Best Area to Stay in Tenerife: North or South, and Every Resort Compared

Just want a quick answer? Here is where to stay in Tenerife:
Best for most visitors and for families - Costa Adeje. Iberostar Selection Anthelia
Best for adults only - Costa Adeje. JOIA El Mirador by Iberostar
Best for a quieter south coast - La Caleta. Tivoli La Caleta Tenerife Resort
Best for golf and seclusion - Golf del Sur. Bahia Principe Explore Fantasia
Best for the real Tenerife - Puerto de la Cruz. Bahia Principe Explore San Felipe
Best for a city break - Santa Cruz. Iberostar Heritage Grand Mencey

There is really only one question that matters when booking Tenerife, and it is not which resort.

It is north or south. Get that right and almost any hotel will do. Get it wrong and you can spend a week in January under cloud, forty minutes' drive from the sunshine you paid for.

Tenerife is dominated by Mount Teide, at 3,715 metres the highest point in Spain. The trade winds hit the island from the north-east, pile up against the mountain and drop their moisture on the northern slopes. The result is two islands in one. The north is green, lush, cooler and often cloudy. The south sits in Teide's rain shadow and is dry, sunny and warm essentially all year.

That single fact decides everything else. Here is how to use it.

North or south? The decision that matters

Stay in the south if you are coming for sun. Especially between November and March, which is when most people come. The south-west coast around Costa Adeje is the most reliably sunny part of the island and the warmest in winter. This is where the large resorts, the sandy beaches and the water parks are.

Stay in the north if you are coming for the island itself. Puerto de la Cruz, La Orotava, Garachico and the capital are older, greener and far more Spanish. The food is better and cheaper, the architecture is real rather than built for tourism, and the landscape is spectacular. But the weather is genuinely less dependable, the beaches are volcanic black sand, and in winter you will see more cloud.

The honest recommendation: first trip in winter, go south. Coming for Teide, hiking and the towns, or visiting in summer when the whole island is warm, the north is the more interesting half and better value.

One practical note: the airports match the split. Tenerife South (TFS) serves the southern resorts and is where most charter and budget flights land. Tenerife North (TFN) is closer to Santa Cruz and Puerto de la Cruz. Check which one your flight uses - crossing the island is about an hour, and people do book the wrong end.

Costa Adeje - best for most visitors, and for families

If you read any other guide to this question, Costa Adeje will be its top recommendation, and that is not laziness - it genuinely is the right answer for most people. It is the island's most developed and most upmarket resort area, on the south-west coast, with the best sandy beaches, the widest choice of hotels and Siam Park a short drive away.

Consider Costa Adeje if you want:

• The most dependable sunshine on the island, year round
• Serviced sandy beaches - Playa del Duque and Playa Fanabe are the pick
• Siam Park and Aqualand within easy reach, plus whale-watching trips from Puerto Colon
• The widest choice of four and five-star hotels
• Everything walkable along a long seafront promenade

The trade-offs: it is the most expensive part of Tenerife, it is unapologetically a resort rather than a place people live, and in peak season it is busy. If you want authenticity, this is not where to find it.

Hotels here: Iberostar Selection Anthelia is a five-star on Playa del Duque, describes itself as family-friendly, and holds 4.8. Iberostar Waves Las Dalias holds 4.7 and lists an airport service - useful on an island where everyone transfers by road. Iberostar Waves Bouganville Playa also holds 4.7 at a lower starting rate.

For families specifically, Anthelia is the one to look at first - it is the property here that describes itself as built for families, with family accommodation and suites alongside the five-star facilities.

Costa Adeje for adults only

Worth its own section, because Tenerife is unusually well supplied with adults-only hotels and it is one of the more common things people search for here. Three of the properties we list are explicitly adults-only.

JOIA El Mirador by Iberostar is an adults-only five-star on Avenida de Bruselas in Costa Adeje, holds 4.8, and lists the longest set of extras of any adults-only option here - early check-in, late checkout, express check-in, a welcome drink and a restaurant reservation service, plus a spa and a cultural experience package.

Iberostar Selection Sabila is an adults-only five-star named after the aloe vera plant, holds 4.8, and has the lowest starting rate of any five-star in this guide - the value pick of the three.

Bahia Principe Escape Tenerife is an adults-only all-inclusive, holds 4.7, and is the one to choose if you want everything included rather than paying as you go.

A shorthand worth knowing: across Bahia Principe's whole portfolio, "Escape" means adults-only and "Explore" means family-friendly. It holds here and it holds in the Caribbean - see our Punta Cana guide.

