Where to eat out in San Marcos in Tenerife in the Canary Islands

Playa de San Marcos is the black sandy beach in the north of Tenerife just a few kilometres away from Icod de los Vinos which is famous in the Canary Islands for its 1,000-year-old Dragon Tree. San Marcos is a very popular spot for local people and holiday-makers to relax and has a range of bars and restaurants along its seafront.

In this hub I am going to be recommending the two I use the most which are the Italia in Bocca restaurant and Bar Restaurante Amarca. They are next to each other in the promenade which is known as Avenida Maritima. There is a little church right in between them and sometimes a stage will be erected at the end of the pathway where entertainments are put on at fiesta times.

After you get off the bus or out of your car and are on the seafront in San Marcos you have a choice of two ways to go. The one way is a dead-end and is the continuation of the the road and the other is a pedestrian only walkway with an artificial stream and plant borders running down the centre of it. Looking down this way you can't help but see Italia in Bocca with its table and chairs and covered outdoors eating area overlooking the beach.

Many local Spanish people eat here as do a number of ex-pats and tourists visiting San Marcos. They serve a large variety of pizzas and `pasta, meat and fish dishes, as well as ice-cream and some mouthwatering desserts.

The staff all know me and it was the first bar restaurant I went to when I first came to live in the seaside village. I gave them a copy of my album Welsh Wizard and they often put it on when I am there. It makes me feel like a local celebrity!

I usually have a Pizza Campañola with mushrooms, onions and black olives and washed down with a Dorada Especial local bottled beer. That costs me just 7.04€.

I like to watch the sun go down from this restaurant and San Marcos is often treated with some spectacular sunsets.

I played an impromptu gig at Italia in Bocca and had a good reception from all who were there. I have written about this in another hub.

If I have friends or guests visiting me this is where I often take them. The staff speak, Spanish, German and some English but you won't have any problems being understood and it is a very friendly restaurant.

You can't miss the Amarca restaurant too because it is at the end of the seafront walkway past Italia in Boca and past an attractive little church that overlooks the bay.

The Amarca is a much bigger building with an inner bar-room and an upper section of several floors in which there are rooms for rental and serves as an apartment-hotel. Outside the Amarca there are covered tables and chairs in parts just outside the main door and more placed along the wall that overlooks the beach. These have sun-parasols to provide shade.

The menu is similar to their rivals but cooked to different recipes. You usually get given a complimentary "Ron Miel" (Honey Rum) when you pay your bill too and I like these! I love pizzas and this is what I normally have at the Amarca but they also sell various omelettes ("Tortillas") and salads, as well as traditional meat and fish dishes.

At the Amarca I enjoy their Pizza Frutas de Mar ("Fruits of the Sea") and my favourite Canary Islands beer which is a bottle of Dorada. A large pizza of that type and a beer will set you back just 7.20€.

This restaurant tends to get more of the local ex-pat community at times, especially in the evenings and it is possible to pick up copies of Island Connections free newspaper for Tenerife there.

Like the Italia in Bocca restaurant, the Amarca is a wonderful place to watch the sun go down or to relax by the beach.

Buses back to Icod de los Vinos go every quarter to the hour apart from the last one in the evening which goes at 20.35. It is easy to see them when they pull in and to walk up to them in time to get on because the drivers always stop for a few minutes at this stop which is the end of the route.

If you are at either bar restaurant later on and have missed the bus it is possible to get a taxi. Just ask the staff and they will order one for you and again it will pull in by where the buses stop.

Playa San Marcos is a great place to enjoy a meal and a drink by the sea in the northwest of Tenerife.

Copyright © 2011 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.