Los Cristianos to Garachico: A Tale of Two Tenerifes
When you’re sailing from Europe to the Caribbean, the Canary Islands are a natural stop and Tenerife is often the first big landfall. Like many cruisers, we dropped anchor in Los Cristianos. It’s one of the island’s busiest ports, and a common arrival point for sailors but it turned out to be quite different than what we expected.
Los Cristianos is packed. The huge beach is lined with giant resorts, tourist bars, and all-you-can-drink cocktail bars. Everywhere we looked were English breakfasts restaurants and sunburnt toursits watching football games. Not that we have anything against football (we actually enjoy it) but this wasn’t the kind of welcome we were hoping for after a long sail. After a couple of days it got to us, so we left and headed to La Gomera.
La Gomera gave us a breather. We waited there for my parents to visit from France, enjoyed the quieter anchorages and the relaxed pace, did some incredible hikes and then planned our next move. Eventually, we needed to get back to Tenerife to organize our transatlantic departure from Santa Cruz and to drop off my parents before their flight.
Garachico: The Best Accident
That’s how we ended up in Garachico. We were just looking for a convenient marina on the north coast and we planned to stay only one night. Instead, we stayed four.
Garachico turned out to be the complete opposite of Los Cristianos. Peaceful, authentic, and full of character. It’s all cobbled streets, beautiful old buildings, and some of the best local food we’ve had anywhere in the Canaries. It was just a quiet town with real history.
A Town Rebuilt by Fire
Garachico was once Tenerife’s most important port. In the 17th century, it was the island’s commercial heart, trading wine and goods with Europe and the Americas. In 1706, a massive volcanic eruption buried the harbor in lava, wiping out its port and its future as a trading hub.
Today, it’s a small, unspoiled town with natural lava pools where the sea meets the rock. You can hike into the hills above for a view of the coastline and your boat in the marina below. It felt like stepping into a different Tenerife, one that you wouldn’t want to miss.
Don’t Sail Past It
If you’re heading west and thinking of stopping in Tenerife, sure, Los Cristianos is convenient. But Garachico is where the real magic is. It was truly one of the best discoveries of our Atlantic crossing.
