Tenerife weather in JanuaryDespite January being the coldest and wettest month of the year in Tenerife, it is still a good month to visit the island if you are looking for winter sun.
The north of Tenerife can also be windier than the south; Orotava Valley can sometimes get some bad winds and you can even notice the usual direction of the wind in that area, by the way the trees are bent.
January is peak cold and wet time in Tenerife, if you want to avoid the wettest month but equally not suffer high temperatures or high prices the best time for you to go is between March and June.
As its name suggests, Fuerteventura (strong winds) is a windy island, making it ideal for surfers and windsurfers. The best wind season for water sports lovers is between June and October.
Tenerife South is less windy than the eastern coast, so staying in Los Cristianos, Las Americas, Costa Adeje, Playa San Juan, Playa Paraiso, La Caleta or Caleta Salvaje will be considerably less windy than El Medano, Punta del Hidalgo or Bajamar for example.
Although the weather is normally good in Tenerife in Sepember, I would say the weather in Turkey is hotter. Length of flight times are around the same, although depending who you fly with you may get a better time of flight with one or the other.
While the rain can be fairly unpredictable, the south of the island will usually be drier and see the most sunshine, and may be the best area to visit at this time of year.
Temperatures in Tenerife are around 20°C in winter with lows of 14°C at night. Tenerife weather warms up again from March until May. You can expect a daily average of 22°C with eight hours of warm sunshine each day.
There are mosquitoes on Tenerife but not a lot.You will find them more in some areas than others, and importantly, they only appear at cer-tain times of the year. Tenerife fans often visit the island at the same time each year. If that happens to be at time when there aren't mossies, then they will never see one.
Protect your eyesEnsure you wear sunglasses outdoors, particularly during peak sunlight hours, between 10am and 2pm, when rays are the strongest. Also, be sure to wear your sunglasses when you're at higher altitudes, where UV light can be especially intense.
The Coriolis Effect in combination with high pressure causes trade winds to move from east to west, providing a cool breeze in the northeast of the island. Consequently, north Tenerife is more humid with heavier rainfall, while the south stays hot and sunny most of the time.
Areas to AvoidBecause of its volcanic background, most beaches in Tenerife are volcanic with black sand which can be hot under the feet. If you're after a traditional sandy beach head to Los Cristianos and leave the southern resorts alone. Playa la Arena is also notorious for pickpockets.
Calima, also known as haze, describes the effect of sand or dust when it is suspended in the atmosphere. Given the Canary Islands' proximity to northwestern Africa (Fuerteventura is only 100km from the Moroccan coastline), the Atlantic archipelago experiences by far the most common episodes of calima across Spain.
Can you drink the tap water in Tenerife? People in the Canary Islands tend to buy bottled water because much of the tap water here is desalinated sea water – it's safe to drink but not particularly pleasant taste-wise.
The sunniest part of the north coast is Santa Ursula, La Victoria, La Matanza, El Sauzal and Tacoronte that lead the way to Santa Cruz, also located on the northeast corner of Tenerife: all of them with about 2900 hours of sunshine.
Temperature in Tenerife in DecemberTenerife is a popular place for sun seekers in December with average maximum temperatures a pleasant 22.2 °C (70 °F) combined with about six hours of sunshine.