Costa del Silencio is a small purpose built tourist development on the south coast of Tenerife that is part of the municipal district of Arona and approximately 12km to the east of Playa de las Americas.

The name Costa del Silencio literally translates into English as "The Silent Coast". Whilst I'm sure that many years ago, before the influx of tourists to Tenerife, this name may have been very appropriate, however, since the opening of the Reina Sofia International Airport in 1978, which is a mere 12km away to the north east, silence is certainly a sparse commodity here.

This close proximity to the Tenerife Sur airport does however, also make for one of the shortest resort transfers on the island. Generally speaking it would normally only take around 15 minutes from the time of leaving the airport grounds to be stepping foot into the town. For most visitors to the resort, this means a short journey by one of the numerous taxis that are always standing outside of the arrivals hall.

Although these taxis do all operate on a fixed price basis, this "fixed price" can, and often does, vary slightly depending upon the number of suitcases, the time of day or night of the journey, and of course the number of passengers carried. It's also worthwhile mentioning that as a rule, taxis do not normally carry child seats, so very small children will have to sit on their parents knees for the journey.

If this is a cause for concern, we strongly recommend that you make arrangements for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a child seat is needed for the journey. Pre-booked taxis are often a little more expensive, although as with all things in life, you only get what you pay for.

Another option for this transfer, that both experienced or cost conscious travellers may wish to consider, is of course by using public transport.

At a fraction of the cost of a taxi the Transportes Interurbanos de Tenerife linea 470 bus route passes through the town on its journey onto Playa de las Americas.

Although public transport is obviously much cheaper, the time taken for the journey will be substantially longer, and may also require a lengthy walk from the bus stop to your chosen accommodation.

Whatever method of transport you ultimately decide upon to make this transfer, and as with the other resorts on the island, we have also put together the basic route for the journey, complete with links to maps where appropriate, and this is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

The resort now known as Costa del Silencio was one of the first areas of Tenerife to be specifically developed for tourism. This occurred during the late 1960 in the form of the Ten Bel complex, which was a joint venture between both Tenerife and Belgium businesses, as reflected in the development name. The Ten Bel complex still dominates the centre of the resort, which after almost 40 years of continued occupation, is now beginning to show it age when compared to the newer developments taking place elsewhere on the island.

The impact that Ten Bel has had on the economy of the area is undoubtedly dramatic. The overall complex is now divided into 4 distinct areas known as Alborada, Eureka, Maravilla and Primavera, with each of these areas having its own swimming pool and other communal facilities. Although the development does have a fair number of British visitors, it is however, the Germans and Belgians who make up the majority of tourists here by a very large margin.

In recognition of the large numbers of self catering visitors that Ten Bel attracts to Costa del Silencio each year, this has directly lead to the opening of 3 fairly large commercial centres in the town known as CC Trebol and CC El Chaparral, which are opposite each other and adjacent to the Ten Bel complex, along with the CC Coralmar Square at the eastern end of the town. All of the supermarkets in the resort do stock many recognisable UK branded goods, although in recognition of the "captive market" the prices charged may be considerably higher than those you would expect to pay at home.

Something that we, along with many other visitors to Costa del Silencio, consider to be a major drawback to the resort is however, the absence of a beach of any description. The nearest beach of any size to the resort is however a short walk away west, towards the town of Las Galletas, and even this is really limited to a narrow strip of stony black sand where, despite the construction of a large concrete sea defence that has been built to shelter the small number of fishing boats that are based here, the Atlantic waves attract a large number of local surfers and body-boarder each evening.

In recent years the Arona municipal council has come under continued pressure from both the local residents and the Chamber of Commence of Las Galletas and Costa del Silencio, to improve this section of coastline, and plans are currently in the pipeline to both upgrade, and extend, the beach at Las Galletas with imported sand, along with the planting of palm trees and flowering plants along the sea walk that join the two resort centres.

In reality the bureaucratic processes necessary to approve this expenditure is quite lengthy, and as a result, it may be many years before visitors to this area of Tenerife actually witness these long awaited changes.

Until a few years ago Las Galletas was little more than a small traditional Canarian fishing village, however, the rapid expansion of tourism at Costa del Silencio has in turn seen a corresponding growth at Las Galletas too.

The small natural harbour has now been expanded to provide moorings for an ever increasing number of leisure craft, and behind the harbour is a fairly smart promenade that has attracted a number of very good fish restaurants to open, which combined with a varied selection of other shops, bars and restaurants, have made this area of the town a very popular meeting place for locals and visitors alike.

For most people, a leisurely 10 minute stroll will take you into the centre of Las Galletas from Costa del Silencio, making it an idea destination for an early evening drink.