"Tenerife, An island of lava, blossom and... " a Isla de Tenerife Travel Page by easyoar

Tenerife is part of the Canary Islands, which are Spanish territory, but are down alongside Africa. They are about 2 hours by plane from Madrid, and are one hour behind (they are in the same time zone as Britain - making it a good destination for British people at New Year wanting a bit of winter sun).

Being much further south than Spain (the weather is almost tropical), they don't tend to have much in the way of seasons, and if you visit in December, there is every chance that you will have nice bright sunny days where you can lie on the beach every day should you wish to. The down side of this of course is that you can gt caught up in a busy tourist merry go round, which won't be to everyones taste. In this case I would recommend renting a car and doing your own thing. It isn't to difficult to escape the melee.

One thing to note is that the native sand in Tenerife is black as it is made from volcanic rock. Some resorts however have imported sand from the Sahara Desert, making their beaches yellow.

Another reason to go to Tenerife is the huge amount of wildlife, both in captivity and in the wild. Please see my Tenerife General Tips for these. For me Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz was the highlight of the animal part of the island, and is well worth a visit, especially for people with young children. This park has amongst other things, Dolphins, Sealions, Parrots, Chimpazees, Gorillas, Tigers, Jaguars, Crocodiles and Penguins. All of them live in well designed habitats in a very beautiful park.