Tenerife's Coast of Silence Costa del Silencio

Costa del Silencio is a tourist resort and residential area in the extreme south of Tenerife, and its name means “Coast of Silence” in Spanish.

This might have been an accurate description when the area was first made but it now has regular flights arriving and departing from the nearby Reina Sofía airport. So perhaps it is not as silent now as it once was but the closeness of the airport can be a real advantage for visitors to the island.

Costa del Silencio includes the Ten-Bel self-catering resort complex as well as the Amarilla Bay resdiential area.

Ten-Bel took its name from the developers who were from Tenerife and Belgium. Costa del Silencio's designer was José Antonio Tavio, who masterminded its creation back in 1963. He was also came up with the plans for much of the surrounding area and there is a bust of him by the Coral Mar Square shopping precinct. The avenue that runs right through Costa del Silencio is named after him - Avenida José Antonio Tavio.

Costa del Silencio consists of several community housing complexes, such as the Chaparral and Chayofita complexes. These residential areas have swimming pools that residents and tenants share, as well as a range of shops, restaurants and bars in the neighbourhood. There are a number of supermarkets in Costa del Silencio too.

A lot of the permanent residents, as well as those who rent holiday accommodation in Costa del Silencio are British, so this means that English is commonly spoken in the area. However, there are also Spanish, Germans, Belgians and French living in the housing complexes of Costa del Silencio, which gives the area a very cosmopolitan feel.

Coral Mar Square is mostly used by the British ex-pats and holiday-makers though, and it has a traditional fish and chip shop to cater for them. There is also regular live entertainment provided in the Starlight cabaret bar, and events are often held outside in the square itself as well.

Many other venues in the area, such as Alondras Park, stage regular shows by singers and musicians. Flicks Bar in Amarilla Bay is one of the best-known of these with entertainment every night and Sunday afternoon cabarets.

If you fancy more of a traditional Spanish bar the Camaleon is the place to go.

The Amarilla Bay residential complex is right next to the sea, as well as being alongside the conservation area known as Montaña Amarilla (Yellow Mountain.)

Costa del Silencio has no proper beaches although there are a few places you can get down to the water and couple of small coves that sunbathers use.The area is however popular with divers.

Although Costa del Silencio has no real sandy beaches the neighbouring village of Las Galletas does, as well as offering lots of other facilities including a bank, a post office, a cultural centre, more restaurants and a dive centre. Las Galletas has a sea front promenade and a marina and many people from Costa del Silencio enjoy spending time there.

For those who enjoy sport, Costa del Silencio has tennis courts and bowling greens and a golf course is scheduled to be built alongside some of the main housing complexes.

There are plenty of regular TITSA buses to and from Costa del Silencio. Services run to El Médano and Granadilla in the one direction, as well as travelling to the tourist resorts of Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Américas in the other.

There is another bus that runs from Costa del Silencio all the way up to the capital of Santa Cruz in the north of the island.

Costa del Silencio doesn't offer much in the way of traditional Canary Islands culture but it is nevertheless popular with many British visitors to Tenerife and has a large community of Brits. If you want to find a more Spanish area or go out and enjoy the countryside this is easy to do.

Because Costa del Silencio is right in the south of Tenerife it usually gets plenty of warm and sunny weather.