Tenerife - The Mesmerizing Magical Isle

Tenerife is the largest of the seven Canary Islands, has an area of 2.035 square kilometres and 865.000 inhabitants. Its highest point Teide is also responsible for the name of the island widely used today, named by the Benehaorits, the natives of La Palma, derived from the words „tene“ (mountain) and „ife“ (white). Later, after colonisation, the Spanish resulted when adding the letter „r“ uniting both words to obtain the name Tenerife as a result.

The island is situated slightly to the north of the Tropic of Cancer, occupying a central position between the other Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, La Gomera and La Palma. It is located a little more than 300 km (186 mi) from the African continent, and approximately 1,000 km (621 mi) from the Iberian Peninsula. Tenerife is the largest island of the Canary Islands archipelago, with a surface area of 2.035 km² (785 sq mi) and the longest coastline amounting to 342 km (213 mi). Teide‘s peak, at 3,718 meters above sea level and more than 7,000 metres above the ocean floor, is the highest point of the island, Spanish territory and in the Atlantic Ocean. The volcano is the third largest on the planet, and its central location, substantial size, looming silhouette in the distance and its snowy landscape give it a unique personality.

The uneven and steep orography of the island and its variety of climates has resulted in a diversity of landscapes and geographical and geological formations, from the Parque Nacional del Teide with its extensive pine forests, juxtaposed against the volcanic landscape at the summit of Teide and Malpaís de Güímar, to the Acantilados de Los Gigantes (Cliffs of the Giants) with its vertical precipices.

Semi desert areas exist in the south with plants resistant to the dryness and Tenerife counts many natural beaches such as the one at El Médano. Other areas range from those protected and enclosed in mountains such as Montaña Roja and Montaña Pelada, the valleys and forests with a tropical and subtropical vegetation and climate, to those with deep gorges and precipices such as at Anaga and Teno.

Some coasts of Tenerife are typically rugged and steep, particularly on the north of the island than in the south. However, Tenerife has 67,14 kilometres of beaches. On the northern coast are frequent pebble beaches with black sand, while on the south and south-west coast of the island, the beaches are typically much finer and clearer with lighter tones and quality of sand.

Climate

The island, being on a latitude of the Sahara Desert, enjoys a warm, all year round climate with an average of 20° - 22°C in the winter and 26° - 28°C in the summer and sunshine all year round. On Tenerife, there are no periods annually even during the winter months of cold, but neither are there periods during the summer of unbearable heat as there are in some of the Greek islands of the Mediterranean. The moderate climate of Tenerife is controlled largely by the trade winds, whose humidity, principally, is condensed over the north and north east of the island. The cold sea currents of the Canary Islands also have a cooling effect on the coasts and its beaches.

Climate Table