Island resident) Thor Heyerdahl was involved in setting up a Pyramid Parque and research centre to investigate these strange formations.

Tenerife attraction - Loro Parque

One of the biggest attractions in Tenerife is a man-made natural paradise complete with parrots, sea-lions, jaguars, tigers, alligators, sharks, dolphins, penguins, gorillas, chimpanzees and many more, as well as a wide selection of plants, that will make your visit an unforgettable experience. Loro parque is situated in Puerto de la Cruz on the North of Tenerife Island. You can see there the largest collection of parrots in the world, an aquarium with a shark tunnel, Planet Penguin and dolphin, parrot and sea-lions shows and much, much more all in beautiful well kept surroundings.

Teide National Parque

Tenerife Teide National Park was established in 1954 and is one of the world’s most spectacular places. The volcano, El Teide, dominates the park and its peak reaches an impressive height of 3,718 metres. The peak has a crater of about 80 metres in diameter. At an altitude of 3.718 metres Teide is not only the highest mountain of Spain, but as well the highest elevation in the whole Atlantic Ocean. A cablecar takes visitors up to 3.600 meters. From there you may climb to the peak on foot providing you have the necessary permit and your passport. Snow covers the peak occasionally in the winter. The last eruption of the mountain was in 1789 and lasted for three months. The National park of Tenerife has a number of endemic species of flora that cannot be found even in the rest of the archipelago. According to the information centre in the park the unique flora of the National Park was developed because of a combination of strong sunlight, low night time temperatures, altitude and the dry conditions in the park. Around Mount Teide there are several smaller volcanoes, such as Mount Rajada (2.509 m) and Mount Chahorra otherwise known as Pico Viejo or old peak, this was the latest peak in the park to have erupted.
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