Also in the area: JOIA Salome by Iberostar holds 4.9 - the highest-rated property in this guide - and describes itself as suited to couples and romantic stays. It is also the most expensive. It does not describe itself as adults-only, so check directly if that matters to you.

La Caleta and Adeje - best for a quieter south coast

La Caleta is a small former fishing village at the northern end of the Costa Adeje strip, and it is where people who have been to Tenerife before tend to stay. Same sunshine, considerably less noise, and a genuinely good run of fish restaurants along the front.

Consider La Caleta if you want:

• The southern climate without the resort density
• Some of the best seafood on the island a walk from your hotel
• The Costa Adeje beaches ten minutes away when you want them
• A calmer, more grown-up base

The trade-offs: less on the doorstep for children, and you will drive or take a taxi to the big attractions.

Hotels here: Tivoli La Caleta Tenerife Resort is a five-star on the clifftop at La Caleta, holds 4.6, and lists an airport service, lounge access, a dining credit and a spa - one of the better-equipped properties in this guide. Bahia Principe Explore Costa Adeje is a family all-inclusive in Adeje holding 4.6.

Golf del Sur - best for golf and seclusion

Further east along the southern coast, Golf del Sur is a quiet purpose-built area built around its golf courses, close to Tenerife South airport.

Consider Golf del Sur if you want:

• Golf, obviously - two courses on the doorstep
• The shortest airport transfer on the island
• A quiet, self-contained resort stay
• El Medano, Tenerife's windsurfing beach, fifteen minutes away

The trade-offs: the local beach is small and volcanic rather than golden, there is little outside the resorts, and you are further from Costa Adeje's amenities. Some flight noise, given the airport.

Hotels here: Bahia Principe Explore Fantasia is a five-star all-inclusive built around a fairy-tale theme with a castle centrepiece, holding 4.8 on our listing. It is strongly family-oriented - and worth knowing that it trades under several names, which we cover in our full guide to the resort.

Puerto de la Cruz - best for the real Tenerife

The north coast's main resort town, and completely different in character from the south. Puerto de la Cruz was a working port that became Tenerife's first tourist destination in the nineteenth century, and it still feels like a Canarian town that happens to have hotels rather than a resort built from nothing.

Consider Puerto de la Cruz if you want:

• A real town with a genuine old quarter, plaza and market
• Better and cheaper food than the south
• The Lago Martianez sea pools, designed by Cesar Manrique
• Loro Parque, and the best access to Teide and the northern walking country
• Noticeably lower prices

The trade-offs, stated plainly: the weather is the catch. This is the cloudy side of the island, and in winter you may get several overcast days in a row. The beaches are black volcanic sand. If your trip is specifically about lying in the sun, stay south.

Hotels here: Bahia Principe Explore San Felipe is a four-star on Avenida de Cristobal Colon holding 4.4, close to the seafront. Radisson Resort & Residences Tenerife is a five-star with apartment-style accommodation, lounge access and a spa - though it holds 3.8, the weakest rating in this guide, so read recent reviews before booking.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife - best for a city break

The island capital, on the north-east coast. This is not a beach holiday and nobody should book it expecting one - it is a working Spanish city with shops, museums, tapas bars and the Auditorio de Tenerife on the waterfront.

Consider Santa Cruz if you want:

• A city rather than a resort - proper restaurants, shopping, nightlife
• The old university town of La Laguna, a UNESCO site, fifteen minutes away by tram
• Playa de las Teresitas, the island's best golden beach, twenty minutes north
• Anaga, the ancient laurel forest, on the doorstep
• The cheapest rates on the island

The trade-offs: no beach in the city itself, and it is on the cloudier side. Best combined with a few nights in the south rather than as a whole trip.

Hotels here: Iberostar Heritage Grand Mencey is the city's grand hotel, holds 4.8, and lists an airport service, early check-in, late checkout, express check-in and a spa. NH Tenerife on Calle Candelaria is a straightforward three-star in the centre and the lowest starting rate of any property in this guide by a wide margin.

Areas we do not cover

Straightforwardly, because these come up constantly.

Los Cristianos is the consensus second choice for Tenerife on almost every guide, and we have nothing there. It is next to Costa Adeje, livelier and cheaper, with a working harbour, a good promenade and ferries to La Gomera. If you want the southern climate on a smaller budget, that is where to look - book it directly.

