Tool
Sea conditions: which coast, which month
Tenerife has a calm coast and a rough one, and which is which does not change. If you are booking for the sea rather than the sun, this is the table that decides the side of the island.
Pick a wave threshold
Rough guide: under 0.5 m is flat, 1 m is lively for children, over 1.5 m is where the red flag starts appearing on exposed beaches.
| Beach | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playa de las Americas / Costa AdejeSouth-west | 35% | 35% | 60% | 34% | 7% | 8% | 15% | 19% | 7% | 19% | 27% | 38% |
| El MedanoSouth-east | 27% | 20% | 33% | 28% | 19% | 24% | 33% | 34% | 13% | 9% | 9% | 18% |
| Puerto de la Cruz (Playa Jardin)North | 73% | 73% | 94% | 67% | 35% | 31% | 31% | 42% | 46% | 64% | 69% | 77% |
| Las TeresitasNorth-east | 35% | 33% | 44% | 32% | 19% | 16% | 26% | 31% | 23% | 18% | 16% | 30% |
Water temperature
| Beach | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playa de las Americas / Costa Adeje | 20.9° | 20.3° | 20.5° | 20.6° | 21.4° | 22.2° | 23.2° | 24.0° | 24.3° | 24.0° | 23.2° | 22.2° |
| El Medano | 20.8° | 20.2° | 20.3° | 20.4° | 21.1° | 22.1° | 23.1° | 24.1° | 24.1° | 23.9° | 23.1° | 22.0° |
| Puerto de la Cruz (Playa Jardin) | 20.8° | 19.9° | 20.1° | 20.4° | 21.1° | 22.4° | 22.9° | 23.9° | 23.9° | 23.9° | 23.2° | 21.9° |
| Las Teresitas | 20.7° | 20.1° | 20.0° | 20.4° | 21.1° | 22.1° | 22.9° | 24.2° | 24.1° | 23.8° | 23.1° | 21.7° |
Median sea surface temperature in °C.
What the record says
The north–south split is the whole story, and it is bigger than most people expect. In October, waves top 1.5 m on 64% of days on the north coast at Puerto de la Cruz, against 19% in Costa Adeje. Same island, same day, 40 km apart. This is why Puerto de la Cruz built a lido and the south did not.
The water temperature range is narrower than the air temperature range and it lags the seasons: the sea peaks in September at about 24.3 °C and bottoms out in February at 20.3 °C. That is a difference of only 4.0 degrees across the whole year, which is the actual reason the island sells itself on winter sun. It is also why the sea feels coldest in March, not January — the water is still catching up with the air.
What this cannot tell you
These come from a model grid point offshore of each beach. They capture the swell arriving at that stretch of coast, not what a specific cove does with it. A sheltered bay behind a breakwater will be calmer than its number; a beach with an awkward shore break can be nastier than its number on the same day. Use it to choose a coast and a month, and use the flag on the beach to choose whether to go in.