Getaways just for grownups

CHILDFREE boltholes for guaranteed pool peace and toddler tantrum-free dining. Prestige Holidays has hand-picked some adults-only properties that are ideal for those seeking a peaceful peak summer child-free getaway this August.

Tenerife  - This small rural hotel is in a glorious location central to Tenerife’s Mount Teide walking routes. Just 15 miles from the famous 5000ft peak, the hotel is set within a pine forest in the mountain village of Vilaflor, which is surrounded by four nature parks and has 11 walking trails to explore, with two straight from the hotel: the six mile 'Lunar landscape route' and the 12-mile 'Las Lajas Route'. While the 3.7 mile 'wine route' is ideal for lazy days. 

Packed with sporting opportunities, yet not a kids club in sight, Spa Villalba offers a range of fitness options including: yoga, personal training and a climbing wall. There's also a spa, with extensive treatments including wine therapy, an indoor/outdoor pool, Turkish bath and sauna. 

Departing Gatwick to Tenerife South with Monarch on 3rd August, the price is £648 per person including seven nights bed and breakfast accommodation, return flights and car hire.

Dalmatia, Croatia - One of the loveliest hotels in the central Dalmatia region, the new adults only, boutique style, Hotel Ola overlooks the Adriatic close to Trogir. Many aspects of this fabulous new property are five star including its gorgeous roof top infinity pool with fantastic views that can be enjoyed in blissful peace, the super a la carte restaurant and large sea view rooms.

Hotel Ola is just a five-minute taxi ride from Trogir, a UNESCO listed, walled old city that looks like a mini Dubrovnik. Trogir has an excellent choice of restaurants, bars and boutique shops with some superb galleries. 

Its medieval centre has an “Aladdin’s Cave” feel as narrow cobbled streets lead into tiny courtyards – not to be missed is the impressive St Lawrence Cathedral.
Seven nights departing 16th August cost just £1069 per person.

Paphos, Cyprus  - With Paphos the joint European Capital of Culture in 2017, this summer is the perfect time to experience the celebratory events taking place in the historic UNESCO listed city. 

Just 20-minutes from Paphos airport, The Asimina Hotel is a boutique style, all-suite hotel exclusively designed for adults only and situated on a delightful beach within its own private gardens. Thalassotherapy, Aromatherapy and a ‘couple’s suite’ in the Spa are just some of the facilities, which also include two outdoor freshwater inter-connected pools and one indoor pool – all perfect for peaceful dozing, plus a floodlit tennis court and gym. The luxurious Executive Suites even offer a private pool, a Jacuzzi bath and a private Cabana on the beach, ideal for a quiet read.

Departing London Stansted on 14th August with Ryanair to Paphos for £1418 per person.

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Picture Credit: Pintrest

Take flight to the Canaries

BRITISH Airways is making enjoying the winter sun even easier for customers this year with extra flights from Heathrow and Gatwick being added to the airline's schedules. 

The airline is launching a new route from Heathrow to Tenerife for sun worshippers keen to fly and flop in the Canaries year-round with the first flight taking to the skies from October 21 and return fares available from just £98. British Airways already operates six flights a week to Tenerife from Gatwick. 

The flights are now available to book through ba.com and are scheduled to operate until the end of March, 2018.

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Picture Credit: British Airways

Street Art in Tenerife

#TENERIFE  will be home to #Mueca 2017, its annual international art festival, between May 11-14. The northern town of Puerto de la Cruz will have more than 100 activities for visitors and locals, from theatrical, circus, and music performances to photographic exhibitions and workshops.

Mueca, one of the main cultural events in the Canaries archipelago, will transform Puerto de la Cruz into a giant stage. Mueca is expected to attract 70,000 visitors to Puerto de la Cruz during the four-day street art extravaganza.

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Cruise into the New Year

#CANARIES cruise and #Tenerife stay departing January 13. A seven night full-board #cruise of the Canaries, aboard the Thomson Majesty plus seven nights’ half board at the four star Catalonia Las Vegas Hotel, Tenerife, from £859 per person - saving £706 (45%). Price includes return flights and transfers from London Gatwick.

www.broadwaytravel.com

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Picture Credit: Keulkeulmike Photography flickr.com/photos/44332725@N03/30092546526 North coast viewing via photopin

These boots are made for walking . . . in Tenerife

THE LARGEST island in the Canaries is gearing up to host the third  #Tenerife #Walking Festival, which runs May 23 to May 27, 2017.

