Girls’ holidays are the best way to end the summer. My seven friends and I began planning our holiday in May and after many arguments about where to visit (Kavos was too crazy and Bulgaria was too scary), we settled on Tenerife, costing only €330 for the week. If you’ve ever seen The Inbetweeners Movie, it was exactly like that, except without the awkward dancing scene.
We arrived in Tenerife in the evening and the 27 degree heat was a lot for our pale, Irish skin. Our hotel was located just outside Los Christianos, the tamer of the two main towns. We ate dinner in a steakhouse on our first night, and were greeted with an amazing fireworks display (apparently, they were for some religious holiday, but we liked to pretend that they were for us). We spent the night exploring and getting used to our surroundings, ending our night at the strip.
Nightlife in Tenerife is second to none, and there is a large strip called Los Veronicas that is home to several bars and nightclubs. On Night 1, we ventured into several of the clubs. Reps were approaching us left, right, and centre, offering us drinks promotions which we couldn’t resist. As the nights went on, we stuck to the same clubs, but on our first night we wanted to try everywhere. I won’t name names, but one member of our girl gang wandered to the beach on our first night and came back covered head to toe in sand. We knew from the beginning that it was going to be a great holiday. Drinks were cheap and the music was good, and there was no such thing as a bad night.
Pool days were common on our holiday, mostly to cure hangovers, but also because of how fun it was. We bought pool donuts and spent hours in the water and sun. Well, I spent most of my time in the shade as I am translucent and prone to sunburn, but I’m sure the sun was nice too. Usually, our day at the pool was followed by some ice cream to get us through the “getting ready” period before we headed out for the night.
If there’s anything Tenerife does right; it’s food and for roughly €15 a meal, you can’t go wrong. We went to a different restaurant every night, beginning with chain restaurants like Tony Roma’s, and ending with a Mexican. If I had to recommend anywhere to eat there, it would have to be Bianco. Bianco is an Italian restaurant in Los Americas, and I have never had a more delicious pasta in my life as the one I got there. Live music set the scene and our waiter gave us a voucher for half price cocktails, so it was a win-win for college students on a budget.
If you’re like me and like to keep busy and active, there is an abundance of things to do in Tenerife. One day, we made our way to Siam Park, the best waterpark in Europe. This was my favourite day in Tenerife, I couldn’t have had more fun and I didn’t get sunburnt (AMAZING!). Another day, we experienced a boat party, something none of us had done before. Free drink, great music, and jumping into the middle of the sea, what more could you want? Our last day in Tenerife was spent at the beach, where we spent hours getting thrown around by the waves of the Atlantic before going on jet skis and a banana boat, where there were moments that I definitely thought that I was going to die but didn’t, obviously.
One of the best decisions I have ever made was going to Tenerife with seven of my best friends. We made the best memories, had some great experiences, and bought a lot of English breakfasts between us. I lost money from excessive spending, but gained lots of freckles and I miss the cheap €12 litre bottles of Smirnoff and friendly taxi men who joined in with us when we sang Despacito. It was probably the most fun I have ever had and after writing this, I really wish I was lying in a bikini by the pool eating Cheetos.
Photo by Ricard Geli Soler on Unsplash