Tenerife: a natural fit for adventure-seeking clients
Action and nature are the themes of the Canary Island’s new tourist marketing campaign. Our writer takes the plunge on an experience-packed trip
My heart rate has been racing for hours with the anticipation, if not dread, of what’s to come. I am so scared of heights I can’t even climb a ladder at home without clinging tightly to the top with both arms. Yet I’m strapped to a paraglider pilot, dressed in a onesie and helmet, ready to run off the edge of a 2,600ft-high cliff, towing a flimsy scrap of material attached by a few strands of cord.
Eight of us are gathered like lemmings about to take the plunge from popular Tenerife viewpoint La Corona, and I’m first up.
The wind is gusting close to the safe limit of 12.5mph when Borja, my pilot from Enminube, yells to start running. After just a few steps, the paraglider wing fills and lifts us into the air, the ground rapidly disappearing below us.
I’m soaring like a bird over Tenerife’s north coast and it’s wonderful! My fear has been replaced by exhilaration. Borja tells me to sit back and I realise my backpack has transformed into a comfortable bucket seat.
Now relaxed and feeling secure, I’m totally spellbound by the experience and the spectacular scenery below my feet. There’s a gentle rushing of wind in my ears, but I feel confident enough to risk taking my iPhone from a pocket to capture the views and a selfie with Borja. I relax further when he tells me he’s done more than 3,000 flights, and the only casualty has been his own smartphone, which he recently dropped and had to scour a forest to find.
Using thermals from the verdant mountainside, Borja does a series of tight turns and takes us up to an incredible 4,000ft until my head is almost in the clouds.
For about half an hour we fly high above the take-off area and out over the rocky coast. Descending to land on an artificial grass strip in a potato field, we pass over a hovering kestrel. And as we approach the ground I see a shepherd leading a herd of goats, the bells round their necks creating a pastoral symphony.
The landing is somewhat inelegant thanks to a sudden gust that pushes us sideways, but I’m beaming from ear to ear.
A short drive away we tuck into a lunch of local specialities at a restaurant overlooking a black-sand beach where surfers are catching waves.
Action stations
Active and experiential breaks are the focus of the Tenerife! Awakens Emotions marketing campaign. Pia Louw, travel industry director for Tenerife Tourism, explains: “With the new strategy, we are trying to attract new audiences who would never consider Tenerife for their holidays, which include those holidaymakers looking into adding a bit of nature, lifestyle, sports and adventure to their break.”
The post-Covid recovery is well under way for the Canary Island. Between January and March this year, more than 463,000 visitors – 26% of all arrivals – were from the UK although there’s a way to go to equal the 2.25 million UK total for 2019.
Continuing my own active break, I head out cycling. Though most use lightweight racers, my steed is a chunky 21-speed number with an electric motor to help me up the hilly sections of the old southern general road.
Perfect for cyclists, this was once the only route linking villages on the lower slopes of Mount Teide volcano.
Now little used, it’s a picturesque and peaceful alternative to the multi-lane coastal highway.
We start at the lofty and historic town of Guimar. Jaime, our guide, says that the vast majority of cyclists you see on Tenerife are British, some using the back roads to train.
Setting off on our gentle 12-mile jaunt, I quickly see the attraction. There are occasional cars, but mostly it’s only other cyclists. We can relax and take in the vegetables fields, brightly painted houses and stretches of cacti and wildflower-filled volcanic terrain occasionally cleft by deep ravines known as barrancos.
It’s a great way to see a side of Tenerife that many visitors miss, and it’s easy to make photo stops in sleepy villages. At one vivid blue house I stop to chat to a woman looking out of the window. She turns out to be an of Teide national park, and I climb a path to see the rocks of the caldera lit a rich orange. After dinner at the crater-side Parador de Las Canadas del Teide hotel we stargaze, looking through large telescopes marvelling at the constellations visible in the clear skies.
Despite having been to Tenerife numerous times, this visit has opened my eyes to the island’s diverse natural splendour and adrenaline-pumping activities. I’m still on cloud nine!
Book it: A seven-night B&B stay at Hotel Botanico flying from Gatwick with easyJet including return private airport transfers costs from £1,266pp with Prestige Travel. A 10-night B&B stay with five nights each at the Hotel Botanico and the Hotel Jardines de Nivaria in Costa Adeje costs from £1,795pp including flights, airport transfers and a private taxi transfer between the hotels. prestigetravel.co.uk. Paragliding with Enminube costs from €120, enminubeparapente.com; daily cycling tours with Tenerife Bike Training including bike rental cost from €85, tenerifebiketraining.com and bird-watching tours cost from €70, guianatura.net
Tenerife: Smarter, Better, Fairer
Smarter: Tenerife is on the same latitude as the Sahara Desert, so high-factor sunscreen is a must.
Better: The annual carnival in Tenerife’s capital, Santa Cruz, is claimed to be the second biggest in the world. Lasting several weeks, it usually takes place in February. An estimated 400,000 took to the streets of Santa Cruz for the Daytime Carnival event in 2019.
Fairer: Try local speciality foods with a lower carbon footprint like papas arrugadas, or “wrinkled potatoes”, which are boiled in sea- salt water before being roasted and served with mojo sauces. To learn about the production of bananas and other crops, book a guided tour at organic farm Finca La Calabacera.
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