Tenerife is the largest of the Canaries, with two distinct microclimates to the north and south, separated by Mount Teide, the 12,000ft volcano that created the island and which dominates its landscape. The north coast enjoys a warm and humid climate, thanks to the prevailing winds from the Atlantic. The resorts that line the northern shore are less visited than their southern cousins, retaining both a more naturally Spanish feel and distinctive black sand created by the dark volcanic rock.
Puerto de la Cruz is perhaps the busiest of the northern resorts, in the lush Orotava Valley. The old town retains its colonial Spanish charm, with balcony-lined cobbled streets and plazas offering plenty of shops and restaurants to occupy the balmy nights and sun-drenched ashen beaches to laze away the days.
The southern coast, sheltered from the wind, is hotter than the north, with a distinctly African feel to the sunshine. More popular with visitors, its resorts are larger, more developed and greater in number – many of them boasting beaches of specially imported Saharan sand to create picture-perfect arcs of blonde to contrast the deep Atlantic blue.
Playa de las Americas is purpose built as a resort popular with young nightlife fans, drawn from across the world to its combination of extensive nightclubs to dance into the small hours and scorching beaches to sleep off the excesses of the night before.
Los Cristianos has something for everyone, a wide range of accommodation, good shopping, water parks for the kids to splash about in and, of course, the impressive scenery and specially imported sand.
Article courtesy of Divine Marketing