Los Cristianos is famed for its party scene and being one of Tenerife’s main tourist hubs along the southern coast. I tend to avoid anywhere that is filled with British-like pubs playing football and serving chicken nuggets but Los Cristianos is different. Los Cristianos has sentimental value to me.
A couple of years ago, this heaving town was a lot quieter. It wasn’t as crowded and the quantity of touristy restaurants was less. I used to frequently visit Tenerife with family and we would always stay on the outskirts of Los Cristianos.
The town has a convenient location being only a 20 minute drive from Tenerife south airport. It is also positioned on a gorgeous beach of lush golden sand.
Amongst the typical tourist restaurants and souvenir shops are some lovely restaurants serving traditional tapas. There are also some traditional buildings lined along the narrow, cobbled streets and market stalls selling locally-made leather bags and belts.
We visited Los Cristianos on our final full day in Tenerife. After spending the previous day enduring a lengthy expedition to Teide National Park and Casa del Vino in the far north, we decided it was time for a relaxing day by the sea. It’s always nice to see different sides to a place and Los Cristianos was on the opposite side of the island to our excursions the day before.
The town is just off the main road which loops round the island so it is very easy to get to. It then didn’t take us too long to locate some on-street parking and stroll down into the town-centre.
We located a small tapas restaurant which was perched along a narrow side-street. It didn’t have an ocean view but I was keen to give it a chance as often the best restaurants are in the most unlikely of places.
“How many of you are there?” The waitress asked.
“Seis.” I responded proudly. I always love practising my Spanish.
My brother and his friend had had to return home that morning, shrinking our group from eight down to six.
The waitress began rearranging the restaurant, putting two tables together. She looked at our group and frowned. “No, you’re six, not seven. You told me there was siete of you. It’s seis not siete.”
I recoiled at her sharp tone. I was pretty sure I said seis! Now, because her hearing had failed she was trying to embarrass me in front of everyone. I’m easily offended so her curt tone and scathing tongue stopped me from speaking Spanish to anyone else on that trip. The rest of my family were also disappointed in how she spoke to me. Therefore, we left. I wasn’t going to eat at her restaurant after that.
The whole saga worked out for the best anyway as we found a far better restaurant that was on the beachfront. It had a larger selection of tapas which turned out to taste fantastic! Yummy food with a great view.
After gorging ourselves on some lovely tapas and sangria, we took a leisurely stroll around the town and purchased some souvenirs. Lewis was keen to purchase a large bottle-opener which was the shape of a penis because he found it so comical. I thought it seemed like a great idea! The funny thing was, this penis bottle-opener caused us quite a bit of trouble when going through airport security the next day. It flagged up as a suspicious item when going through the x-ray and Lewis was stopped. They searched his bag and brought out the penis bottle-opener, laughing. It was quite an embarrassing moment but pretty funny too.
Our time in Los Cristianos was fleeting, much like our overall 3-day holiday to Tenerife. It wasn’t long before we were walking back through Los Cristianos square towards our car. There was a skateboarding competition going on. Loud music was blasting as teens showed off their best moves on the ramps.
We drove back to our villa for one last time. I really didn’t feel ready to leave Tenerife but at least I was going home on a high fond memories and a ring on my finger!
