6 Reasons Tenerife Should Be on Every American Traveler’s Radar/Featured in Travel Pulse
One of the best parts about traveling is the ability to experience new and exciting things.
These experiences can be right in your own backyard, a quick flight away, or to a place you’ve never heard of before doing your investigating. In the digital era, travelers are beginning to branch out more and more into unique destinations they find through research or their social media feeds.
For Americans, being able to tell someone about a trip and their response being “I’ve never heard of it” is a weird but cool feeling. Though it makes you feel like a big shot, you don’t have to be a celebrity to get to a destination of that kind. Tenerife in the Canary Islands needs to be on your radar, and here are seven reasons why.
It’s the Island of Eternal Spring
You know that perfect time of year between the frigid winter and steamy summer that only seems to last for a few days? In Tenerife, it’s like that practically all year round.
The Spanish island boasts an average annual temperature of 23 ºC (73 ºF) made possible by trade winds, cool ocean currents, and the warmth from the nearby Tropic of Cancer. As elevation climbs towards the center of the island, temperatures can drop, giving a nice mixture of weather depending on what you’d like.
Wildlife You Can’t See in the U.S.
Listening to the sweet sounds of David Attenborough narrate wildlife on Netflix is great and all, but wouldn’t seeing these animals in-person be so much better?
There are many ways to do this throughout Tenerife, but there are two experiences that rise above the others: take a private boat ride off the southern coast to see pilot whales up-close and spend the day at Loro Parque in the north. The pilot whales live in these waters year-round and Loro Parque features hundreds of species of birds, fish, whales and more that can’t be found in the US.
Safe and Fun Local Happenings
Though there have been many sensationalized and false news reports lately, there are many areas in the Caribbean where Americans visit but can’t leave their resort because of crime.
This is not the case in Tenerife.
In fact, visitors are encouraged to stroll around local towns at night to get a true feel of the Canarian lifestyle and interact with people from all over the world. Food and drinks are cheap, the majority of people speak English, and there’s always something fun happening at local businesses.
An Adventure Seeker’s Paradise
There’s no shortage of adrenaline rushes on this island. Because of the elevation rising in the center of the island, there are opportunities for warm and cold adventures.
Some of the more popular activities seen taking place on land, in the air and in the sea: surfing, hiking, mountain biking, paragliding, snorkeling, scuba diving, climbing, kayaking, caving and much more.
Relatively Quick Flight for East Coasters
If Tenerife could be closely compared to another part of the world, it’d have to be Hawaii. And for east coasters that don’t want to spend an entire day of flying to the west coast and then to Hawaii, the trip into Tenerife is smoother and gives you the same type of feel.
Travelers still need to connect to get to Tenerife (ideally Madrid), but the cost is still relatively low. With tourism from the U.S. to Tenerife consistently rising year-over-year, there’s a chance we see a direct flight from an east coast city soon.
Potential for Internet Points
Yes, racking-up internet points is a big deal amongst all social media users these days. No matter what generation you’re a part of, there’s no doubt most of us want to make our friends online jealous.
Tenerife is popular amongst many European countries, but most Americans probably have never heard of it. The Instagramability of the island, from the sands of Almáciga Beach to the peak of Mount Teide, is sure to boost your popularity when friends see the location tags.