With 20 trails varying in length and intensity, the festival is expected to attract 300 ramblers from across Europe. Participants can choose routes from three categories (volcanic, coastal, and forest trails) enabling them to discover a huge variety of terrain and protected landscapes, including the UNESCO-listed Teide National Park, famed for its volcanic scenery.

All of the walking routes are scheduled to last a full day, including travel to and from the starting point, cultural visits, and lunch breaks.

The festival is aimed at families, groups of friends, couples, and individuals who have an interest in walking and a sense of adventure.

Online registration is open now and participation costs €25 and includes a welcome pack, daily transport to each trail, guided walks with a professional expert, and a wristband to enjoy discounts in shops, restaurants, hotels, and museums in Puerto de la Cruz, the festival's home base.

www.tenerifewalkingfestival.com

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Picture Credit: Keulkeulmike Photography flickr.com/photos/44332725@N03/30154822391 Horizon on La Gomera via photopin

Up in the air . . .

NORWEGIAN has unveiled plans to launch two winter sun routes from Manchester Airport, with services to #GranCanaria commencing on October 30 and flights to Tenerife starting on November 1. 

Flights to Gran Canaria will operate every Friday and Sunday for the winter season, while the Tenerife route will run every Tuesday and Saturday.

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Picture Credit: By Wouter Hagens - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1765205

Register now for Tenerife’s 2017 Walking Festival

THE ONLINE REGISTRATION to take part in the #Tenerife #Walking #Festival 2017 is now open. The festival (May 23-27) features a total of 20 walking routes and a packed programme of supporting events designed to showcase the island's natural beauty. 

Highlights include two volcanic routes, “El Palmar – Santiago del Teide” and “Igueque – La Crucita – La Caldera”. All 20 routes, which vary in length and intensity, are grouped into three categories: volcanic, coastal, and green paths.

Also new for next year, it will include a system for calculating each participant's environmental footprint and how to offset it by means of activities that contribute to conserving the protected spaces on the island, such as reforestation.

There will also be food fairs, a stargazing session in the Teide National Park, and Alberto Bernabé, tourism minister for the Tenerife Island Government, comments: ‘This is an extraordinary event for us to showcase all the assets the island offers to both amateur and professional walkers, with a 1,000 miles of hiking trails available.’

To register online, go to www.tenerifewalkingfestival.com.

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Tenerife tops for movie-makers

THE RELEASE of the latest Jason #Bourne movie, shot in Tenerife's capital city, re-affirms the island's appeal as a top filming location for box-office blockbusters. The largest of the Canary Islands was chosen by 88 local and international production companies for their shoots in 2015, which generated record revenues of €19 million (£16 million) for the island’s economy, €11 million (£9.3 million) more than in 2014.

The Jason Bourne production team and cast spent five weeks on Tenerife in September last year to shoot many of the action scenes of the fifth instalment of the series.

In addition to the Bourne team, another 87 film crews, including the ones of Doctor Who and The Only Way is Essex, filmed in #Tenerife last year – most of them attracted by the island's tax incentives (including a reduced VAT rate of seven percent), diversity of landscapes, and 3,000 hours of sunshine a year.

Tenerife has welcomed a total of 1,126 local and international productions since 2000.

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We still love you, Tenerife tells Brits after Brexit vote

THE #TENERIFE TOURISM CORPORATION is running what it calls a #bigwarmhug campaign to tell the British that the island is on their side regardless of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

Reaching out to both holidaymakers and the travel trade, the campaign will be primarily promoted via social media channels and will see the people of Tenerife offering a ‘big warm hug’ to British tourists already on the island. The Tenerife people, including taxi drivers and hoteliers will upload images of themselves hugging British tourists holidaying on the island to demonstrate their love for their most important source market.

Vicente Dorta, director general of the Tenerife Tourism Corporation, comments: ‘We are delighted to be running this campaign. The UK accounts for 34% of tourist arrivals to our island and we are very grateful to the British public. We wanted to run this campaign to tell the British people that we are thinking of them during this uncertain time and that no matter what happens, they are never out of our hearts.’

The tourism minister in the island’s government, Alberto Bernabe, adds: ‘The key to this campaign is to engage with as many people as possible – both on Tenerife and in the UK. With political uncertainty in the UK at the moment, we hope this campaign will show the British people that we are with them no matter what.’

