Playa de Las Teresitas — Attraction in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Playa las Teristas, is a once in a lifetime experience. My partner and I asked our TUI holiday rep about what is a nice beach to go to. She recommended Playa las Teristas. 45 minutes she said from our hotel in Puerto de la Cruz. Cearly she does the journey in a lamborghini because it actually took 1hour and 30 minutes. She showed us the photos and she was right, it looked amazing, sand from the Sahara desert stretching as far as the eye could see, all taken from a top a mountain view. Now I see why it was taken from such a distance. The journey took us through several industrial estates lined with tropical trees perfectly framinf the rusty, abandonded, disgusting vats and buildings which stunk of sulphur and fecal matter. This should have been our first omen of the horror to ensue. Upon arriving at the beach the bus dropped us off right outside the entrance, lovingly placed next to a graveyard which was literally on the beach. Somehow I don't think the rotting of corpses was included in the TUI advert. Despite the stank of death and decay, We hobbled on past the shipping containers (which we read about before but we didn't think they would be this intrusive). We went along further down the beach and hired 2 sunbeds for 7 euros. Reasonably priced and sat for a couple of minutes admiring the close up view of shipping vessels and fishing boats bobbing up and down in the water that people were swimming in. The chance to be a spectator on the goings on of international shipping was a real bonus as this, funnily enough, was also not mentioned. The amount of pollution contained in that water must be enough to sizzle the skin right off your bones. At least if you drown or die from over exposure to radiation at least there is a cemetery near by.I am pretty sure I saw a fish with legs coming out of the water. I tried to convince myself that if I just relax and read my book it might be ok. This is when the local council decided they'd get out the power drills and chainsaws to cut down trees on the beach. The last bit of pleasantry falling with each swift swing of the blade. There seems to be a running theme of death now that I think about it. So after a long journey and what I would consider to be a traumatic start to "the best beach in tenerife" we spent 5 minuets there and left. Back to our hotel pool with the intention of never listening to a rep again. I am however curious on the worst beach...

If you're into snorkeling, you're better off some other places as there is too much sand there. If you're into sunbathing, this is most definitely the place! FREE PARKING! DO NOT PAY THE THUGS WHO TRY TO ASK FOR MONEY TO PARK! There is a gang of petty thugs that pretend to be parking attendants and try to hustle unsuspecting visitors for 2-3 euros a day for parking. I told the geezer that tried to extort the money from me that I wasn't going to pay and he walked away but it can be a little intimidating, and I saw some visitors pay. As I spoke to a cafe waiter on the beach about it, he excused the behaviour saying they are "guys from the hood, kinda watching out for your car, and you should probably give them like one euro or they will scratch your car". Right, so let's encourage that bullying why don't we. Apparently the waiter said the police knows but do nothing about it. It figures. That said, we took the car and drove further towards the north end, where there is a real car park (not on a dirt field) and none of these thugs were to be seen there. Do not be fooled, you do not have to pay and please do not encourage this racketeering and crime activity. Try to park further up or go to a safer beach. What is next otherwise? They will charge you to use the...

Sahara sand beach but under construction and with a view onto large industrial ships

Teresita is a different type of beach, it’s billed as one of the nicest on the island 🏝️ in part because it’s white beach sand was shlemped over from the Sahara’s and the whole place is man made

What is lovely is that it’s meant to be for the locals first and foremost, which is why they forbade building large hotels behind the beach

The cabins are strategically located to change or buy something to eat or drink

Yet the overall vibes is still a little offputting, the left hand side of the beach was under construction. They seemed to be building a new pier and there were construction trucks randomly parked on the beach end

Likewise driving into the beach it’s hard to overlooked the massive tourist and industrial freights as well as the various factories just outside the beach — which raises some questions about the quality of the water

Lastly for entire stay there was a massive LNG freighting ship docked a couple of miles out (see pics) which is just not quite the site you want to see when enjoying the beach

Somewhere between worrying that you’ll grow a third arm or that you’re horizon might suddenly go boom makes for a slightly...