Las Americas

Las Americas, Tenerife

Los Cristianos and Las Americas – view from Montaña de Guaza. Photo by Arnstein Rønning

Las Americas together with Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje is a city in the south of Tenerife. The different names are part of separate local government regions but are otherwise indistinguishable from each other. The city was built for tourists and is mostly made up of hotels with plenty of beaches and restaurants. English is spoken universally.

Get in

Tenerife South (Reina Sofia) airport is the closest with a taxi fair costing around €16. There are also buses to other resorts. The bus station for Las Americas is at the back of town, a 5-10 minute walk from the beach areas.

Get around

You can walk a few miles along the seafront to see most of the interesting points. As soon as you leave the beach road, the ground slopes upwards in most places.

Las Americas, Tenerife

Las Americas. Photo by jokkedk

See

Little in the resort but lots of travel agents willing to book you on island and other tours, including to other islands, including La Gomera which you can see some distance away.

Beaches

Beaches are what many tourists come here for. Sunloungers are available at a few euro a day (or just buy a parasol and take a beach mat). The beaches are busy during all sunlit hours, although it is perfectly warm enough to swim in the evenings too. Black sand in Las Americas, better yellow sand beaches towards Los Cristianos.
Some end up having sex on the beach in the midnight hours. While the police probably will not bother you, local voyeurs may.

Playa de las Américas, Tenerife

Playa de las Américas. Photo by seeareelem

Do

Boat trips to see whales are common, many guaranteeing whales and often with a swimming stop half way. Prices vary between €20 per person for short 2 hours trips to about €50-€60 per person for 4-6 hours trips with included lunch.

There are trips in a boat with glass bottom which allows to see wildlife.

There is also a leisure submarine trip to 25 meters below sea level (€60 per person)

Some local companies organize scuba diving experience trips where each person is accompanied by professional diver when going underwater who handles all equipment. Cost of 2-3 hour trip with 20 minutes underwater is about €50 per person but be aware that there are many health conditions which may prevent you from enjoying it.

There is a Karting Club nearby which offers free shuttle to and from track.

Expensive golf courses are available nearby.

There are many trips available Los Gigantes, El Teide vulcano, Masca village, Loro Parque Zoo and other places around Tenerife.

There are day ferry trips available to La Gomera island.

Aqua Park

A swimming theme park with slides and flumes. Costs €23.50 for adults but you can also buy tickets in advance at varying prices from your hotel or excursion booths. Lockers cost an extra €4 euro and renting a rubber ring is €11 (or you can queue up for the free ones). An impressive dolphin display is held twice a day at 13:00 and 15:00.

Buy

Plenty of shops offer alcohol and tobacco at prices cheaper than elsewhere in Europe.
Tenerife Pearl is a short car journey away if you want to buy expensive jewellery, but do not believe the publicity calling it an exhibition since there is little to see.
There is a Sunday market in Los Cristianos and one on Thursday and Saturday in Costa Adeje. A fair number of shops shut on Sundays.

Shopping street in Playa de las Américas

Shopping street in Playa de las Américas. Photo by Hombre

Don’t Buy

Lots of Asian shops selling cameras, video cameras, binoculars, etc. They are great salesmen and will make you think you are going to get a bargain from them but you will not. At best you will pay more than you would pay back home and at worse you will buy something totally worthless. Avoid them!
Timeshare. Don’t buy it or you´ll regret it.

Eat

Most of the restaurants offer the usual selection of burgers, chips, pizza etc. There are also Chinese buffets, usually at €6.
Crawfords in Costa Adeje is recommended for well prepared food, at the extra cost.

Drink

There is plenty of nightlife in Los Cristianos.
Cocktail bars on the beach are an especially relaxing way to end a day, although at €9 a drink, quite expensive.

Sleep

Being a city built for tourists there are plenty of hotels. However “Las Americas” can mean you are a mile from town and need to bus or walk some distance to get there. However with centrally placed accommodation, bars and discos can turn their sound systems full on to draw in customers which can make sleeping difficult. Such sounds can carry half a mile or more! Such sound systems SHOULD be turned off at midnight.
Hotel Esmeralda Playa is a typical one which can be booked online. 4 stars with shiny foyer, the rooms themselves are slightly dated. Good balcony views with a large swimming pool and beach only two minutes walk away. Confusingly they take your credit card details on the website but do not charge until arrival, so bring your credit card with you too.

Get out

The town of Adeje itself is further inland and has few tourists, there are some historic buildings to see.
Bus trips are available to other sites on the island such as El Teide and the well publicised Loro Parque.

Sunset in Playa De Las Americas

Sunset in Playa De Las Americas. Photo by Kirkjimmy