Tenerife welcomed more than 1.7 million British visitors in 2015.

www.webtenerife.co.uk

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Picture Credit: www.webtenerife.co.uk

More Brits going to …

TENERIFE – The latest figures from the #Tenerife Tourism Corporation indicate that more than 800,000 visitors from the UK travelled to Tenerife between January to May this year, up by 20.8% on the previous year.

#BARBADOS – The island is reporting a 10% year-on-year rise in British visitors in the first three months of this year. UK visitor arrivals exceeded 71,000 in the quarter, 24% more than the same period in 2014. Numbers are could rise even more this year, thanks to events planned for the island's 50th year of independence.

#CROATIA – Croatia’s national tourist board reports that a 36 percent increase in UK overnight stays so far in 2016 compared to 2015. 


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Brits flock to Tenerife

DATA from the #Tenerife #Tourism Corporation shows that more than 800,000 Brits visited the holiday destination between January and May … an increase of 20.8% on the previous year. More than 33% of all visitors to Tenerife come from the UK. 

Pia Louw, Travel Industry and Promotion director at the Tenerife Tourism Corporation, said: ‘We are very encouraged to see continued growth from the UK market year-on-year, with average growth of 3.5% for the last five years. The latest figures for the first months of 2016 are also very encouraging and demonstrate that our British visitors recognize that we have so much to offer – from must-visit attractions such as the UNESCO-listed Teide National Park to the latest products including stargazing, sports, and luxury tourism.’

The Irish market also saw very good results last year, helped by a 3.6% increase in scheduled flight capacity to the island. A total of 79,328 Irish travellers visited Tenerife in 2015, a 9% rise compared to 2014.

In total, the largest of the Canary Islands welcomed 5,186,307 worldwide visitors in 2015, a 0.7% increase compared to 2014 and the highest figure since 2008.

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Picture Credit: 26300629182 Dracaena draco via photopin.com

Up in the air . . .

SPANISH airline AlbaStar has launched twice-weekly flights between Birmingham and Palma de Mallorca. The route will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

William Pearson, Birmingham Airport’s aviation director, said: ‘We are very pleased to be welcoming Alba Star, our twelfth new airline in the space of just over a year, to Birmingham Airport. 

Birmingham Airport recently reported that it handled more than one million passengers in May.

EASYJET will operate three additional routes from London Luton this winter … to Tenerife, Lanzarote, and Toulouse. It will operate twice a week to Lanzarote and Tenerife and four times a week to Toulouse.

PASSENGERS travelling to Melbourne, Australia, from the UK will have another direct option with Emirates announcing that flights EK408 and EK409 will begin operating as non-stop services from Dubai in October.  

The current service from Dubai to Melbourne operates via Kuala Lumpur in both directions. The flight changes will save passengers approximately two-and-half hours in travel time in each direction.

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Blue Flags for Tenerife beaches

#TENERIFE has won 15 Blue Flags for its beaches, an increase of four since last year. 

Of the other Canary Islands Gran Canaria was awarded 12, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote six each, La Palma five, and La Gomera one.

Jodi Beard, marketing director of holiday planning specialists Cheap-Holidays-Tenerife.com, comments: ‘We couldn't be happier with these results. Two of my favourite beaches, Las Vistas and Los Cristianos on the popular southern area of the island, have been awarded Blue Flags this year.’

Other Blue Flags awarded on Tenerife include Playa La Arena in Santiago del Teide, which has retained its Blue Flag Status for almost 30 years.

Blue Flag beach awards, announced each year by the Foundation for Environmental Education across almost 50 countries, are judged on four categories: water quality, safety and services, environmental management, and environmental education and information.

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Picture Credit: Tenerife</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin

Art on the streets . . .

#TENERIFE is gearing up to host this year’s International Street Art Festival, known as #Mueca (May 12-15). The northern town of Puerto de la Cruz will have more than 100 activities for visitors and locals, from theatrical, circus, and music performances to photographic exhibitions and workshops. 

Mueca, one of the main cultural events in the Canaries archipelago, will transform Puerto de la Cruz into a giant stage. In order to meet the demands of the increasing number of attendees, the event has extended its performance hours and added a new 'stage' – El Peñón Stadium – to this year's programme. Mueca is expected to attract 70,000 visitors to Puerto de la Cruz during the four-day street art extravaganza.

