Welcome to Tenerife
Surfing in Tenerife
Tenerife's surf trip is in the south-west, at Playa de las Américas, and the reason is the island itself. The trade wind blows from the north-east most of the year; Tenerife puts a 3,700-metre volcano between that wind and this coast, so what arrives here comes off the land.
- 2spots
- 8camps
The numbers show it. La Izquierda, a left over reef in the middle of town, has its best month in January with eighteen clean days out of thirty, eight blown out and four too small. Famara, on the windward side of Lanzarote, loses nineteen days out of thirty to the same wind in its best month. Same archipelago, same swell, opposite side of the island.
Playa de las Américas itself is the beach and reef beside it, a kilometre away. It works less often, eleven clean days in January, and it is the first place to look when La Izquierda is too crowded, which is often.
Neither break is a beginner wave. Both sit on rock, both have locals who know every take-off, and the sand at Las Américas has reef around it. Schools work there on the smallest days, which is where a first lesson belongs, but Tenerife is an island for surfers who already stand up, not for the first week.
Welcome home.
Why Tenerife?
A reliable winter on the sheltered side, if you already surf
Next to Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, Tenerife has the best odds and the least room for a beginner. The lee coast keeps the mornings clean when the windward islands are blown out, and the water stays at 18°C in February. In exchange, the waves are on reef and in a resort town with a busy line-up and the island's loudest nights. Come with a season or two of surfing, take the early session before the crowd arrives, and leave the afternoons to the town.
Where is Tenerife?
Getting there
Las Américas is twenty minutes from Tenerife South airport, which takes most of the direct flights from Europe. La Izquierda and Playa de las Américas are a kilometre apart along the seafront, so the whole surf trip happens on foot.
Best surf spots in Tenerife
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Other surf zones nearby
Lanzarote
A learners' beach three kilometres long under a cliff, and the trade wind that decides the hour you surf it.
Gran Canaria
A city beach with a reef across its middle, the schools at one end and a heavy right at the other.
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