Tenerife – Siam Park and Masca (south of Tenerife)

It was a day full of activities: first the numerous winding and sharp slides at the water park, and then the equally winding and equally sharp mountain roads on the way to Masca.

After that day, no slalom on the road will be the same again, and one question is still open: how come they haven’t filmed Top Gear here yet! :) Tenerife is even a perfect place for such shots :)

Table of contents

Siam Park – water attractions

First thing in the morning we went to Siam Park, a water park in the southern part of the island. South equals sunny, hot and dry part of the island. What was our surprise when it started raining on the way! Rain in the Canary Islands … it did not inspire optimism.

We drove along the TF-5 highway to Santa Cruz and then south all the way along the TF-1 highway. It is impossible to drive past without seeing the signs for Siam Park :)

When we arrived at the site, despite the bad weather, all the spaces in the area were occupied so we had to park in the Park (3eur/day). Here, too (as in Loro Park), a photo is taken at the entrance and can be purchased at the exit (remember the time you entered). Importantly, unlike Loro Park, here you are not allowed to bring your own food (well, except maybe water and fruit) – at the entrance they check backpacks, bags.

Siam Park is a huge (185,000 sq. ft.!) water park styled after a Thai settlement. Due to the size of the facility and the number of water attractions, the aquapark is considered the largest of its kind in Europe.

The park has locker rooms, showers and lockers, for which you have to pay (3eur for a small locker and 5 eur for a large locker). We immediately went to the “beach” – with white fine sand, plenty of loungers and umbrellas, right next to the pool with an artificial wave that is launched every half hour. Bathers are guarded by some 5 lifeguards, who react even if someone enters the water in jewelry ;) In a word, clean and safe.

Due to the large area of the park, to some attractions you have to walk a piece and stand your own in line, but it is worth it :) As we mentioned we ended up in poor weather, so the queues were not big either.

For starters, it’s worth going to a calm ‘river’ type attraction, where you float in pontoons peacefully along with the current. At a certain point, we are faced with a difficult decision – whether to continue downstream or switch to a more dangerous and faster route – of course, we recommend the latter ;)

There are plenty of other attractions in the park, and there is something for everyone: there are plenty of squares and slides for the little ones, and for the older ones there are slides of varying degrees of ‘difficulty’ (from green – the lightest, to red, where individuals with heart or spine diseases cannot enter). You can find slides with lighting effects, funnels, launchers, two- and four-person pontoons and a kamikaze – through a tunnel with sharks. The creators really made headway to get the adrenaline rushing :)

Our stay was not a long one, mainly because of the weather: we took advantage of the sun for a while, but the subsequent chill and rain made us flee quickly.

The winding road to Masca

Taking the opportunity that we were in the south of the island and there was still a lot of daylight ahead of us, we decided to take the direction to the west of the island and drive one of the more difficult roads in Tenerife and reach a tiny village – Masca, located between the giant Los Gigantes.

In fact, the road was the main attraction, not the village itself (at least for us :-)). Breathtaking views, a tight road, sharp turns and Los Gigantes – the 600-meter-high giant cliffs – make one realize how small one is in the face of the surrounding nature.

Anyway, there are viewpoints every now and then along the road. In the other direction there are also beautiful views, views of the
Teide
.

Dangerous road to Punta Teno

In this part of the island, we also wanted to get to the lighthouse on the west coast, located at Fara de Punta Teno. However, it turned out that this is impossible because the road is closed, about which signs warn already a few kilometers before.