Words & photos - John Lymer
What a gem of a place El Medano, Tenerife is! The centre’s picturesque narrow streets (some pedestrian only) are full of shops, cafes and restaurants. No night clubs or British or Irish pubs here either. There’s a small harbour at one end of the sweeping bay. Beaches make up the rest of it and the numerous watersports hire shops are towards the other end. Trails up and around 2 hills at the end of the bay offer just some of the walking available locally. There are 2 or 3 car hire places in the town, but if you want a car for more than a day we found it may be best to book ahead. Daytime highs of 23 to 30C were especially welcome when home was getting 5C and the first snow of the Winter! Several flights a day arrive from Manchester and Liverpool in 4.5 hours. Tenerife South’s airport is within 3 miles, so the resort is the first drop-off location for new arrivals … unless you’re Eddie who was last off, or Dave and Andy who pre-booked a taxi that failed to arrive!
Six of us made the mid-November trip and we’re all keen to return! Dave and Andy had a week, Norbert 5 days and Eddie a week. With various overlaps, all of those fell within John and Trudy‘s 12 days. Vicky and Tim from Glossop Watersports Club (who Dave knows through longboard racing over many years) were also at El Medano during our holiday and passed on useful tips from their many visits - we chose the kit hire centre and some restaurants on their recommendation.
Windsurfing and wingfoiling are most popular in Medano Bay and best suited to intermediates and above. Wingers outnumber windsurfers on light wind days, otherwise windsurfing probably wins out. There are a lot of kitesurfers, some paddleboarders (occasionally with foils) and a few surfers too. Norbert even tried E-foiling - £150 for an hour with instruction. The most common wind is North Easterly - cross-on from the left. It’s important to say that this involves quite a shore break, so your beach starts need to be bomb-proof. And this direction brings with it quite a swell - at least 1 metre in a Force 4 and 1.5m+ in Force 6 - it is the Atlantic Ocean after all! None of us are blessed with rubber legs, so uphauling on properly windy days is a definite struggle and waterstarts are the go-to manoeuvre too. That said, a Westerly or South Westerly has fairly flat water and very little shore break, but a slight wind shadow behind Montana Roja or Montana Bocinegro. Those days mostly brought lighter wind and were easier for the less experienced. Lighter winds were good for using a foil or big windsurf kit eg 7.8m sail. There’s no safety boat routinely patrolling the bay, just a Red Cross jet ski that goes out to help when required. That’s another thing to bear in mind when deciding if the resort is right for your ability level.
We used Tenerife Windsurf Solution https://tws-windsurf.com/. This short video illustrates the location and here’s a webcam for the beach where we launched. TWS can arrange an apartment if you wish too. You can hire for consecutive days, or several ‘flex’ days which you use anytime in a fortnight. I pre-booked 5 flex days kit hire for £333 (384 Euros) in a 12 day holiday. I did use them all, but next time I’d book 4 and add more if I’m fortunate enough to get more windy days. Two or 3 flex days hire may be a good start (3 days is 306 Euros) if you’re going for a week. It looks like kit is rarely fully booked and there are probably 5 or more businesses to choose from (TWS, PKS, Duotone, Hotel Playa Sur …), so you should get fixed up on spec. It’d be a shame to pay too much in advance then only have a couple of windy days during your stay - no refunds are offered. Also, a half day hire may work out good value. TWS recommended paying an extra 39E to insure against damage to hired kit - (your normal insurance, including that through RYA membership, doesn’t cover this. This insurance can be bought online beforehand, or in minutes while on site. It’s through the German VDWS, lasts for 12 months and includes third party cover, though all WPWC members should already have third party insurance as a condition of sailing at Watergrove. Cover extends to windsurf and wingfoil kit, kites, SUPs, kayaks and small boats. I windsurfed 3 days, managing 41 miles on one of them and used a windfoil another 2 days to tot up 100 miles during the holiday. My high point though was completing a first ever fully foiling gybe (no touch-downs), something I’ve been trying to do for over 3 years!
Two of the club stayed in an apartment and 4 stayed B & B at 3 star Hotel Medano. Built out over the sea at the town centre, this has views across the entire bay and a sun terrace with steps into the sea. It’s a 10 minute walk to the windsurf hire centres and very close to restaurants for evenings out. Apartments are widespread, so many of those are handily located too. We all opted to eat out every night. Then, having a coffee afterwards at the same ice cream shop became a nightly tradition – staff seemed more amused each time we rocked up.
We’re minded to book again for next year and maybe a few more club members will join us? Going just a bit earlier than this year means our 39E insurance for hired kit would still be valid – not a deal breaker though. Some of us would probably choose the package that Jet2 offers to Hotel Medano, which is:
- Thursday 30th October 2025 (or other date to be agreed, but this is an example)
- Jet2 flights with 10Kg hand luggage and 22Kg hold luggage
- B & B 3 star Hotel Medano, El Medano
- From Liverpool or Manchester for 1 week, from £800pp/£820
- Hotel Playa Sur would probably be good too
Here's a sample of the action - includes a few of Andy, 3 of Dave, but sadly none of Norbert and Eddie ...
Click on a picture to see larger images then use the arrows or swipe to scroll through them
