Las Teresitas Beach

The sand came from the Sahara. It arrived in 1973 in five million bags shipped from El Aaiún, which is why Las Teresitas is pale gold on an island where most beaches are black volcanic grit.

A breakwater a kilometre long runs 150 m out, and the water behind it lies as still as a swimming pool. There is no surf to speak of, and the water stays shallow a long way out, which suits small children. The beach is broad, about 80 m from the back of the sand to the water, with palms along its rear edge and the steep, bare ridges of Anaga closing off the view inland.

• Weekdays are quiet; at weekends the beach fills with locals.
• The light sand lifts in the wind and sticks to skin and towels. A sunbed keeps you off the ground.
• Sunbeds and umbrellas are for hire, and there are showers and free toilets by the beach.
• There is no drinking-water tap nearby. Bring water or buy it at the kiosks and beach bars.
• Shade on the sand comes from the palms at the back and from umbrellas, nothing else.

Playa de Las Teresitas lies just north of San Andrés, about 15 minutes by bus from Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Drivers have two car parks to choose from: one with an asphalt surface about 70 m away in a straight line, and a paved one about 325 m away. Between them they hold over 100 cars. From either you walk straight down onto the sand. By bus, the nearest stop, San José del Suculum, is about 440 m away in a straight line.

Best: a weekday morning.

Avoid: weekend afternoons.

Weekends bring the locals out in numbers, and on an open coast like this the wind tends to build through the day, lifting the fine pale sand with it.