A little planning can make a Tenerife holiday considerably easier and more enjoyable
There is no particular age at which Tenerife suddenly stops being an easy place to visit. Plenty of people continue travelling well into their 70s, 80s and beyond.
What can change is the importance of the details.
A hotel at the top of a steep hill, a long airport transfer or a holiday packed with activities may barely register when you’re younger. Later in life, those same things can make the difference between a wonderfully relaxing break and one that feels unnecessarily tiring.
So if you’re planning a Tenerife holiday after 70 – either for yourself or with an older parent or relative – here are some of the things genuinely worth thinking about.
🌴 Start with the right part of Tenerife
Tenerife is often sold as one destination, but different parts of the island can offer quite different holiday experiences.
The south is generally the obvious choice for visitors whose priorities include winter sunshine, beaches and established holiday resorts. Los Cristianos, Playa de las Américas and Costa Adeje all have large numbers of hotels, restaurants and services within relatively compact areas.
Los Cristianos in particular can work very well for older visitors because much of the central resort is relatively easy to get around on foot. However, even within the same resort there can be significant differences in gradient.
Our guide to where to stay in Los Cristianos for older travellers looks at why the exact location of your accommodation can matter just as much as the resort name.
Puerto de la Cruz in the north offers a greener, more traditional atmosphere, while smaller resorts can be wonderfully peaceful if you don’t need lots of facilities within walking distance.
The important thing is not to assume that the resort your family has always visited is automatically the best fit now.
🚶 Look carefully at hills and walking distances
A hotel description saying that the beach is “only 500 metres away” doesn’t tell you very much about the actual walk.
Is it flat?
Are there steps?
Is the return journey uphill?
Are there benches along the way?
Will you realistically want to make that journey twice a day in warm weather?
This is particularly important in parts of Costa Adeje and around the edges of Los Cristianos, where accommodation can climb surprisingly quickly away from the coast.
Google Maps and Street View are extremely useful when choosing accommodation. Rather than simply checking the distance between the hotel and promenade, virtually “walk” the route and look at the terrain.
If walking has become more difficult, our guide to Tenerife for people with reduced mobility covers some of the practical issues in more detail.
🏨 Choose the hotel for the holiday you have now
Hotel priorities can change over time too.
A huge resort complex with multiple pools may sound impressive, but it can also mean long walks between the bedroom, restaurant, reception and pool area.
Things worth checking include:
🛗 whether all important areas are served by lifts
🚿 whether walk-in showers are available
🛏️ whether the room is reasonably close to the lift or main facilities
🍽️ how far the restaurant is from the accommodation
🚕 whether taxis can stop close to reception
🌴 whether there are shaded areas around the pool
🪑 whether there is somewhere comfortable to sit while waiting for transport
None of these necessarily sounds important when browsing attractive hotel photographs. Collectively, however, they can have a surprisingly large effect on how easy the holiday feels.
☀️ Don’t underestimate the Tenerife sun
Tenerife’s climate is one of its biggest attractions, particularly during the European winter.
But pleasant temperatures can sometimes disguise how strong the sun actually is.
It is sensible to build shade, rest and regular drinks into the day rather than waiting until someone feels uncomfortable. This becomes particularly relevant on excursions, long promenade walks and days spent around the pool.
The weather can also vary considerably around the island and with altitude. A warm morning beside the sea doesn’t necessarily tell you what conditions will be like higher up the island later in the day.
✈️ Think about the airport before you arrive
Airports involve more walking than many people realise.
Someone who is perfectly comfortable strolling around a resort may still find a long walk through an airport difficult, particularly after several hours on a flight.
Passengers with reduced mobility can request assistance at Spanish airports. Aena provides information about its official assistance service and how it works.
You can read the current guidance directly on the Aena passenger assistance website.
It is worth arranging any assistance you need in advance rather than assuming it can simply be organised after arrival.
If the airport itself is one of the more stressful parts of travelling, Tenerife Carers can also provide airport help in Tenerife.
🚕 Decide how you’re actually going to get around
Hiring a car isn’t compulsory for a good Tenerife holiday.
In the main southern resorts, many visitors can comfortably combine walking with taxis and occasional organised excursions.
That can actually be easier than hiring a car if driving somewhere unfamiliar has started to feel more stressful than enjoyable.
On the other hand, a hire car can be extremely useful if you want to explore quieter parts of the island at your own pace.
The right answer depends on the holiday you want rather than your age.
🧳 Give yourself permission to have slower days
One of the easiest ways to make a holiday unnecessarily tiring is trying to squeeze too much into it.
Tenerife doesn’t need to be “completed”.
You don’t have to visit Teide, take a boat trip, tour the north, visit every market and eat in a different town every evening.
A morning coffee beside the sea, a leisurely lunch, a promenade walk and an afternoon around the pool can be an excellent day.
If you’re travelling with older parents, it can also be worth remembering that everybody doesn’t have to do everything together. We looked at this in more detail in our guide to planning a Tenerife holiday with older parents.
Sometimes the best family holiday is one where everybody has enough independence to enjoy it in their own way.
💊 Think about medication before leaving home
If you take regular medication, make sure you have enough for the trip and understand any requirements relating to travelling with it.
Keep essential medication accessible during the journey rather than placing everything in checked luggage.
Rules can vary depending on the medicine and where you’re travelling from, so it is sensible to check the official guidance relevant to your circumstances before departure.
For travellers coming from the UK, the UK Government guidance on travelling with controlled medicines is a useful starting point where applicable.
If you need practical support communicating with local services once you’re here, our translation services in Tenerife may also be useful.
🛡️ Don’t treat travel insurance as an afterthought
Travel insurance becomes particularly important as we get older, but the cheapest policy is not necessarily the most appropriate one.
Read the policy carefully and make sure you understand what is and isn’t covered, particularly in relation to existing health conditions and any activities you plan to do.
The important thing isn’t simply having an insurance certificate. It’s having appropriate cover for your circumstances.
👨👩👧 You don’t necessarily need a full-time carer
Sometimes people assume the choice is between managing completely independently and travelling with full-time care.
There is a large middle ground.
You might only want somebody to help with the airport, accompany you to an appointment, prepare a meal, provide some companionship or help with a particular outing.
That sort of occasional support can make it possible to retain independence while removing the parts of the holiday that have become difficult.
You can see the different types of care and practical support available in Tenerife if you’d like to know what help can be arranged locally.
❤️ Age doesn’t have to become the theme of the holiday
Perhaps the most important point is that a holiday after 70 doesn’t need to become an exercise in managing age.
The aim of all this planning is precisely the opposite.
Choose accommodation that makes everyday life easy. Arrange assistance for the parts of the journey that are difficult. Leave enough space in the itinerary to rest when you want to.
Then get on with having a holiday.
Tenerife can still mean sunshine, long lunches, sea views, swimming, family time, exploring the island or simply sitting outside with a coffee in January and wondering why everyone back home looks so cold.
A little sensible planning in advance can make all of that considerably easier.