Our Civil Partnership Honeymoon in Tenerife, Part II - El Teide and Las Teresitas!
It's taken me quite some time to get the chance to write the second part of my Tenerife story, but here I finally am again! This entry will be about two places - El Teide and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Enjoy!
Day 5
On our fifth day, we caught the local bus to El Teide, the volcano whose summit (Pico del Teide) is the highest point in Spain. Los Cristianos is a good place to be if you're not planning to rent a car because the local bus will take you to El Teide and back on every single day of the week. You can find more information on getting to the volcano here, or if you're planning on catching the bus from Los Cristianos (the distance is 47 km, by the way), check this out:
The bus will take you all the way to Teleférico del Teide, or the cable car that will take you up to the hiking routes on top of the volcano. If you want to hike all the way to the peak, you'll need to register online in advance for a free access permit here. We are no real hikers, so even if Julcsi had registered for a permit beforehand, she quickly realised the hike all the way up wasn't something she would be up for. I didn't even get a permit in the first place as by the time we started booking them, there was only one left. I would never have been able to hike all the way to the summit, so I'd say to go for it only if you're more experienced. Also, another thing I would like to mention is that the cable car might be closed on some days if the weather isn't good enough (if the wind is too strong, for example), so make sure you check the Teleférico website before embarking on your excursion to avoid possible disappointment upon arrival. You can buy the tickets for the cable car from online, which we did - this will allow you to skip the queues. However, it's good to be aware of the fact that if the weather is bad and you don't get to use your tickets, you won't be getting your money back. And one more thing: make sure you're properly dressed - at least in February - because it's very cold up there! Like winter coat cold! And another good tip is to have sun screen on your face as you can still burn from the sun.
So yes, we caught the bus in the morning and loved the views along the way! I had never seen anything quite like it before, so I'm just going to go ahead and post a bunch of lovely pictures for you to admire:
Once we arrived, it turned out the wind was indeed too strong for the cable car to be operating so we needed to wait around for quite some time for it to be reopened. Luckily it was, eventually, and soon we were on our way up...
It was actually quite tough to be so high up, and we both felt somewhat bad. Much to my surprise, I could breathe quite well up there even if I have asthma, but we both felt dizzy and as though we might faint any minute. So, after wandering around for a while, we went back down and had lunch at a buffet there. Nice local food, and not the worst rip off, either, considering its location!
It was definitely one of the best days on our trip! I highly recommend visiting El Teide if you ever decide to go to Tenerife.
And, in the evening, we had yet another one of our Exotic Fruit and Local Wine experiments...
Day 6
Day 6 was our final day in Tenerife and we decided to spend it in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. So, we caught yet another bus early in the morning...Our main destination was Playa de las Teresitas, the long beach with white sand imported from the Sahara.
Santa Cruz itself is a completely gorgeous town, I could easily have spent more time there as well! The weather was more on the rainy and cloudy side there so hoodies were needed to stay warm. It's so insane how much the weather varies in different parts of the island!
Anyway, once we'd arrived in Santa Cruz, we wandered around a little bit and then caught the bus to Las Teresitas where it was our firm intention to swim, no matter how cold the weather was.
By the point we arrived at the beach, the sun had come out - lucky lucky!! The sand is so soft, and walking along the beach was so lovely and romantic <3! The water was lovely to swim in, too - it felt really refreshing and not freezing cold as I'd expected.
We then walked to an idyllic little restaurant called Cofradía de Pescadores, recommended to us by a woman who worked in a tourist information kiosk. She said that it's basically the best seafood place in Santa Cruz, so obviously we needed to give it a go. We didn't know what anything was on the menu so we just pointed at a couple of things and then looked forward to finding out what it would be :D. This is what we got, and it was all very, very good...
After our lovely meal by the ocean, we caught the bus back to Los Cristianos, just in time for a final sunset before heading back home the following morning.
