Tenerife with little ones

Weather, and the best time to visit

The south coast is popular with families because the south stays warm and dry for much of the year. Winter days usually sit in the low twenties, summer days reach the high twenties, and the sea stays swimmable for much of the year. The figures below are useful for planning, not a guarantee for the week you happen to book. The north and the high ground around Mount Teide National Park can feel several degrees cooler and a good deal cloudier.

For most families with young children, October to May is the gentlest weather window. Days are usually warm rather than fierce, which makes naps, meals and short outings less awkward. February half term is a popular escape from the UK winter, though it's mild rather than guaranteed hot, so a heated pool is worth confirming. Even in the wetter winter months a rainy day in the south usually means a passing shower rather than a washout.

A couple of times a year, most often between January and April, a calima blows in: a hot, dusty wind off the Sahara that hazes the sky, pushes the temperature up and drops the air quality. It rarely lasts long, but it's worth keeping windows shut and outdoor time short while it passes, especially with a baby or anyone who wheezes. The dust doesn't block the sun, so high-factor cream, hats and UV swimwear still matter every month of the year here.

Things to do with little ones

With babies and toddlers, a good Tenerife day can be as simple as pool, beach, nap, snack and a buggy walk once the heat drops. The flat seafront promenade runs almost unbroken from Costa Adeje through Las Américas to Los Cristianos, lined with cafes and easy with a pushchair, which makes it the best free thing to do here. Keep the bigger plans for days when everyone has slept and the weather looks settled.

Siam Park in Costa Adeje is the biggest waterpark on the island, but there's more than just the big slides. Younger children can use the wave pool, lazy river and the children's water-play areas of The Lost City, which has no height limit. The big slides generally need about 1.25 metres and some also have age rules. Under-threes go free. If your child is still very small, don't feel you have to go. Siam Park makes more sense once they can cope with heat, queues, crowds and a missed nap.

For shorter toddler outings, Aqualand Costa Adeje, Jungle Park and the little Monkey Park are easier to keep contained than a full Siam Park day. The south-west coast also has resident pilot whales and dolphins year-round, so a short trip from Puerto Colón or Los Cristianos can give you a proper holiday memory without using up the whole day. The concrete thing to look for is the Barco Azul, or Blue Boat, flag, an official sustainable-vessel scheme whose boats keep around fifty metres from the animals, don't chase them and carry trained guides. With young children, pick a shorter trip with shade on deck and child life jackets.

Loro Parque, near Puerto de la Cruz in the north, is Tenerife's big animal park, with parrots, penguins and an aquarium tunnel. It's a full day and a fairly long drive from the south. It also keeps marine mammals in captivity, which some families would rather not support, and a wild whale-watching trip is the alternative if that matters to you. Mount Teide National Park is the volcanic high ground in the middle of the island, with the cable car climbing from 2,356 to 3,555 metres on the slopes of Spain's highest peak. The thin air and cold at the top, plus the hour-plus mountain drive and the cable-car logistics, are a lot with very small children, who tend to get little from it. Save it for a trip where missed naps won't wreck the day.

Food, milk, nappies and self-catering

Resort restaurants, especially in Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos, are well used to families, with highchairs, early service and plenty of plain options alongside local dishes such as grilled fish, chicken and papas arrugadas, the salty wrinkled potatoes you see everywhere. Spanish dinner runs late, but resort kitchens serve early. Once bedtime is close, somewhere within a short walk of the room is easier than a better menu further away.

For supplies, supermarkets such as HiperDino, Mercadona, Spar and Lidl are easy to find across the resorts. Nappies are easy: they're sold mainly as Dodot, the Spanish equivalent of Pampers, and labelled by weight in kilograms rather than the UK size-and-age. Formula is the awkward one. Spanish shops sell powder almost exclusively, so ready-to-feed cartons are hard to find, and the local equivalent of your brand may not match the UK recipe. Aptamil, for instance, is sold here as Almirón, but it isn't an identical formulation. Bring enough of your own to cover the whole trip and treat local stock only as backup.

A pharmacy, marked by a green cross, can usually order a specific baby product for the next day if it isn't on the shelf. The pharmacist is also your first stop for minor ailments: children's medicines come under different names here, with paracetamol sold as Apiretal and ibuprofen as Dalsy, both dosed by weight, so know your child's kilos. Out of hours, every pharmacy window shows the nearest farmacia de guardia on the duty rota. Still pack any regular or essential medicine from home.

Much of the islands' tap water is desalinated, so it can taste salty and many people drink bottled by choice. For making up bottles, use still bottled water that's low in minerals, or freshly boiled and cooled water. Bring enough formula and snacks from home for the flight and the first day or two, because a late flight, a delayed transfer or a closed shop is exactly when a "we'll buy it there" plan falls down. Milk, nappies and snacks matter just as much in a hotel room as in an apartment, so ask for a fridge and a kettle even if you aren't fully self-catering. A simple breakfast plan then makes the mornings far easier and gives you an escape from buffet hours.