"I will probably attract a lot of criticism on here, but I just want to put it out there that Tenerife is a weird place. I disliked how everything in the big resorts was geared to the brits. I am a fluent Spanish speaker and no one in the service industry wanted to or appreciated being spoke to in Spanish…then the resorts…Cristianos, Américas were soulless and benidormy with no real identity. Adeje was nicer. The teide national park was the best bit. The weather was excellent but overall I wouldn’t return"
Although your opinion has been challenged and correctly so by others, I would also say that whilst you could visit more remote or less ‘touristy’ areas of Tenerife and get a ‘proper’ culture fix and spoken in Spanish, I haven’t shared your experience in these areas.
My experience is quite the opposite. Firstly, we love liveliness as well as tranquility on my vacations. With this, we choose Gran Canaria for adult vacations and then Tenerife for family holidays.
As such, Las Americas and Los Cris are our choice of resorts as it caters for our family group.
One of the first things I ask is do you speak English. From there, it’s either Spanish, English, or Spanglish. And occasionally a mash up of other languages if we can’t find the right words.
I’ve never experienced a single person in the service industry or otherwise to not want or appreciate speaking in Spanish. Quite the opposite. Culturally, we’ve had interesting conversations how Canarians speak Spanish different to the mainland, and even each island has its own dialect.
So I’m not sure how your conversations go but that’s how I lead my conversations and they’ve always been appreciated and fluid with no awkwardness.
Then with any tourist area, be it Tenerife, Spain, Turkey or otherwise. I would challenge that they are soulless or have no identity. They cater for a market and naturally they diversify from other areas of the country, which helps drives their economy (though I know there is news about this recently with a negative connotation). That’s their identity. But you’ll appreciate that there are local people that live in these areas and there are local hangouts. If you explore off the beaten track, then I think you’ll find some gems even within these areas.
In terms of criticism, I would question your rationale for posting these comments. And I say this with the utmost of respect, as I do enjoy a forum for debates and opposing opinions. But from my perspective, it’s a little naive that such a person who appears to enjoy culture and exploring such differences would choose a tourist area in the first place for a holiday.
La Gomera for your next trip maybe?  |
