Isla de Tenerife Tourist Traps

If you're planning on heading all the way up to the peak of El Teide, you need to use the cable car. It's best to be there as early as possible, as waiting time can apparently stretch into a couple of hours if there are coach tours planning on heading up as well.
In the winter the Cable car can also be out of service to to ice on the cable.

Unique Suggestions: Try be there by 9.30 at the latest - most coach tours would leave the hotel between 8 and 9, so you should have some decent availability then.

Fun Alternatives: Well, if you want to go up the highest peak in Spain, there's not really much of an alternative, is there :p

Spanish phones are very, very expensive when calling overseas. After spending in phone booths a lot of Euros, i learnt my lesson!

Unique Suggestions: A friend gave me a number that he uses and he gets much cheaper rates.

I call through this number which is 902 99 53 01, from any land line or phone booth, and all i pay is just 4 cents a minute at nights and weekends, or 6 cents at daytime. It is also so easy to use, i have been using it for 4 months now. highly recommended!!!

I've used it to call the US, UK, France, Italy and some other places where i have friends. I think they have more than 60 countries, so chances are yours will be listed.

When you dial the number,902 99 53 01, and then get the operator, just press 1, and 00 plus your country code and your friends number. Believe is worth it! I think you can use it form a mobile phone also with rates around 20 cents a minute or something like that.

if you want details or list of countries the page is www.iCallCheap.com in English and www.TelefonoBarato.com in Spanish. just check it out, you'll thank me :)

3 more images

We thought it would be great to go up the cable car to the top of the volcano, especially since there was snow at the top. The tour operator said the tour was going ahead. What they forgot to mention until we were almost there, was that although the cable car station was open, the lines at the top of the volcano were frozen and therefore the cable car wasn't running. Of course they knew this before we left, and I would not have been so annoyed if they had just been honest and made the effort to take us somewhere else as an alternate outing. Our coach wasn't the only one with disappointed tourists. So my advice, if you are travelling in winter, and if there is snow, or possibility of snow, is to call the cable car station to check whether the cars are running.

Great views of loads of rocks though...

Unique Suggestions: Well don't bother with buying anything from the cafe, but do take a seat at one of the windows, while everyone else queues up! There's also a little gift shop, or else you can take a seat on the wall outside and enjoy the view.

Fun Alternatives: Go for the 4X4 trip - they looked like they were having LOADS of fun!

We were lucky or just have unfriendly faces but people were bothered lots by touts. Local council please not allowing touts gives your island a bad name.

Unique Suggestions: If they approach just keep walking they will eventually stop talking to you.

Fun Alternatives: Or you could take the fun out of them, we tried saying in English sorry don't speak English. We Tried selling them something, a card given by a different tout, or just say something totally off the wall, like will it bring my heating bills down at home. Or just be rude if you must, but mainly just ignore.

Poor girls not had a punter all morning???? This lady has got the answer she probably learned the hard way. even at the Sunday market but as she said KEEP ON WALKING

Unique Suggestions: keep talking to someone else

Fun Alternatives: Take a regular tour bus but dont buy the recommended rubbish chose your own

If one would like to travel from Los Cristianos (Playa de la Americas) to the northern part of the island (Where Puerto Cruz and Loro Parque are located) consider that if you would like to go there faster then please do not go over the mountains (road TF 28) but go to Santa Cruz and then to Loro Parque. It seems that it is longer road to take (it is if you see the miles/km passed), but believe me you will arrive in Puerto much faster that way . The roads over the mounatain are so narrow and thin ,it is impossible to drive more than 40km/h .

But if you want to see real Tenerife take this road and make lots of breaks to enjoy in the beautiful landscaapes over the north part of the island.

Fun Alternatives: Take the freeway from Los Cristianos to Santa Cruz (TF1) and then go to Loro Parque and Puerto Cruz.

It is a well-decorated place with unique location on the top of volcano. And it has a great view to the Tede but it also has an absolutely dreadful food and the most horrible service I have ever met in Spain. New tourists will come tomorrow, so they do not care about being good. The potato was cold, old and not chewable, rabbit stew was tough and consisted mostly of bones, not meat. Hamburger looked like a peace of yesterday’s boiled sausage, my daughter did not even risked to try it. We had to hunt for some salt ourselves since our waitress left immediately after bringing food and we have not seen her until she brought our bill. Should I mention that this bill was more than 40 euros for two-person meal with no wine?

Fun Alternatives: Just bring some sandwiches with you and do not waist your time and money in the restaurant

Please do not park the car in the areas with yellow colours.
They are booked only for taxi and public transport.
I was a witness when one guy had parked the car just to buy some things of supermarcet.
Out of nowhere a Policeman was there and writing a ticket....
After 3 minutes came some service people and car was taken away under the assistance of the policeman.
I do not know what happened later, but I assume that it costed the driver over 100 EUR....