I have to say that this was one of the best trips we've ever done! I was so completely surprised by the beauty and diversity of Tenerife, and we both now want to visit all the seven islands at some point.
My next update will be all about the Åland Islands in the Finnish archipelago, so stay tuned :)!
Day 5
On our fifth day, we caught the local bus to El Teide, the volcano whose summit (Pico del Teide) is the highest point in Spain. Los Cristianos is a good place to be if you're not planning to rent a car because the local bus will take you to El Teide and back on every single day of the week. You can find more information on getting to the volcano here, or if you're planning on catching the bus from Los Cristianos (the distance is 47 km, by the way), check this out:
The bus will take you all the way to Teleférico del Teide, or the cable car that will take you up to the hiking routes on top of the volcano. If you want to hike all the way to the peak, you'll need to register online in advance for a free access permit here. We are no real hikers, so even if Julcsi had registered for a permit beforehand, she quickly realised the hike all the way up wasn't something she would be up for. I didn't even get a permit in the first place as by the time we started booking them, there was only one left. I would never have been able to hike all the way to the summit, so I'd say to go for it only if you're more experienced. Also, another thing I would like to mention is that the cable car might be closed on some days if the weather isn't good enough (if the wind is too strong, for example), so make sure you check the Teleférico website before embarking on your excursion to avoid possible disappointment upon arrival. You can buy the tickets for the cable car from online, which we did - this will allow you to skip the queues. However, it's good to be aware of the fact that if the weather is bad and you don't get to use your tickets, you won't be getting your money back. And one more thing: make sure you're properly dressed - at least in February - because it's very cold up there! Like winter coat cold! And another good tip is to have sun screen on your face as you can still burn from the sun.
So yes, we caught the bus in the morning and loved the views along the way! I had never seen anything quite like it before, so I'm just going to go ahead and post a bunch of lovely pictures for you to admire:
 |
| Pico del Teide. |
 |
| The cable car. |
It was actually quite tough to be so high up, and we both felt somewhat bad. Much to my surprise, I could breathe quite well up there even if I have asthma, but we both felt dizzy and as though we might faint any minute. So, after wandering around for a while, we went back down and had lunch at a buffet there. Nice local food, and not the worst rip off, either, considering its location!
It was definitely one of the best days on our trip! I highly recommend visiting El Teide if you ever decide to go to Tenerife.
And, in the evening, we had yet another one of our Exotic Fruit and Local Wine experiments...
Day 6
Day 6 was our final day in Tenerife and we decided to spend it in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. So, we caught yet another bus early in the morning...Our main destination was Playa de las Teresitas, the long beach with white sand imported from the Sahara.
Santa Cruz itself is a completely gorgeous town, I could easily have spent more time there as well! The weather was more on the rainy and cloudy side there so hoodies were needed to stay warm. It's so insane how much the weather varies in different parts of the island!
Anyway, once we'd arrived in Santa Cruz, we wandered around a little bit and then caught the bus to Las Teresitas where it was our firm intention to swim, no matter how cold the weather was.
By the point we arrived at the beach, the sun had come out - lucky lucky!! The sand is so soft, and walking along the beach was so lovely and romantic <3! The water was lovely to swim in, too - it felt really refreshing and not freezing cold as I'd expected.
We then walked to an idyllic little restaurant called Cofradía de Pescadores, recommended to us by a woman who worked in a tourist information kiosk. She said that it's basically the best seafood place in Santa Cruz, so obviously we needed to give it a go. We didn't know what anything was on the menu so we just pointed at a couple of things and then looked forward to finding out what it would be :D. This is what we got, and it was all very, very good...
After our lovely meal by the ocean, we caught the bus back to Los Cristianos, just in time for a final sunset before heading back home the following morning.
I have to say that this was one of the best trips we've ever done! I was so completely surprised by the beauty and diversity of Tenerife, and we both now want to visit all the seven islands at some point.
My next update will be all about the Åland Islands in the Finnish archipelago, so stay tuned :)!
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