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    Tenerife without the crowds

    San MiguelMore Photos
    Think of Tenerife, and visions of a mass of high rise hotels and apartments come to mind.
    But Tenerife is a Spanish island. Playa las Americas and Los Cristianos can hardly claim to be Spanish. The southern coast of the island is a vast, multi-national, swathe of mass tourism. If that’s your idea of heaven, good luck to you. Even Puerto de la Cruz in the north is giving way to the hoards of visitors from northern Europe.
    If you’d like a flavour of Spanish life, on a Spanish island, there are places away from the hotspots to enjoy a more tranquil sojourn.
    Fifteen minutes from Reina Sofia airport is Los Cristianos, but also in the same time the charming town of San Miguel can be reached. A request for the Finca Vista Bonita to the taxi driver brought a shrug of shoulders and a blank look. But contact with his colleagues elicited the location. The road from the airport zigzagged its way uphill for the 7km to the town, followed by another kilometre round more bends to arrive at the Finca.
    ${QuickSuggestions} ${BestWay} There is an hourly bus service to Los Cristianos, and a less frequent one down to Las Galletas. Timetables and routes can be found on www.titsa.com
    Car hire, of course, is readily available on the island—several based near the airport. We hired from Tenerife Rent-a-car, and would you believe it, Jane, the girl who delivered the car to the apartment actually came from our home town in England.
    From journal Tenerife without the crowds