February trip to Tenerife for "el Carnaval"!

mambo

Myself and the missus (both in our 30s) are thinking of heading somewhere warm in February for some sun, relaxation, good food and maybe a bit of culture. We'd prefer to avoid tacky, noisy resorts, with lots of Irish/Brits/etc busy getting drunk and throwing up.

#1 option right now is to head to the Canaries during the week of 21-28 Feb, which is Carnival week (25th is Ash Wednesday). Tenerife appears best for the carnival, plus probably has the most to do overall. I know it has a tacky reputation (as seen on Tenerife Uncovered!), but I figure it's big enough to avoid the downmarket areas if we're careful.

We could book flights to Tenerife now for €100 return, and then sort out accommodation and car hire later. Or just book a package right now?

Any suggestions / ideas?

df1985

i worked for three summers in tenerife and its nowhere near as tacky as people believe it to be.there are two main areas where, yes it is full of bars and clubs and people hammered but outside of these areas it is very upmarket if you know where you are going.the local council has spent millions on upgrading the resorts and a new law has been passed which bans any hotels being built which are not 5 star.las americas is the biggest resort but this takes in a number of areas.its a city in many ways that stretches along the coast.

del duque is very upmarket with some great hotels ,fanabe is the area next to here and is very nice also.
las americas itself is where tenerife uncovered was filmed-avoid veronicas strip and the starco centre and you'll be fine.
further down is an area known as the golden mile.full of amazing hotels,designer stores, great restaurants etc.
from here las americas runs into los cristianos,which is half spanish fishing port/half tourist resort.attracts an older crowd and families.huge spanish population, has huge celebrations for all the religious festivals centred around the church square.

tenerife has a very big british expat population and you'll not be able to ignore it completely, particularly in las americas.los cristianos has retained more of a spanish feel but its still a very busy town and big tourist resort in itself.to get a real feel for the island id recommend renting a car.

Síle28

Going there myself next week for carnaval, well I'm going to stay on for 6 months or so but live in Santa Cruz the capital so as to avoid the 'bad' areas, again I agree with the above post, not half as tacky as some people imagine if you know where to go, been there twice already, may be slightly biased as my boyfriend is from Tenerife but what da heck!

rossie1977

the tacky area you speak of and shown on tenerife uncovered is veronicas strip and starco in playa de las americas, they are across the road from one another and it is very easy to avoid both areas (they only really open at night)

outside of that tenerife is a wonderful place, scenery and landscape is amazing from europes tallest sea cliffs (los gigantos), banana plantations, the world second highest volcano and the surrounding majestic national park of tiede to the enchanting Masca Valley.

you take a trip to the bottom of the ocean in a submarine in the morning and then go whale and dolphin watching off the coast in the afternoon.

fantastic place, can't wait to go back

Síle28

Well said to the above poster! It's probably similar in a lot of countries/places with tourist resorts, it's up to you to avoid the tacky tourist traps that rip you off into the bargain (excuse the pun!) and see the real beautiful and relatively unspoiled Tenerife (in this case). SO much more to offer than a few tacky pubs where British/Irish people go just to turn lobster red and get piss*d and even go as far as to watch Coronation Street or whatever in the English/Irish bars while on holidays in another country FGS! Might as well stay at home...