Garachico
Garachico
The leading port of the Canary Islands until a volcano buried its harbour in 1706. What survived is an unusually intact old town, ten minutes west of San Marcos.
Where to stay on the north coast
This coast reads as one strip on a map and feels like several different places once you're on it — a working village, a Victorian resort town, a fishing port frozen since a volcano buried its own harbour. Which one suits you matters more than which one is "best".
These posts cover the areas honestly, area by area, plus the practical questions that come before all of it: which airport, whether you need a car, and why we picked the north over the south in the first place.
8 — written by the people who host here.
Icod de los Vinos
Icod de los Vinos
The town above our village: a thousand-year-old dragon tree, the longest lava tube in Europe, the supermarkets, and the wine the town is named after.
North Tenerife
North Tenerife or south? Why we chose the north
North or south Tenerife? The north is greener, cooler, cloudier and quieter, with no high-rise resorts and Spanish spoken everywhere. Here is the honest trade-off.
Playa de San Marcos, Icod de los Vinos
Playa de San Marcos
A black-sand bay under the cliffs below Icod de los Vinos, with a handful of restaurants, a bar and the calmest swimming on Tenerife's north coast. Our village.
Puerto de la Cruz
Puerto de la Cruz
Tenerife's original resort town, a century before the south existed. The nearest place with real choice — international food, a Michelin star, surf and street art.
Icod de los Vinos, Playa de San Marcos
Staying in Icod de los Vinos and San Marcos
Icod's own beach is San Marcos, five minutes down the hill — the quietest base on Tenerife's north coast, close to Garachico and Puerto de la Cruz.
North Tenerife
Where to stay on Tenerife's north coast
Puerto de la Cruz, La Orotava, Garachico, or the San Marcos and Icod coast — an honest area-by-area guide to staying on north Tenerife, written by hosts.
North Tenerife
Which Tenerife airport, and do you need a car?
Tenerife has two airports, and which one you fly into changes your journey by an hour. The honest answer on TFN vs TFS, and whether you need to hire a car.