How to Enjoy Tenerife If You Can’t Walk Far
Not being able to walk long distances does not mean you have to spend a Tenerife holiday sitting beside the hotel pool.
In fact, Tenerife can work surprisingly well for people who can walk a little but find longer distances, hills or full days on their feet difficult.
The trick is not to plan the same holiday and simply walk less. It is to plan the holiday differently.
Choose the right base, use taxis for the boring bits, pick places where the scenery comes to you and give yourself permission to sit down whenever you fancy it.
Start by choosing the right part of Tenerife
When walking is limited, the location of your hotel or apartment can make more difference than almost anything else.
A property described as being “only 800 metres from the beach” might sound perfect. But 800 metres downhill in the morning also means 800 metres uphill later.
Tenerife is a volcanic island and some resort areas become surprisingly steep once you move away from the coast.
For many less mobile visitors, the central parts of Los Cristianos and Playa de las Américas can be particularly practical. Parts of Costa Adeje also work very well, but accommodation location matters because the resort extends uphill.
Our guide to the best areas of Tenerife for mobility looks at the differences in more detail.
Before booking accommodation, look beyond the hotel’s own accessibility information and check the immediate surroundings too.
- 📍 How far is the nearest café or restaurant?
- 🏖 Can you reach the seafront without a steep hill?
- 🚕 Is it easy for a taxi to collect you?
- 🛒 Is there a shop nearby for everyday essentials?
- 🛗 Will you need to negotiate steps or slopes simply to leave the property?
Getting the location right can turn a potentially tiring holiday into a very easy one.
Use taxis before you are tired, not afterwards
One of the easiest mistakes is deciding that somewhere looks close enough to walk.
It probably is — until you have already spent an hour wandering around, the temperature has risen and you still have to get back.
There is no prize for walking every possible journey on holiday.
A short taxi ride can remove the least enjoyable part of a day while leaving your energy for the things you actually came to Tenerife to enjoy.
You might, for example, take a taxi to the seafront, enjoy a gentle wander between cafés and shops, have lunch overlooking the ocean and take another taxi home.
That is still a day out.
If you’re wondering whether you need to hire a car, our guide to getting around Tenerife without a car explains some of the alternatives.
Pick beaches that make things easier
A beach day does not have to involve a long walk across sand.
Several of Tenerife’s established resort beaches have adapted access for people with disabilities or reduced mobility.
Official Tenerife tourism information currently lists disabled access at beaches including Las Vistas in Arona, Torviscas and El Duque in Costa Adeje and Playa San Juan in Guía de Isora.
Las Vistas Beach, between Los Cristianos and Playa de las Américas, is particularly useful because it sits beside a broad seafront avenue with cafés, restaurants and other facilities close by.
Of course, “accessible” does not automatically mean suitable for every individual. Facilities and assistance can also change, so if you need a particular service it is sensible to check before making a special journey.
But even if going onto the beach itself is difficult, Tenerife’s seafronts make it perfectly possible to enjoy the coast from a promenade café, bench or restaurant terrace.
You can see Teide without going hiking
One of the joys of Tenerife is that some of its most spectacular scenery does not require a long walk.
A drive through Teide National Park is an experience in itself. The landscape changes dramatically as you climb away from the coast, eventually opening into the extraordinary volcanic scenery of Las Cañadas.
You can stop at viewpoints, enjoy the scenery and continue when you are ready.
There are even accessible sections within the national park. Turismo de Tenerife currently describes the accessible section at Roques de García as suitable for wheelchair users. It runs for just over 200 metres from the Mirador de la Ruleta area and provides views of Roque Cinchado, the Roques de García, Teide and the surrounding caldera.
That does not mean everybody needs to walk it. The point is that visiting Teide does not have to mean setting off on a lengthy mountain trail.
You can have a memorable day simply travelling through one of Tenerife’s most remarkable landscapes.
Choose days out where sitting down is part of the day
If standing and walking are tiring, look for outings where rest stops are naturally built into the experience.
That might mean:
- ☕ exploring a promenade one café at a time
- 🌊 sitting beside the sea in Playa San Juan
- 🚗 taking a scenic drive through Teide National Park
- 🍽 visiting another resort for a leisurely lunch
- ⛵ choosing a suitable boat excursion where most of the trip is spent seated
- 🌅 finding a comfortable spot for sunset rather than trying to cover miles of coastline
Our guide to accessible days out in Tenerife for elderly visitors has more ideas for gentler outings.
Try doing one main thing each day
Holiday itineraries have a habit of becoming ridiculous.
Breakfast. Market. Beach. Lunch. Boat trip. Shopping. Dinner. Evening entertainment.
That may be fine if everyone enjoys a packed schedule. If walking is difficult or energy is limited, it can turn a holiday into an endurance test.
Instead, choose one main thing.
If today is the Teide day, let Teide be the day. If you are going out for a nice lunch beside the sea, there is no rule saying you must squeeze another attraction in before dinner.
This approach also leaves room for spontaneous stops. If you find a lovely café overlooking the ocean and want to stay there for an hour, you can.
That sounds suspiciously like a holiday to us.
Consider mobility equipment as a holiday tool
Some people who would never normally use a wheelchair, rollator or mobility scooter at home find that temporary equipment gives them much more freedom on holiday.
It does not have to represent a permanent change in independence.
It can simply be a practical way to make longer distances manageable.
Someone might comfortably walk around a restaurant, hotel or small shopping area but struggle with a long promenade. Using mobility equipment for that longer outing can preserve energy and make more of Tenerife accessible.
Our guide to mobility equipment hire in Tenerife explains the types of equipment visitors commonly look for.
A little support can open up more of the island
Limited mobility does not necessarily mean needing care throughout the holiday.
Sometimes the useful bit is simply having another person there for a particular outing.
That might mean companionship while getting out and about, some practical assistance on a more demanding day or giving a family member the chance to relax rather than constantly worrying about distances and logistics.
Tenerife Carers provides companionship services in Tenerife as well as wider practical support for visitors and residents.
Support can be arranged around individual circumstances rather than assuming somebody needs help every day.
Resting is not wasting your holiday
This may be the most important point of all.
You have not wasted an afternoon because you spent it sitting on a terrace looking at the Atlantic.
You have not missed Tenerife because you didn’t walk five kilometres along the promenade.
And you do not have to visit every famous attraction simply because you have flown all the way here.
A coffee in the sunshine, lunch beside the sea, a drive through volcanic scenery and an evening watching the sunset can make a very good Tenerife day indeed.
If walking has become more difficult, the aim is not to prove how much you can still manage.
It is to make the holiday comfortable enough that you actually enjoy it.
If you or someone travelling with you would benefit from occasional practical assistance while in Tenerife, you can request care and support from Tenerife Carers and tell us what would make the trip easier.