Playa de las Americas, the largest package-holiday resort on the island and the centre of its nightlife, is also uncovered. So is Los Gigantes, under the cliffs on the west coast, and El Medano, the windsurfing town - though Golf del Sur puts you fifteen minutes from El Medano.

In the north, La Orotava and Garachico are lovely and unrepresented here.

For the six areas above, read on.

What booking direct actually gets you in Tenerife

Free cancellation is listed on all but one property here - thirteen of the fourteen. On a winter-sun booking made months ahead, that is the benefit worth protecting.

An airport service is listed on several of them, including the Grand Mencey, Las Dalias and Tivoli La Caleta. This matters more on an island than in a city: everyone arrives by plane, the resorts are a real drive from either airport, and a transfer arranged by the hotel removes the main piece of friction in the trip. Check which airport your flight uses when you arrange it - Tenerife has two, at opposite ends.

Free breakfast comes with most of them, and the Iberostar and Tivoli properties add spa treatments, wellness packages or a dining credit.

Early check-in and late checkout are listed on most. Flights to the Canaries frequently land early and leave late, so between them they can add most of a day at each end of a week.

A free member rate is available across the chains represented here - Iberostar, Bahia Principe, Radisson, NH and Tivoli all run one, all free to join, and it applies whatever campaign happens to be running. Codes are set per property, so the hotel's own page on this site is where to check what applies to your dates.

Our chain guides cover what each typically offers: Iberostar, Radisson and NH Hotels.

How to book one of these hotels direct

1. Find the hotel. Search Tenerife on the dashboard, or click any name above.

2. Check the hotel's own page for its cancellation terms, its direct-booking benefits and any promotion loaded for it.

3. Copy the code if one applies to your dates. The member rate needs none.

4. Click BOOK DIRECT and apply it at checkout, in the promotion or corporate code box, before choosing a room.

5. Arrange the airport transfer at the time of booking if the hotel lists one, and tell them which airport you are landing at.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best area to stay in Tenerife? Costa Adeje for most visitors - the most reliable sunshine, the best sandy beaches and the widest choice of hotels. La Caleta just north of it if you want the same climate with less noise. Puerto de la Cruz if you would rather see the real island than sunbathe.

Should I stay in the north or south of Tenerife? South for sun, especially November to March - it sits in Mount Teide's rain shadow and is dry and warm nearly all year. North for scenery, food, culture and lower prices, accepting noticeably more cloud and black-sand beaches.

Where is the best place to stay in Tenerife for families? Costa Adeje, and Iberostar Selection Anthelia is the property here that describes itself as built for families. Bahia Principe Explore Fantasia in Golf del Sur is the strongest all-inclusive option for young children, built around a fairy-tale theme.

Which Tenerife hotels are adults-only? Three of the properties we list say so explicitly: JOIA El Mirador by Iberostar and Iberostar Selection Sabila, both five-stars in Costa Adeje, and Bahia Principe Escape Tenerife, an adults-only all-inclusive. Across Bahia Principe, "Escape" means adults-only and "Explore" means family.

Is Costa Adeje or Los Cristianos better? Costa Adeje is smarter, quieter and more expensive, with better beaches. Los Cristianos is livelier and cheaper with a working harbour and ferries to the other islands. Costa Adeje for a five-star holiday, Los Cristianos for value - though we have no Los Cristianos properties, so book that directly.

Which airport should I fly into? Tenerife South for Costa Adeje, La Caleta and Golf del Sur. Tenerife North for Santa Cruz, Puerto de la Cruz and the northern towns. Crossing the island takes around an hour, so it is worth matching the airport to your area.

Is Santa Cruz de Tenerife a good place to stay? For a city break, yes - restaurants, shopping, museums, La Laguna by tram and Playa de las Teresitas twenty minutes away, at the lowest rates on the island. Not for a beach holiday, since there is no beach in the city.

When is the best time to visit Tenerife? The south works year round, which is the point of it. November to March is the winter-sun season and the busiest and most expensive. April to June and September to October give warm weather across the whole island with fewer people - the best value if your dates are flexible. For more on timing a booking, see the best time to book a hotel.

Ready to book?

Every hotel in this guide can be booked on the hotel's own site, with the benefits listed on its profile page - free cancellation on almost all of them, breakfast and an airport service on many.

Browse all Tenerife hotels or start with the area that fits your trip: Costa Adeje, adults-only Costa Adeje, La Caleta, Golf del Sur, Puerto de la Cruz or Santa Cruz.

More Spain and the islands: Mallorca, Barcelona, Madrid and Lopesan in Gran Canaria.