low key non touristy tenerife ideas? Is this possible?

[elliott]

I'm planning a holiday to the canaries next feb and looking for accommodation ideas - preferably in a quiet location close to a sandy beach, walking possibilities and also close to restaurants/shops. not tacky or touristy, ideally a nice quiet village with a coastal location. Self catering fine as long as we are close to eating out possibilities. We have 2 boys 6 and 4 who mainly just like to be outdoors exploring!
Thanks for any ideas!

We spent a week each in the north and in the south. In the south we stayed near a coastal beach resort called El Medano. It's not a beautiful town, but has a good beach, restaurants and is known for windsurfing etc. We stayed inland from El Medano in a lovely town called Granadilla de Abona. If you want rural self catering , b and bs etc. use toprural.com.

The north is classier, but doesn't tend to have beaches. We stayed in a little place called Garachico in a 'boutique' hotel called La Quinta Roja here
There are other lovely boutique style hotels there too.
Puerto de la Cruz is a stylish holiday resort in the north with many hotels and lovely coast, but again no beaches that I know of.

thanks for this. seems like its tacky and beach or stylish and no beach!

Just seen this thread as I'm looking for things on Lanzarote/Tenerife myself. I went to El Medano 7 ish years ago with DH (wasn't DH then!) as he's a mad windsurfer. We thought it was lovely, small town with a quiet beach and not too many English! It's very close to the airport too and not too far from Las Americas (20km). Actually I'm trying to find a nice villa there for a half term trip in Oct with our DCs (3 and 1).