Tenerife Canary Islands

[dutchess43]

We will be in this port from 8a.m.-5p.m. in April I am looking for suggestions for sightseeing places to visit. We are thinking abour hiring a guide for this island.

thanks

[goofysmom99]

Here's an interesting link from a member of our Nov Equinox TA rollcall. Hope it's useful for you. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=14095450#post14095450

[dutchess43]

Wow thanks what a write up, yes it was very helpful.

[villauk]

Here's an interesting link from a member of our Nov Equinox TA rollcall. Hope it's useful for you. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=14095450#post14095450

Thanks for link, very useful but can I ask if anyone has visited Loro Parque in Tenerife? We are also visiting in April and thought it looked good for the kids? Does anyone know if it's easy to get to from the port in Santa Cruz, local transport, taxis etc. Would appreciate any info.:)

[marylizcat]

We visited Loro Parque recently when our ship docked at Santa Cruz. The ship offered a half-day excursion to Loro Parque or a half-day 'shopping' trip to Puerto de la Cruz. We wanted to do both and have a whole day out, so we did our own thing. There were four of us. We got a taxi to Puerto de la Cruz (50 euros) and walked around a bit, on the prom and round the shops and had coffee at a seafront cafe. Then we went to the (very obvious) place on the seafront, where our taxi had in fact dropped us, where you can get a free dotto train to Loro Parque. I think the admission was about 30 euros each for adults. We really liked it. It all seems pretty new and nicely done. It is very similar to Seaworld in Florida, with similar killer whale and dolphin shows. They even got the creatures from there, so there seems to be a tie-up. There is a good walk-through shark tunnel in the Aquarium and a splendid penguin exhibit. Anyway, finally we got the little train back to Puerto and a taxi back to the ship for 40 euros. There was a lot of traffic on the return in rush-hour and the jpurney was slow in Santa Cruz, so you shouldn't cut it too fine if your ship is sailing early evening. We really enjoyed our day out.

[villauk]

We visited Loro Parque recently when our ship docked at Santa Cruz. The ship offered a half-day excursion to Loro Parque or a half-day 'shopping' trip to Puerto de la Cruz. We wanted to do both and have a whole day out, so we did our own thing. There were four of us. We got a taxi to Puerto de la Cruz (50 euros) and walked around a bit, on the prom and round the shops and had coffee at a seafront cafe. Then we went to the (very obvious) place on the seafront, where our taxi had in fact dropped us, where you can get a free dotto train to Loro Parque. I think the admission was about 30 euros each for adults. We really liked it. It all seems pretty new and nicely done. It is very similar to Seaworld in Florida, with similar killer whale and dolphin shows. They even got the creatures from there, so there seems to be a tie-up. There is a good walk-through shark tunnel in the Aquarium and a splendid penguin exhibit. Anyway, finally we got the little train back to Puerto and a taxi back to the ship for 40 euros. There was a lot of traffic on the return in rush-hour and the jpurney was slow in Santa Cruz, so you shouldn't cut it too fine if your ship is sailing early evening. We really enjoyed our day out.

Thanks for info,sounds ideal for the kids. How long did it take to get there:)?

[Floflegs]

I too would recommend Loro Park. However I would go there first as it gets very busy as the day goes on. You get a neat little booklet which tells you the time of all the shows so you don't miss out. Then you could wander round Puerto before going back to the ship. Can't help with time as we stayed in Puerto.

[marylizcat]

It didn't seem to take very long in the taxi, maybe 20-30 minutes, but it is a very scenic route over the mountain with views of the sea. We were originally going to do it in reverse, but then we realised that a lot of shops shut for siesta in the afternoons, so it made more sense to look around Puerto first. The park wasn't especially crowded. It's not like a theme park where you queue for rides! And we were there on a Friday, which is changeover day for the package holidaymakers.