Playa de las Americas Surf Guide – ALL You Need To Know
We’ll just go right out and say it: Playa de las Americas isn’t pretty, not pretty at all. (Disclaimer, that’s 100% our opinion, and it’s totally fine if you disagree. But I’m right).
To us, it’s little more than a behemoth of British tourism, covering a whole block of the southwestern tip of Tenerife with all the things we hate about the Canaries: Whitewashed apartment complexes that seem to go on forever, greasy spoon cafes that serve full English fry ups, shot bars that pump until the early hours.
However, in the mix there, somewhere, there’s the epicentre of Tenerife’s surf scene. Mhmm, this town now offers the isle’s widest array of surf camps and surf hostels, plus a string of reef breaks that can suit all levels and don’t suffer (at least all that much) from localism (a uniquely Canarian plague).
Fly in when there’s a good string of swell and get up early to beat the crowds and it’s hard to deny that Playa de las Americas has its moments. Yes, the peaks are almost always busy and the town is a bit too glitz for us, but there’s decent consistency, great links to the airport, and some of the best surf tuition and surf schooling around.
It’s a top option for casual learner surfers and families. AND you can always escape to drive up to the north shore of the island, where there are wilder breaks below soaring cliffs.
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>>This guide is just one part of our complete guide to surfing in Tenerife
Playa de las Americas Surf at a glance
The good…
The bad…
Where is Playa de las Americas?
Playa de las Américas is situated between the towns of Los Cristianos (to the south) and Costa Adeje (to the north).
The closest airport is Tenerife South Airport (Reina Sofia Airport), which is about 20 kilometers (around 12 miles) to the east. Tenerife North Airport is farther away; actually on the other side of the island.
To reach Playa de las Américas, you can fly into Tenerife South Airport and then take a taxi, bus, or a rental car (which I’d reccomend if you want to surf anywhere other than in the main town itself. I use DiscoverCars for hires in the Canaries as I’ve found them to be generally cheap in the last few years).
Where to surf in Playa de las Americas
Playa de las Americas occupies the western side of Tenerife’s most built-up southern corner. It gets N swell through the gap between its coastline and the island of La Gomera, but also south swell, that hits the south-facing coastline on one side of the resort.
Here are all the spots in the area, starting in the north and working south.
La Izquierda
La Izquierda starts things rolling on the northern end of the Playa strip. Here, the coast bends a touch into the north channel and that means the winter swells tend to hit head on. They’ll roll into the reef, close out for about 50m but give a peeling wave on their north (that’s left-hand) end.
The result is one of the longest goofy rides in the Canaries. 4-6 foot turns it proper fun, with the odd mini barrel forming and reforming along the 200-meter or so length. Smaller days are great for midlengths and logs. Often very busy. Works best Nov-March.
La Derecha
Sometimes going by its grander full name, La Derecha del Cartel, this right-hand reef is the one that starts working first when N swell pushes through the channel between Tenerife and La Gomera. That makes it one of the most consistent waves in the southern region.
Still, you do need a bit of size (say 5-8 foot) to see it really hit its stride. When that happens and combos up with nice light offshores, it can be a long shoulder that invites proper rail to rail surfing, bit cutbacks and nice manoeuvres; a perfect twin-fin drawing board.
The only downside is the tendency of some sections to close out, plus the hardened crew that tend to push any tourist surfer off the line.
El Dedo
El Dedo is one of the spots in Playa that’s got a sort of unofficial designation as a tourist wave. To put it another way, it’s rare that the local crews will hassle you here, and intermediate+ classes and surf camps often make it their home.
Note that it is quite challenging. It’s a steep take off into either a short, hollow left that ends of jagged reef, or a fast drop into a pitching right. Only really makeable on high tides or an hour or two before high, when you get clearance on the reef.
El Conquistador
El Conquistador is for the beginners and learners. We actually have a bit of a soft spot for it – many a good evening has been spent cruising here and sipping beers in the bars just up above the beach.
What’s especially nice is that the reefs are covered in pads of sand and broken stones, making what’s underwater a lot less threatening for learners than other spots in the area. The wave is best in the 3-5 foot range, loves a heavy N or lighter S swell, and works best on a mid, pushing tide.