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£15 million in camera cash for Tenerife

A TOTAL of regional and international production companies chose #Tenerife as the location for their #movie and television show filming last year – 20 more than in 2014. 

Attracted by the island's tax incentives, variety of landscapes, and 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, the productions helped Tenerife to generate record revenues of €19 million in 2015 (£15.38 million).

As well as helping international production companies with locations, permits, and local contacts, the Tenerife Film Commission provides advice on how they can benefit from up to 35% tax allowances – one of the Canary Islands' main tax incentives for audio-visual productions, along with reduced rates of Value Added Tax.

Tenerife has welcomed 1,126 local and international productions since 2000.

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Picture Credit: RememberWhen Movies Were a Reel Thing? :) -[ #FlickrFriday ]-

Spain, Portugal firm favourites

A1 TRAVEL reports that British holidaymakers are turning back to their traditional favourites, and are deciding to stay close to home. All of the #destinations in its list of top five resort regions are in Western Europe. Spanish holiday areas claim four places on the list, with Portugal getting one. 

#Majorca claimed the number one spot. In second place is the Costa Blanca, which includes destinations such as Benidorm. Third on the list is Tenerife, the Algarve, Portugal, is fourth, and the Costa del Sol is fifth.

Many in the industry believe that unrest in popular holiday destinations such as Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey is the main reason behind the trend.

www.a1travel.com
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Boots On!

THE LARGEST island in the Canaries is gearing up to host the second #Tenerife #WalkingFestival, which runs March 29 to April 2. The event showcases Tenerife's natural beauty over four days of hiking.

With 15 trails varying in length and intensity, the festival is expected to attract 300 ramblers from across Europe. 

Participants can choose routes from three categories (volcanic landscapes, coastal paths, and green trails) enabling them to discover a huge variety of terrain and protected landscapes, including the UNESCO-listed Teide National Park, famed for its volcanic scenery.

All of the walking routes are scheduled to last a full day, including travel to and from the starting point, cultural visits, and lunch breaks.

The festival is aimed at families, groups of friends, couples, and individuals who have an interest in walking and a sense of adventure.


Online registration is open now and participation costs €20 (approximately £14) and includes a welcome pack, daily transport to each trail, guided walks with a professional expert, and a wristband to enjoy discounts in shops, restaurants, hotels, and museums in Puerto de la Cruz, the festival's home base. 

www.tenerifewalkingfestival.com

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98006763@N02/9681983128">Volcanic landscape at Mount Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain - 2</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">(license)

Norwegian adds Tenerife flights from Edinburgh

EDINBURGH AIRPORT is gaining a low-cost air link to the Canary Islands with the start of flights by Norwegian to #Tenerife. 

The airline will run two flights a week on the route from Thursday (October 29) with one-way fares starting at £59.

Tenerife becomes the fifth destination served by Norwegian from Edinburgh, joining Copenhagen, Malaga, Oslo, and Stockholm.

The airline’s commercial director, Thomas Ramdahl, said: ‘Tenerife remains one of the most popular holiday getaways for Scottish travellers.’
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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79833402@N06/9126321266">El Teide</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

5th Bourne blockbuster filmed on Tenerife!

 TENERIFE'S position as a major filming location for box-office blockbusters has been reinforced, with Hollywood star #MattDamon recently shooting the fifth instalment of the #Bourne series on the streets of the island's capital, Santa Cruz. 

Visitors saw Damon filming a number of action sequences.

The #Tenerife Film Commission, the unit of the island’s tourism body responsible for promoting the island as a filming location, provided support for the production team. Six hundred people were hired as extras.

Other productions shot on the island include Fast & Furious 6, Clash of the Titans and its sequel Wrath of the Titans, and a Doctor Who episode for the BBC.


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VisitScotland out in force at golf trade event

VISITSCOTLAND has led a mission to #Tenerife with the aim of boosting the reputation of #Scotland as a major #golftourism destination. It took 19 Scottish golf businesses to the International Golf Travel Market (IGTM), the world’s premier trade event for the sport. 

The VisitScotland stand at the market displayed the Claret Jug, the trophy to be awarded to the winner of The Open Championship, which will be held at Royal Troon in 2016 and Carnoustie in 2018.

More than 600 golf tourism suppliers and approximately 350 buyers from more than 60 countries attended the IGTM.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69706441@N03/9369331066">027 - Alex Glasson</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)