Tenerife self catering advice

[suddenlysix]

So I finally managed to book something after weeks of searching holiday websites and waiting for passports. I had a thread on here about whether I could get anything for my family of 8 for around £300pp. I was looking at AI at first but decided that we'd need to spend far more than that to get decent food that we wouldn't feel stuck with. Some people seemed sceptical that I'd even find self catering for that but after many, many hours of painful internet searching I found a hotel on a package that would have cost over £400pp which I then managed to book directly, buy separate flights and transfers plus travel insurance and airport parking for £295pp! Feeling really pleased that my internet searching mania has paid off. But now I'm hoping people can give me some advice about what we need to know to make the holiday special or just run smoothly. I've seen that you can do dolphin watching boat trips but are there other things we shouldn't miss? Or things I should take with us that will make life easy for us. Are there insect problems for example? Any advice will be much appreciated!

Watching with interest. My dd is desperate to go Tenerife.
Where are you staying?

Santa Barbara golf and ocean club. We only managed to narrow our search down to Tenerife in the last day of proper searching but I'm glad we did. Seems like a really nice place for families. We don't want to be near any major drinking strips or anything but still somewhere busy enough in the day to keep the kids happy. Seeing as they're expecting to go to a caravan in Cornwall I think they'll be very happy! We're telling them tomorrow when I've got some euros to put in a little envelope with the passports they didn't know we'd applied for!

no insect problems beyond a few mossies so take plug ins and DEET. Also tap water on Tenerife isn't always drinkable as it comes from desalinators - fine for teeth brushing and cooking but you may need to drink bottled.

amazing volcano in the middle which should be your no 1 must see. As you are in Golf Del Sur a hire car would be good.

looks like there is still a bit of a timeshare tout nuisance issue, if you are approached by someone saying 'do you speak English' say 'no' and walk on. Free or very cheap tours will mean hours stuck in a timeshare presentation, be warned.

I'd heard about the timeshare thing. Someone had reviewed the hotel and said they try to get you to talk to them for a €100 dining voucher. Apparently they're not too pushy in the hotel but I'll be aware of it outside the resort as well then.

I think you are pretty close (taxi ride) from Los Abrigos which is definitely worth a visit. Very small fishing village, some lovely restaurants and a little harbour where you will see the locals swimming. I think there might also be a market but not sure when.

Depending on the age of your DC the Go Kart Club is fairly close and is a good morning's entertainment.

Thank you. This is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for. People sharing their inside knowledge of the area which will save us hunting around ourselves!

How old are your DC Suddenly?

Timeshare touts are very convincing. They get you to pick a free lottery ticket and of course your ticket is the winner. Then its in their car back to somewhere to pick your winnings or something. I nearly fell for it. Dh's mate dragged us out the car.

Quite a few cockroaches.

Siam park water park is great. We enjoyed loro parque but knowing what I know now about the poor orcas I wouldn't visit it.

The volcano is great.

Hi,

My children are - wait for it - 12, 11, 11, 9, 9 and 2. I didn't have to give birth to them all though! My 3 step children came to live with us last year and they've never been abroad. Nor has my 2 year old as it's taken us this long to save up holiday.

I'm feeling concerned about this time share business now. I thought that was a thing of the past. I suppose we'll just have to be aware what's going on and tell them no in no uncertain terms. My husband is good at that! I suppose you get your problems everywhere. When my husband and I went to the Dominican a few years ago we had children begging outside the hotel and trying to clean my husbands trainers for a dollar