Although Puerto Santiago was once formally a small fishing village in the municipal district of Santiago del Teide along Tenerife's west coast, its maritime heritage has now been almost completely forgotten in favour of the islands more profitable tourist industry.

The resort of Puerto Santiago is now central to the largest tourist development along the west coast, and along with the resorts of Los Gigantes to the north, and Playa la Arena to the south, is collectively marketed by many of the larger tour operators under the generic name of Los Gigantes.

Although technically the three villages still exist in their own right, for all intents and purposes, the boundaries between them have become increasingly blurred to the point where they have now all merged to form the single resort destination.

In common with both Los Gigantes and Playa la Arena, the transfer from the Reina Sofia International Airport in the south of the island, into Puerto Santiago is quite a long journey, and although for a substantial part of this journey north you'll be travelling along the main TF-1 motorway, the geographic nature of Tenerife dictates that the route must follow within a few kilometres of the coast, resulting in a transfer time of around 1.1/4 to 1.1/2 hours from the time you leave the airport grounds.

Whilst we recognise that most of the visitors to Tenerife will be on a traditional tour operators package holiday, and this journey from the airport into the resort will be totally inconsequential.

We should point out that many tour operators now consider this element of the package to be an optional extra, and something that visitors should be prepared to pay extra for.

As a direct result more people than ever, are now considering making the journey either by taking a taxi from the ranks outside of the arrivals hall, or pre-arranging for the collection of a hire car from one of the many agencies that operate from the airport.

Whatever method of transport you decide upon to make the airport transfer, and as with the other resorts on the island, we have put together the basic route for this 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.

Of the three resorts, Puerto Santiago is probably the most traditional, and although visitors may still witness a small degree of building works going on, this is for the most part purely cosmetic, or the refurbishment of existing buildings, and certainly not on the same scale as the development that is currently going on elsewhere on the island.

Puerto Santiago does have a very small beach, but to be honest it does lack the basic facilities and amenities that so many visitors have now come to expect. In all fairness to the region, you will find one of the best beaches along the entire west coast, less than 5 minutes away to the south at Playa la Arena, and although its black volcanic sands may at first appear off putting to some, this beach has been awarded the internationally recognised Blue Flag for cleanliness, water quality and local amenities, every year since 1989.

At this point we would draw you attention to the fact sadly missed by many tour operators, that being a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the seas along the west coast of Tenerife do experience some very strong undercurrents, so particular care must be exercised with weak or inexperienced swimmers. A series of warning flags are in constant operation, and as a very general rule green means safe, yellow warns you to be careful, and red you mustn’t swim at all.

Certainly a major consideration before booking a holiday here is this area of Tenerife is very hilly, and therefore would not be suitable for visitors who experience any form of walking difficulty or equally for parents with very young children in push chairs.

Having said that, for the majority of people moving around the resort, or further afield into Playa la Arena, which is little more than 1/2km away to the south, is fairly easy and relaxed, and once you know the route, even Los Gigantes is only a 20 minute walk away over the cliffs. Although again if the thought of a 20 walk is not too appealing, then don't worry too much as the Transportes Interurbanos de Tenerife also run a very reliable bus service between the resort centres, and even a taxi only costs around 3€ for the trip.