Tenerife maps showing the roads and distances between the various Tenerife towns are not of the highest quality, most have been produced cheaply to sell to tourists who have no idea whether or not their particular map of Tenerife is accurate. Road maps of Tenerife similar to our ordnance survey (but not as accurate) are available through the military although one has to take a trip to the capital, Santa Cruz, passport in hand to ask permission to buy them. I know that it is possible to buy these road maps of Tenerife from a specialist London supplier but can never remember the name of the company.

In general people in the tourist areas do not refer to street names but tend to use the names of well known bars or hotels to give directions, quite sensible as these tend to have large illuminated signs visible from miles around. Several of the popular tourist attractions have produced their own versions of street maps of Playa de las Americas as well as maps of Los Cristianos and also produce smaller versions for places like Los Gigantes maps. Whilst on the subject of Tenerife maps we mustn’t forget our Northern neighbours, road maps of Puerto de la Cruz are necessary to find ones way around the maze of streets here while most road maps of Tenerife usually have a street map of Santa Cruz on the reverse side. Several of the major companies involved in the tourist attraction business use both their small maps of Tenerife and their Tenerife street maps as a promotional tool, o ten having a representative greeting people at the airport with a free street map of Tenerife hoping that they’ll keep them and later see their advertisement for their establishment with instructions of how to get there.

Topographical maps of Tenerife show contour lines very close together indicating at a glance the volcanic ‘cone’ nature of Tenerife. Seen from the North, it’s almost a constant rise from sea level to the summit of El Teide over twelve thousand feet up, whereas from the South there are some flatter areas near the coast and also various plateaus as one ascends. Even a quick glance at Tenerife road maps will indicate the nature of the terrain as they show the roads twisting and turning their way between the coast and the centre of the island. For those independent visitors to the island a map of Tenerife is essential but better still is a good quality Tenerife road map, my favourite being Baedeckers map of Tenerife.