Las Teresitas is said to be the best beach in Tenerife in the Canary Islands

If a good beach is what you are looking for in the Canary Islands, and more specifically in Tenerife, then Playa de las Teresitas, or Las Teresitas beach in Tenerife's north is said, with very good reason, to be the best the island has to offer.

.Las Teresitas beach is situated right by the village of San Andrés and is only some seven kilometres from the capital city of Santa Cruz and it is easy to get to by bus or car.

Because this part of Tenerife has the Anaga mountain range providing shelter it means that Las Teresitas is blessed with lots of warm sunshine and its golden sands are ideal for sunbathers and for paddling or bathing in the sea. Children can make sandcastles on the beach and because there are no stones or shingle the sands are smooth and ideal for bare feet.

Sun beds are available for Playa de Las Teresitas, and the beach has all the facilities you might want like public showers, changing rooms and toilets.

The charming seaside village of San Andrés has restaurants and a few shops as well as a road that forks off and leads up into the Anaga Massif mountain range. Buses from Santa Cruz provide a regular service to the village and it is possible to stay on one and carry on to the equally charming Igueste de San Andrés.

Another service goes up and across the Anaga mountains taking passengers to the remote coastal villages of Almáciga and Taganana. Perhaps you might want to explore these other parts of Tenerife on another day?

Playa de Las Teresitas though is sure to provide an enjoyable and memorable day out on the beach and it is hardly surprising that it is so popular with both local residents and visitors to Tenerife.

Playa de las Teresitas is one of Tenerife's artificial beaches and was created with millions of tons of sand that was brought to the island from the Sahara. This was first done back in the 1960s but the beach was improved again in 1973. It is said that it took as many as 4 million sacks of sand to make the 1.5 km long stretch of beach. This is easy to believe because Las Teresitas is both a very broad and very long beach.

As well as being created with sand from the Sahara, the beach had a specially made breakwater and artificial reef to give protection to swimmers and prevent dangerous currents and waves from the ocean coming in.

At the top of Playa de Las Teresitas there are a range of beach cafés and tapas bars if you fancy something to eat and drink. Also in this part of the beach there are many tall palms trees and Sea Grapes (Coccoluba uvifera) with their rounded leathery leaves that give some shelter if the sun is too strong.

The edible fruit of the Sea Grape form large bunches on the trees but they often fall on the sand when ripe. When mature they are a purplish colour and tangy but pleasant tasting. You can easily see why the trees got the name it has.