La Fitenia
Summer waves are kinda’ rare in Playa cos you’re usually holding out for N-NW pulses to push through that gap with Gomera. But there is one – actually, it’s two waves – that works very nicely in the season from May to August, which is when S swells are most dominant.
Cue La Fitenia, which forms up on the piers along the south shore of Playa de las Americas. We say its two waves because the right and the left are quite distinct, although they form on the same stretch of reef right next to the harbor wall.
The right is the one most people chase. It’s long and has potential to barrel on shallower tides, with nice almond-shaped pits that open into more rippable sections. On smaller days and when the tide is high, it’s a decent intermediate wave, though given it’s an off-season break and works only rarely, you’ll almost never be alone here.
When to surf in Playa de las Americas?
The winter is generally seen as the best time to surf in Playa de las Americas, because it sees the strongest NW swells that fire up the breaks on the western coastline of the resort.
- Winter (November-February) – This is the peak surf season in Playa de las Americas. The winter months bring the most consistent and powerful swells, thanks to the North Atlantic depressions that send pulses from the NW and N. Waves can range from medium to large, making it an exciting time for experienced surfers, although there are still spots suitable for beginners at Fitenia and Conquistondore.
- Summer (March-August) – The waves are generally smaller and more suited to beginners or longboarders. The northeast trade winds can still provide fun conditions, especially in the mornings before the winds pick up. The main thing to note is a switch in dominant swell direction, from N to S, which brings those south-facing (beginner-friendly) beaches into play.
Where to stay for surfing in Playa de las Americas?
Surf camps in Playa de las Americas
Playa de las Americas has the best range of surf camps in Tereife. Period.
They run all year round and offer a tailored surf-travel package that includes pretty much everything you could need, from transport to the breaks to surf tuition to accomodation and food.
We can reccomend quite a few – as we do in our complete guide to surf camps in Tenerife – but our absolute favs would have to be…
- Endless Summer Vibes – The surf inclusions here are fantastic, with guests doing five lessons and two guided surfs with very seasoned instructors. We also love the uber-nice villa come lodge, which has a rooftop terrace, and the addition of a boat trip and snorkeling adventure. Okay, so it’s not in the very heart of Playa de las Americas, but that’s a good thing in my op.
- The Point x Ika Ika Surf School – If you want to be in the middle of town then The Point’s colab with Ika Ika school is the one. You stay in a cool hostel-style lodge with its own communal space literally steps from the main Americas beachfront. There’s 10 hours of surfing included and use of boards and whatnot to boot.
Playa de las Americas hotels
We don’t actually like a lot of the hotels in Playa DLA. Sorry, that’s just how it is. They’re not really our sort of thing.
That said, they are fantastic if you’re into big, full-service resorts, if you’re traveling as a family, or if you just want something fairly decent and affordable near the beaches and waves.
Bear in mind that most of the rental options here are standalone apartments that are a part of a larger complex, mostly with access to gardens, pools, onsite restaurants and spas.
To be close to the beaches, choose…
- Luxury Palm Tenerife – A very well-kept condo with its own modern kitchen within easy walking distacne of the lefts at La Izquierda. There’s room enough for six, a heated pool on the grounds, and lovely sun terraces to chill on after long surf sessions.
- Sea View at Park Santiago Apartment – A sort of condo setup that’s literally looking over the road at a surf spot. Access to a pool but also some nice features for couples like self-catering.
You’ll find plenty, plenty more options over on Booking.com – we usually use that to search for hotels in Europe because it tends to have super-competitive nightly rates and decent cancellation policies to boot.
Surf lessons in Playa de las Americas
One of the upsides of Playa de las Americas being such a highly accomplished resort destination is that there are oodles of surf schools waiting to help you, your fam, and friends get on the water.
For sheer value for money and quality training, we can reccomend…
- 2-hour group surf lesson with Kontraola Surf School – There are two things that make the offering from Kontraola stand out: The price (it’s like $40 for two hours!) and very accessible style of teaching (they’ve crafted lesson plans that are fun and very easy for even total beginners to get into).
- 2-hour lesson with Shaka Surf Tenerife – Shaka have a more technical approach to teaching, with 20 minutes of on-beach training and theory before you get in the water. This package also includes photos, which is a nice touch.
We might use affiliate links in this post. Basically, you click em’ and we get a little something from your booking or purchase. They help us keep offering more and more in-depth surf guides to awesome places all around the globe. So, thanks for that!
