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How many miles from the UK to Tenerife?

A question that people often ask, is "How far is Tenerife from the UK?" The distance between London, England and the capital of the island of Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is approximately 1,800 miles or 2,897 kilometres, "as the crow flies". But we haven't seen many crows on holiday, so here are the distances between the main UK & Irish airports offering direct flights to Tenerife:

Flights from England to Tenerife
Birmingham (BHX) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1849 miles (2976 kilometres)
Blackpool (BLK) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1904 miles (3064 kilometres)
Bournemouth (BOH) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1748 miles (2813 kilometres)
Bristol (BRS) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1764 miles (2839 kilometres)
Doncaster Sheffield (DSA) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1926 miles (3100 kilometres)
Durham Tees (MME) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1979 miles (3184 kilometres)
East Midlands (EMA) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1881 miles (3027 kilometres)
Leeds Bradford (LBA) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1936 miles (3116 kilometres)
Liverpool (LPL) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1880 miles (3026 kilometres)
London Luton (LTN) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1846 miles (2971 kilometres)
London Gatwick (LGW) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1809 miles (2911 kilometres)
London Gatwick (LGW) - Tenerife North (TFN) - 1775 miles (2857 kilometres)
London Stansted (STN) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1861 miles (2995 kilometres)
Manchester (MAN) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1893 miles (3046 kilometres)
Newcastle (NCL) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 2007 miles (3230 kilometres)
Source: Great Circle Mapper and Metric Conversions Via: Yahoo Answers.

Flights from Scotland to Tenerife
The distance to Tenerife from Scottish airports will be a wee bit further:
Aberdeen (ABZ) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 2132 miles (3431 kilometres)
Edinburgh (EDI) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 2034 miles (3273 kilometres)
Glasgow (GLA) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 2013 miles (3240 kilometres)
Prestwick (PIK) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1988 miles (3199 kilometres)

Flights from Wales to Tenerife
Cardiff (CWL) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1752 miles (2820 kilometres)

Flights from Northern Ireland to Tenerife
Belfast (BFS) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1909 miles (3072 kilometres)

Flights from Eire to Tenerife
Cork (ORK) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1695 miles (2727 kilometres)
Dublin (DUB) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1828 miles (2941 kilometres)
Shannon (SNN) - Tenerife South (TFS) - 1746 miles (2810 kilometres)

We were quite amused by World Airport Codes who not only quote the distance between London Gatwick (LGW) and Tenerife South (TFS), but also estimate how long it would take in various types of aircraft. It's a pity the Boeing 747 or Airbus A340 are not operated on the route, because the estimate is that they'd cut the time down to 3 hours and 12 minutes. However, be glad your holiday flight isn't in a Cessna SkyHawk, as they estimate the journey time from Gatwick to Tenerife in one of those as 12 hours and 46 minutes. 


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A complete idiots guide to Tenerife

Tenerife's elephants at the Loro Parque. Photo: Gerald England.

From research carried out by The Association for British Travel Agents (ABTA) and Thomas Cook, The Telegraph this week has compiled a list (via Boing Boing) of 20 ridiculous complaints made by holidaymakers (obviously, a companion guide to their 20 stupid questions asked by tourists.) Stories like this make me want to crawl into a hole or apologise profusely for being British, but it helps one to understand why people have some pretty weird perceptions about Tenerife, when you discover that this is the way some folk's brains work.

So, for those who still harbour misconceptions, here are answers to just some of people's stupid questions, as they might apply to Tenerife:
 
Lots of the sand in Tenerife is black. It's not yellow (except the imported bits) and it's not white. It's black and this doesn't mean it's dirty. It may still be too sandy for some people, but the colour is a bonus, designed so you can see the grains in your egg sandwiches (paraphrasing TV presenter Juliet Morris on a visit to Puerto de la Cruz.)

You'll generally have to leave the resort to see too many (Canarian) Spanish people in Tenerife! It only takes about 4 hours to fly back to the UK (depending which airport) from Tenerife, about the same amount of time as it took to get there. And, if it makes you feel better, it will take the Americans much longer, because it's their turn to cross the pond

You'll need swimming trunks (or cozzies) and towels at water parks, because the water in Tenerife is still wet.

Ray Ban sunglasses bought from street vendors in Tenerife are still fake.

Al Campo, La Villa Shopping Centre in La Orotava

Shopkeepers are often still lazy (!) and take siestas in towns and cities like La Laguna and Santa Cruz, but have no fear they're far too keen to take your money in the big shopping malls or the resorts to slack off at these times.

Putting a 3,718 meter / 12,200 foot volcano in Los Rodeos flight path was not the cause of the 1977 disaster.

There's no lake at La Laguna (it means lagoon, or lake), nowadays, but you can find man-made lakes at Erjos where you can go bird watching. But the Teide National Park was not man-made! And all of the caves and galleries are underground. Get used to seeing topless, bottomless and totally naked sunbathers. As well as naked male hikers, apparently.

Unlike Wales, Tenerife is not closed in winter: it's Eternally Spring year round.

The mosquitos still bite in Tenerife and, while it's not considered a risk area for humans (for neither malaria nor West Nile virus), for those of you who live on the island and have pets, it IS inside a risk area for heartworm

Don't worry, there won't be fish in the sea for long, if the authorities get their way and contaminate it with their industrial port in Granadilla.

They don't turn the mist off in the island's Laurisilva cloud forests, ever.

Scottish shortbread on sale in Al Campo, La Villa.

They do sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts in Tenerife, as well as Bourbons, many other brands you'll recognize and whole racks of Scottish shortbread, for some unknown reason. (Ironically, their own - French - brand English Breakfast Tea is the nicest I've had anywhere in the world.) 

There are a LOT of hills and some dodgy pavement surfaces in Tenerife, so you might not want to wear high heels, unless you're a bloke at Carnaval, of course.

Queuing is a whole lot different, more relaxed and casual, in Tenerife, but if it's being done outside, you'll still find that there's no air conditioning!

To get from one Canary Island to another, you should catch the same type of bus as you might to get from the Orkney Islands to the Shetland Islands!

Mojo sauce spread over Canarian wrinkly potatoes

If you don't like spicy food at all, you're in luck in Tenerife, because the locals seem to be scared stiff of it too. Just steer clear of the red mojo sauce.

People (women, mostly) get pregnant in Tenerife in much the same way as they do anywhere else in the world and still just as unexpectedly (but if you stay on the island to have the baby, you'll find the level of care far exceeds the UK.)

Sorry, we don't have any information about Samantha Fox's boobs either, but apparently we did have some data concerning Jennifer Lopez' bum.

A Playa is not where the Gangstas live in Tenerife. Actually, scratch that!

And, finally if you're a man of a sensitive nature, coming to Tenerife for your honeymoon, you'll be relieved to know that the elephants pictured above are the only ones we know of in Tenerife (at the Loro Parque) and, hopefully, that's as aroused as they'll ever get.

Tenerife Land of Eternal Christmas

Sunbathing SantaDesert Island ChristmasScuba Diving SantaTropical Santa
Santa's Having a Whale of a TimeSurfing SantaWaterski SantaCamel Rodeo Santa
With a wide range of products in each design, click the pics (above) to see the full selections.