Tenerife known as the Island of Sports
Ever wondered where could be the best places to practice as many sports as possible? Tenerife of course! Due to Tenerife's great year-round climate and versatile nature, one can find loads of sports activities on this island. I have had an excellent opportunity to try out a variety of activities on the island from up in the sky down to underwater! If you are planning to discover Tenerife for a wild sports adventure, be sure to have good life insurance and go crazy, because there is a lot to see and experience on this magnificent island!
On Air
I started my sports activity journey up in the Canarian skies by jumping off a cliff in Adeje and flying above the south coast area making our way to the beautiful Playa del Duque. Paragliding is a fun way to see the area from a bird's perspective and the view is just magnificent with mountains, roads, cityscape, and ocean on the horizon. This certainly is not an activity for the faint of heart and is regarded as more dangerous than tandem. However, I can recommend a company called Airsports Tenerife that takes really good care of their clients, have decades of experience in flying, and observe weather conditions tightly to keep their flights safe. Up in the sky all you have to do is just relax, smile, enjoy the flight, and pose for the camera. A thrilling experience that leaves the adrenalin pumping for more. Paragliding is not the only sport in the air on this island, there is still tandem, powered paragliding and parasailing opportunities which in most countries would be only seasonally available.
In Water
What about diving into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean? Besides poolside chilling one can go extreme and try out various cool sports exploring the ocean. If you love the waters then Tenerife offers its visitors activities like scuba diving, surfing, kitesurfing, snorkeling, and kayaking.
For scuba diving fans and especially beginners I can recommend Pama Diving, a small diving business in a lovely local fisher town in Playa San Juan. They take good care of their clients and the environment. Their focus is to make sure the groups stay optimal and small for a better experience, but also make underwater expeditions in good weather conditions. My experience with them was like a visit to an underwater gallery, where I can just sit back, relax and experience the magical journey. If scuba diving is scary, but you wish to see the underwater world of the emerald green waters, then you can go lighter with snorkeling from pretty much any beachside. The best snorkeling places can be found near natural pools and cliffsides, where underwater flora and fauna are much richer with corals, colorful fishes, and other sea life.
Another great sport to explore is kayaking which requires more stamina, focus, and bravery. The Atlantic waves are no small waves to mess around with, but kayaking is still safe as long as one goes through an agency that provides all the important safety equipment and precautions. We went kayaking and snorkeling near coast of Alcala on a day with Kalima, but the experience was just thrilling. You can check out our experience here. For more smoother sailing one can also try paddle boards and paddling by the beach side where there are no waves.
What about riding the waves? Tenerife offers great waves for surfers and surfing fans. With the best waves around the south side of the island in Las Americas. Calle Mexico street is a little surfers' hub spot with surfing schools, shops, and bars, where you can mingle with other surfers and get into the surfing vibe. We had a great experience with instructor Vicky at Kontraola surf school. As a first-time surfer, I had the pleasure to catch and ride several waves on the first outing, as their amazing instructor Vicky gave us the gear, best surfing coaching and made sure there will be no lack of fun on the waves. Tenerife in general has even more advanced surfer beaches with great waves, but the largest ones are on the north side of the island. However, the currents and waves in the north of the island are way stronger, and if you decide to head north take great precautions to not be swiped out onto the ocean and never go alone. For those who wish to take their surfing to the next level, can try out kite surfing. El Medano is a kite surfers paradise with strong winds and waves to ride almost throughout the year. Tenerife as an island is truly a surfer's paradise and many surfers visit the island to catch the endless waves for days!
Want to turn up the speed up a notch and train your coordination and balance? You can find Jet skiing on the ocean as a very popular sport on the southside. There are several businesses offering jet skiing and combinations of other water activities to do with your friends under the sun. This thrill is still something for me to still experience.
On Ground
The most common activities on foot would be seaside walks in the sunset, but to surprise all hiking gurus and nature lovers there is way much more to the island than the beautiful beach side chilling! Tenerife offers its visitors over 740 hiking routes and trails around the island with very versatile landscape sceneries. On the north side, one could explore the green lush nature and forest like Anaga, or in the south, the Jurassic-style burned, cactus-filled primal landscape. There is a great hiking app called All Trails to help you find the most suitable hiking trail for your taste with recommendations and information from other hikes who have completed the trails. If you want to do good while getting to Tenerife and exploring the island with All Trails you can also help plant trees with me by signing up from here!
If you wish to experience more movement by foot and bring in the game spirit, then there is a variety of different ball sports available to play on the island such as volleyball, football, tennis, paddle, basketball, and golf just to name a few. Most holiday apartments and hotels have a private tennis court, besides a swimming pool. Tenerife Top Training center offers facilities more on a professional level for professional players and sportsmen. In the north you can find great volleyball courts on Las Teresita's beach and in the South around Los Cristianos, Las Vistas, and Playa Fañabe, just to recommend a few. For Nomads to explore beach volleyball there is a WhatsApp group in Los Cristianos to play almost daily volleyball with young and wild-minded people. For more sophisticated sports one can find amazing golf courts on the south side of the island at Abama Resorts and Golf Costa Adeje, just to name a few.
Loving a life of adrenalin? If you are more in the mood to get in a race and head for a rush of adrenalin, then Tenerife offers great karting tracks. My personal race-down experience was at Las Americas Karting, which resides on the south side of the island with tightly curved tracks. Want to see the race? Click here.
But if carting is not your thing, then you have the best nature and road opportunities for an adrenalin rush on two wheels, as cycling enthusiasts do take an advantage of these local curvy roads in various altitudes.
As you can see Tenerife is full of various sports activities for any day and any time thanks to its warm climate. There is much to see and enjoy for any sports enthusiast! This is one good reason to pack your sports gear and head to the beautiful Spanish island of Tenerife. Can you guess now how many sports you can do in one season in Tenerife? Feel free to comment down below!
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