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On 12 March 2001 Macolm posted to uk.rec.naturist...
We were staying at Golf del Sur which is just to the west of the airport. Much to our surprise, there was very nearly no aircraft noise at all.
Starting from Medano (SE from airport) and working east to Los Christianos.
Playa de la Tejita is the beach to the west of Montanna Roja which is the prominent mountain/headline to the south of Medano. The beaches around here are easily the best between Los Christianos and Medano. There is some naturist use of the main beach but textile around the bar. However, take the easy path behind the bar for about 100m and there is a lovely little naturist cove with the added bonus that it is more sheltered from the wind. Take your face mask/snorkel so you can admire the fish. It is an easy walk up the north (Medano) end of Montanna Roja and the view is superb.
All along the coast to Los Abrigos there is some naturist use of sandy patches.
There is a small sandy-ish beach, Playa Colmenares, a few hundred metres east of Golf del Sur, but amazingly it wasn't being used by anyone! It's not a particularly nice beach, but there is nothing else but rocks between here and Las Galatas/Costa del Silencio.
About a kilometre east of Las Galatas/Costa del Silencio, at the east end of Montanna Amarilla and just west of Punta Montanna Amarilla, there is a small cove with rock slab sunbathing. It was well populated with naturists. There is a line of white posts to help with entry into the sea. When we were there the end of the posts was awash and you could dive straight into 3 or 4 metres depth of water. The deep water meant that there was no surge from the waves to make getting in and out of the sea difficult. A nice spot. It looked like it was possible to reach it along the shore from the village, or there is an easy walk over Montanna Amarilla which provides some good views.
There is a rather nice small sandy beach just to the west of Las Galatas harbour. It was Sunday when we walked through and it was well used by locals but no naturists. It may be different midweek. It is the best beach between Playa de la Tejita and the light house, Faro de la Rasca.
There is nothing more between here and the light house, although I did find a spot where I could swim from the rocks. We didn't walk the coast to the north of the lighthouse.
At Los Christianos there is a beach at the extreme southerly end of the development. It is naturist, but development continues so that may change. Some sand, but we were heading up into the hills and didn't really take a proper look.
At the extreme NE of the Island, a few km north of Igueste, Playa de Antequera is a smashing beach. A couple of hundred metres of absolutely deserted beach of black sand at the south end and pebbles to the north. It is only accessible by boat or walking. The walk is not very far, only a few kilometres, but there is rather a large hill in the way. The guide book describes the ascent as "relentless" and that sums it up. A ledge carved in near vertical mountain side and ascending at a steady 1 in 3 to an altitude of about 400m (1200 feet) from where there are magnificent views. The path was built to give access to a semaphore station. Near the top you turn off onto a rough walkers path. Our return route crossed the ridge further inland. It is a superb days walk with a beach for lunch and swim, but once off the semaphore path, only suited to experienced hot climate walkers with maps, directions and equipment.
Quite a good service, but difficult to find out about. They seem to start their journeys on time but thereafter the timetable becomes more and more approximate. One bus we caught was nearly 10 minutes early, and the driver of the bus a couple of minutes before had told us 20 minutes to wait! Also, don't believe the destination boards. They don't seem to change them for the return journey and in some places, the same bus stop is used by buses in both directions. Always ask the driver of every bus that comes along! Don't assume (like we did) that just because a bus is going to Las Americas, it will go to the bus station. We ended up in Los Christianos instead. Where one town ends and the other begins is impossible to discern.
Hells Gorge (Barranco del Inferno) is quite an easy gorge walk suitable for anyone who is reasonably ambulant, but remember to take plenty of water. Highly recommended. Start early (at 9.30am we were amongst the first) if your don't want the place swarming with people.
The Masca Gorge is quite a strenuous walk, but if you are reasonably sure footed clambering over rocks, not too difficult. It is one of the finest walks I have ever done. Access by road at Masca at the top and by boat to the boulder beach at the bottom. Catamaran or Glass Bottom boat from the harbour at Los Gigantes. The Glass Bottom Boat people took us there in a zodiac and we returned on the glass bottom boat. It took us about 2 hours to get within site of Masca at the top of the gorge (it would probably have taken about another 1/2 hour to reach the village) and about 1.5 hours for the return, but we are *very* fast walkers. Scenically, the uphill walk is better than the downhill. On our return, we walked along the beach a little bit, and I stripped off and had a swim. The bloke a little distance along the beach copied my example. In anything except near flat calm it is not possible to swim from the beach and the area around the boat boarding rock where most people swam was firmly textile.
