Show your clients a more adventurous side to Tenerife

Northern highlights

My atmospheric hotel Laguna Nivaria occupies a 16th century building that once housed royalty. The city was founded a century earlier by Spanish conquistadors and retains other well-preserved architecture, which influenced several Latin American cities. It’s pleasant to explore the pedestrianised streets, dipping into beautiful hidden courtyards with palm trees and carved balconies and spotting succulents growing from cracks between roof tiles. Among the family-run, souvenir-free shops I visit a bakery where enticing pastries are filled with sweet potato and guava.

From La Laguna, as it’s abbreviated, it’s easy to tour along the north coast. We head west to Garachico in Jaime’s electric minivan, for an excellent lunch at boutique Hotel La Quinta Roja, on the main square. After cheeses drizzled with mojo pepper sauce and a thick pan-fried cod steak, I wander the pretty streets towards the sea.

Tiny, shady Parque de la Puerta de Tierra features a once waterside doorway, which survived the devastating eruption of Chinyero volcano in 1706. Cooled lava extended the coastline a few hundred metres forward to where you can now swim from its craggy black edges, aided by steps and handrails. The town feels a fine low-key base for a short break.

Passing seaside banana plantations, we return to La Laguna via fortified Puerto de la Cruz where murals cover many buildings. I photograph huge faces, sci-fi bugs, and a pocket-sized squid on a housefront. The street art arrived with a festival 10 years ago. Now, artists request spaces from the council, which also runs an attractive seawater lido. “There’s a beautiful mix here between tourists and locals,” Jaime points out. “You can’t tell the difference between them walking around like you can in the south.”

Active pursuits

The next day I’m paddling the west coast in a kayak from Teno Activo. With every arm-aching stroke, the honeycomb Los Gigantos cliffs loom larger, and I scan them for the cave-dwelling giant lizards rediscovered here in the ‘80s. They prove elusive and I reward my efforts instead by dropping into the inky water for a swim. At lunch afterwards, overlooking La Caleta beach, we see a kestrel circling, hunting lizards of the snack-sized variety.

My first trip up Teide, the world’s third largest volcano, involved the popular cable car, but Jaime promises my group a less crowded experience. Alone in a lumpy lava field under a bright blue sky, we view the distant summit and outcrops where the mummified remains of some of the island’s Indigenous people were discovered.

About 10% of Tenerife’s pine forest was lost in the recent wildfires, some from Teide. But as we continue upwards, losing a degree’s heat for every 100 metres, Jaime points to blackened slopes, which will be green within a year as the unique thick-barked pines regenerate. Heartened, we stop high above a valley to watch the sun slip under a vast duvet of cloud.

Seeing stars

Teide is a Dark Sky Reserve, so the thrills are not yet over. After a lofty restaurant dinner with one of the island’s volcanic soil wines (once so popular they were referenced by Shakespeare, Scott and Shelley), we wrap up for guided stargazing. In what feels like a personal outdoor planetarium, our astronomer identifies numerous constellations, then lets us view Saturn’s rings and the moon’s craters through his powerful telescope. As a final surprise, he trains the lens on Jupiter, just rising over the shadowy surrounds.

For our last few days, we’re based in the southwest at upmarket Costa Adeje. Hotel GF Victoria, opposite a designer mall, is a five-star family-friendly hotel with multiple facilities. Its several pools however don’t open till 10.00 so a leisurely buffet breakfast is in order from huge stylish food stations, one serving bespoke freshly squeezed juices.

From here we visit El Medano on the eve of a festival that will see a saint’s statue immersed in the sea to bless the fishing community. We find her waiting in a tiny chapel beneath shelves of model boats. On the windy seafront, I watch kite surfers twist in the waves. I’m up for a less physical adventure, however, on a Big Smile Luxury Charters yacht from Puerto Colon.

Out on the sparkling water, our skipper plies us with local fruit and desserts as we scan the horizon for a pod of the island’s resident pilot whales. The diminutive creatures arrive like dolphins, arcing together through the water and playing in our wake, but their domed heads remind me of belugas, and they flip their flukes as they dive. To our excitement, some resurface so close we hear their blowhole sighs.

As we come back into shore, we’re passed by a shrieking group of tourists on a speedboat-drawn inflatable. They’re enjoying a different kind of elation from a very different holiday.

Book it: easyJet Holidays has seven-night stays at Hotel GF Victoria from £1,099pp (two sharing), for departures 1 November 2024 to 31 March 2025, with flights available from several UK airports. easyjet.com