Playa Paraiso is a purpose built resort that is part of the municipal district of Adeje on the west coast of Tenerife, sandwiched almost midway between the resort centres of Playa de las Americas> and Callao Salvaje.

For most visitors to the island arriving at the Reina Sofia International Airport, this means a fairly short 20km journey into the resort along the main TF-1 motorway, which under normal driving conditions should usually take no more than around 35 - 40 minutes. However, at least one of the major tour operators is known to make prior transfers into the Costa Adeje district of Playa de las Americas, before then making the short trip over to Playa Paraiso, which can effectively double the transfer time to over 1 hour from the time you actually leave the airport grounds.

This unscheduled "island tour", although very scenic I'm sure, is however forcing many visitors to actively consider making their own arrangements for the journey by either pre-booked hire car, or alternatively taking one of the many taxis from the ranks 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.

Whatever method of transport you ultimately decide upon to make this transfer, and as with the other resorts on the island, we have 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.

It has to be said that if this is your first visit to Tenerife, then your first impressions when approaching Playa Paraiso may not be too positive. Many tour operators describe the resort as being "up and coming". However, the reality of this statement for many visitors during the economic boom years of the late 1990's and early 2000's meant that they were in the middle of a building site, and were outnumbered almost 2:1 by building contractors, labourers, plumbers and electricians etc.

Although construction work has, for all intents and purposes, now finished, the resort still has a feeling of being somewhat of a "work in progress", with quite a few places either up for sale or rent, as well as a number of half built holiday complexes.

The remainder of the resort, is then dominated by a small number of very high rise tower blocks, of which at least two soar to over 20 storeys in height, and it is here in one of these tower blocks, that you will be undoubtedly staying for the duration of your holiday.

At this point you can only admire the creative skills of the individuals who named Playa Paraiso, which literally translates into English as "Paradise Beach". As you have already just discovered, it is certainly not a paradise here, and you will very quickly come to realise that the resort doesn't have a beach either, although in all fairness the lack of a beach isn't too much of an issue for most people, as this is more than made up for with a large salt water lido which forms the centre of the resort.

Being a relatively small resort, the range and number of shops around the town is also somewhat limited, although again in all fairness to Playa Paraiso, most people should not experience too much difficulty finding the everyday holiday essentials, and for a wider selection of bars, shops and restaurants, it's also worthwhile remembering that Playa de las Americas is only 10 minutes away by taxi from the resort centre.