RichardD added the following 3 days later...
Just a comment or two about Puerto de la Cruz beaches. My wife and I are just back from a hot, sunny fortnight at Carnival time there, which must be seen to be believed!
There are four main textile beaches, Playa Jardin, is west of the Old Town. It is a long crowded beach, with some rocks dividing it into two parts, nice if you can bag a cozy corner among them before the crowds arrive. There were huge Atlantic surf and crashing breakers along the whole of the North coast while we were there. Playa Martianez is to the East of the very large, excellent man-made Marina complex, designed by world-famous Lanzarote-born architect Cesar Manrique (get there early, again, for the best places; useful when the sea is too dangerous for swimming on the beaches). Playa Martianez is a nice curving beach, protected by a breakwater and popular with surfers. Oh, and there is a tiny, lovely little beach, Playa San Telmo right in the middle of Puerto; surrounded by rocks, with stainless steel handrails and steps.
The nudismo-authorized beaches are a three-mile walk east from Playa Martianez along the main coast road or, much better, the higher inland route past the prominent 5-star Semiramis hotel. Keep going until you leave the new built-up part, and go through a tunnel under the main road, then through some banana plantations (lizards, butterflies, wild flowers). The path gets wilder, with a final steep and narrow bit down to Playa Bollullo. The fine dark volcanic sand (as on all these beaches; doesn't blow around in the wind). Here there was a happy mixture of textile and sun-brown bodies. A good few German visitors when we were there, on a conducted walk. It gets busy with locals at week-ends. The path to the next beach, Playa Los Paxos, branches inland before Playa Bollullo. It is a longer, narrower beach but we didn't go that far; the surf and breakers were huge during our visit; red flags were flying and the beach guards were on duty.
There are lots of excellent walking country in the Puerto region - get the footpath routes map from the local information office in Plaza Europa.
Not all goko, but we thoroughly enjoyed our break away from chilly old UK. Can't wait for some warmer days here; going to have a sauna tomorrow ...
Regards, Richard D.
In December 2001 (in answer to a plea for additional information) David at Galaxy wrote
I went to Playa de Las Americas this year in February - a bit commercial, plenty of places to eat cheaply, beer and local wine cheap. It is very hilly where most of the apartments are and noisy lower down near the front. We stayed at the Laguna Park 2 (Airtours) up on the hill, a very pleasant site with loads of nightclubs and places to go at night. Try the Cowboy bar in the harbour and the trendy Harley Bar near the centre.
There are not many naturist facilities around Playa. You need a car to get to the best naturist beaches in El Medano. Cars are about £70 per five days on average. Shop around and add up all the extras like insurance, island compulsory insurance, and any mileage charges. Not many filling stations around the island so make sure you keep petrol topped up. Try a trip to Mount Tiede Volcano but take plenty of warm clothes as the higher you go the colder it gets. It's a really weird landscape: like the moon.
We booked our holiday with the Co-operative's Travelcare Shop. Brilliant service and a real bargain was found with Airtours from Gatwick for our self catering flat. But not much leg room in the plane and a four and a half hour journey! We took some junior aspirins for a few days before to avoid DVT.
All in all our week was grand but textile. Next time I would go to Los Christianos, much nicer and get a car earlier on.
Have fun
David and Maureen
In answer to the same enquiry Steve commented that
... the official Spanish government web site for beaches notes El Callao as 'nudista'. It's south of Playa de Las Américas, just past Los Cristianos: this sketch map 1 should be sufficient to find it (see Playa del Callao bottom right).
In the other direction, there are Los Morteros and Playa Blanca (Diego Hernández), which look to involve more walking: see sketch map 2. Diego Hernández is the only one of the three that is listed by Luis in his web site.
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