Tenerife golf: a winter-sun trip from banana terraces to Atlantic cliffs

At the weather station by Tenerife South airport, Spain’s state weather agency AEMET records an average January high of 21.7°C, roughly 190 hours of sunshine a month through the winter, and only 132mm of rain in an entire year.

The south and west are sunny resort country, where courses have been carved out of old banana plantations. The north is greener, cooler and older, with a club whose roots go back to 1896. In between sits Mount Teide, Spain’s highest peak, which you will see from almost everywhere.

October to April, and a layer for the north

For golf, October to April is the best time to go. AEMET’s figures for the south show average highs of 22–25°C from November to March, with the wettest months (November and December) still averaging under 30mm of rain. Summer is hotter and almost completely dry, and green fees fall (Costa Adeje’s summer rate is roughly half its winter one), but expect real heat in the middle of the day.

In the north, the Real Club de Golf de Tenerife sits 600 metres up, so pack a layer if you are heading to Tacoronte.

The south-west: Abama

Abama, designed by Dave Thomas and built in 2005, climbs the lower slopes of Teide above Guía de Isora. The club counts more than 20,000 palm trees, 22 lakes, waterfalls and white-sand bunkers, and almost every hole looks out over the Atlantic to the neighbouring island of La Gomera.

The slope rating from the blue tees is 143, and the course rises and falls sharply. The 5th, a short uphill par 4, finishes on a green the club puts 315 metres above sea level, the highest point on the course, and warns it needs about two clubs more than the yardage suggests. The 9th then plunges back down, with a waterfall hazard in the fairway; the club advises shorter hitters to lay up and leave about 120 metres in.

The resort next door is The Ritz-Carlton Tenerife, Abama, home to M.B, Martín Berasategui’s two-Michelin-star restaurant. Tee times are booked online through the club, and rates vary with the date, so check when you book.

The south: Golf Costa Adeje

Further down the same coast, Golf Costa Adeje opened on 3 October 1998 on a former banana plantation. Designer José “Pepe” Gancedo kept the old terraces and stone walls and built the course around them, so you play across broad, stepped fairways with views of La Gomera. It is an 18-hole par 72, with the nine-hole Los Lagos course alongside for beginners and higher handicaps.

According to the club, Costa Adeje hosted the 2003 Spanish Open, with Seve Ballesteros in the field, three editions of the Ladies European Tour’s European Ladies Open (2005, 2008 and 2009), and two European Tour events in spring 2021, the Tenerife Open and the Canary Islands Championship.

Costa Adeje publishes its rates. At the time of writing, an 18-hole green fee is €110 until 31 October and €145 in winter (1 November to 31 March 2027), with early and late offers at €116 and €94 in winter and a buggy at €42. Suite Villa María, a five-star resort of 78 villas on the estate, gives its guests priority tee times between 09:00 and 10:30.

The north-west: Buenavista, Seve’s clifftop course

If you hire a car for one day, use it to cross to Buenavista Golf, on the far north-western tip of the island. Seve Ballesteros designed it, and it opened in 2003, according to the Canary Islands tourism board. The par-72 course measures 6,150 metres and sits between the Atlantic and the protected Teno mountains, a backdrop of dark cliffs and ravines that looks nothing like the resort south.

The tourism board notes that five greens are played with waves close by, and singles out the 15th and 17th as the holes where the ocean comes most into play. The club’s own description is that some holes feel as if you could hit the ball straight into the water. The five-star Meliá Hacienda del Conde sits beside the course and sells golf packages; tee times can be booked online.

The north: Real Club de Golf de Tenerife

Finish in the hills above Tacoronte, close to Tenerife North airport. The Real Club de Golf de Tenerife was founded on 18 December 1932, which makes it one of the oldest clubs in Spain, and it traces its roots further back to the Orotava Golf Club of 1896 and the Tenerife Golf Club of 1912.

The course was laid out by four of the club’s own leading players. It sits 600 metres above sea level, in what the club calls the greenest and freshest part of the island, and plays to a par of 71 over 5,740 metres, among mature native trees. It hosted the Spanish Open in 1964. Holes have names rather than just numbers, from El Nota at the 1st to L’Último at the 18th.

Photo: alljengi / Wikimedia Commons (2017), CC BY-SA 2.0

Visitors can play on weekdays. At the time of writing, the club lists a winter visitor green fee (1 October to 30 April) of €120 for 18 holes, falling to €80 in summer, with buggies at €35. Bookings are made by email through the club.

Flights into Tenerife South, and a hire car

Most international visitors fly into Tenerife South (TFS), at Granadilla de Abona. It handled almost 14 million passengers in 2025 and has direct flights from a long list of UK airports, including Manchester, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham and Bristol, plus plenty of German and other European cities. Tenerife North (TFN), near La Laguna, mainly serves mainland Spain and the other islands.

A hire car makes this trip. Abama and Costa Adeje are on the same stretch of the southern coast, but Buenavista and Tacoronte are on the opposite side of the island and are best treated as full days out, or as a night or two based in the north.

How we would plan it

If you only play one course, make it Abama; if you play two, make the second Buenavista.

• Base yourself in the south-west for four or five nights, with Abama and Costa Adeje as the core rounds.
• Give Buenavista a full day, and stop in the Teno area on the way back.
• Play the Real Club on a weekday, as visitor green fees are for Monday to Friday, ideally on your way to or from the north.
• Book early for winter. November to March is peak season for European golfers, and the best morning tee times go first.

Sources

• AEMET: Standard climate values, Tenerife Sur Aeropuerto (1981–2010)
• Abama Golf: Golf course
• Abama Golf: Home
• The Ritz-Carlton Tenerife, Abama
• Golf Costa Adeje: Championship course
• Golf Costa Adeje: Golf rates
• Golf Costa Adeje: 25th anniversary
• Golf Costa Adeje: Hotel Suite Villa María
• Hello Canary Islands: Buenavista Golf
• Buenavista Golf: The course
• Real Club de Golf de Tenerife: Green fees and information
• Real Club de Golf de Tenerife: History of the club
• Real Club de Golf de Tenerife: The course
• Wikipedia: Teide
• Wikipedia: Tenerife South Airport
• Wikipedia: Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport