Hello there! It has been a while since I updated this blog. But that’s been for a reason. In may 2018 a new life was added to this word. I have become mom of a beautiful little girl.

Let me introduce you to: our travelling family!

Our travelling family: Lidewij (me), Lily and Rob. 

I had some down time after she was born and unfortunately I had some health issues. We did travel though. But I did not have the energy to update this blog. So now my health is getting better, it’s about time to tell you about all the adventures we made! For our first real family holiday we went to the Canary Islands. We visited the islands Tenerife and La Palma. In this blog I will tell you all about Tenerife, but not the tourist part. We did not went to the beach, but into the nature. Because we love hiking, especially with little Lily in the baby carrier.

Tenerife: where to stay

Our accomodation in Tenerife was in the north. The north is less touristy. Where we stayed, there were not a lot of beaches, but the coastline was filled with cliffs, which I like a lot!

For our appartment in Tenerife we spoiled ourselves a little bit with this great appartment in Los Realejos

Tip: When you choose a place to stay with a baby or toddler, who still sleeps a lot, it’s so much more enjoyable if you choose an apartment with at least one other room besides the bedroom and an outside area. So when the baby sleeps, you can sit in the living room or outside and relax!

Transport in Canary Islands

In both Tenerife and La Palma we hired a car. For us, with a baby, a car was ideal, because we could also use it at as a place to change diapers. Having our own transport was also less stressfull. With a baby it’s not possible to plan everything. Sometimes there are last minute needs, like a clean diaper, drink or clean clothes. With a car we could go when we were ready and did not have to stress to get on time for public transport. A disadvantage of youw own transport is that you miss the contact with other people, you usually have in public transport. In Canary Islands renting a childseat was very cheap, which was very handy, so we did not have to bring our own.

The town of Los Realejos

Los Realejos. where we slept, is a nice small town in the north of Tenerife. When we were there, I saw no other tourist in town. They had nice colourful houses and a relaxed ambiance. There were some small cafes to eat. It was a nice town to stroll around. And the only time we used the pram. For us this was a lesson, we will not bring the pram again, only a baby carrier. The pram was a lot to carry around all the time and our daughter did not like staying in it. As you see in the photo’s, baby is in the carrier and we are lugging with the pram.

 

El Teide , hiking on a vulcano

El Teide is a vulcano in the middle or Tenerife. The landscape is extraterrestrial, looking like you are on Mars. Ok, El Teide may not bee an off the beaten track location. Apart from the beaches I think El Teide is the second to-go-to place in Tenerife. But you can enjoy a quiet hike here, if you go beyond the viewpoint and take a longer hike at ‘Roques de Garcia’. Most people only do a short walk and go to the viewpoint. We took a 2 hour hike which started at mirador de la rulate. This was a medium hike, the path was not always easy and we had to climb some small rocks. This was a challenge, because my husband was carrying the baby and I was carrying al my camera stuff (which is a quite weight). But we enjoyed a great landscape, beautiful scenery and did not have to share it with too many people. I would really recommend taking this hike. And even with a baby it was doable. Do bring a baby carrier though. The views of the rock formations were just stunning! And you did not have to share them wit a lot of other people! Let the photo’s speak for themselves.

The end of the hike was this beautiful viewpoint.

A perfect place for our little girl to wake up (she slept the whole hike) and feed a bottle.

Rambla de Castro, hiking along sea cliffs

Very close to our appartment was a nice hiking spot, which we found through Tripadvisor.  It’s a hike next to the sea, with views of beautiful sea cliffs. The landscape was very green, totally different from El Teide. We even saw cacti. The path was easy. It was a back and forth path, so you can walk as far as you like to go and then return. The views from this hike were so beautiful!

As you can see, Tenerife is so much more than a beach destination. We did not even go to a beach! Tenerife is also an island perfect for hiking, with stunning nature. And the temperature is great in November. So if you want to go to Tenerife, but do not like the tourist mass. Still go!

Next blog I will tell you about the island of La Palma.