The Ritz-Carlton, Abama Tenerife | Luxury Paradise in Spain 🇪🇸

The Ritz-Carlton, Abama Tenerife | Luxury Paradise in Spain 🇪🇸 The south of Tenerife has a drier landscape and is more touristy than the north, but this is a peaceful spot far from any crowds. The resort is around half an hour’s drive from the airport, and 10 minutes from the nearby fishing village of Playa San Juan for restaurants and shops. The resort is huge and the main hotel is set back from the beach, so access is either via a train that runs twice an hour, or a seven-minute walk followed by furnicular (or steps in high winds). A golf course snakes around the hotel; a transfer service ferries guests there and to the tennis academy above it. Transfers were prompt during my visit save for one wait to get back from tennis at the end of the day. The sprawling hotel's distinctive Moorish pink style fits well with the arid coastline, yet the resort is set in huge swathes of lush garden, so there’s also plenty of tropical foliage around to admire, from palms and banana leaves to cacti and colourful flowers. The vast marble lobby, with bar to the side, has a glass roof and leads on to an attractive terrace (a great sundowner spot) looking through an arch at the centre of the main hotel (called the Citadel), across a large carp pond and swimming pool and out to sea. There are plenty of seating areas dotted around, and although the resort being so spread out can make getting around a bit of an effort, it offers the huge bonus of making it never seem crowded (save perhaps for the golf course, which does get busy). When I visited in February, I’d never have guessed the hotel was at 90 per cent occupancy. The majority of guests are older couples, but families (especially during school holidays) and younger couples also stay. Facilities are extensive. Though the par 72, 18-hole Championship golf course and academy, and seven-court flexi-pave tennis academy (both with stellar views down over the resort and out to sea, and both chargeable) aren't part of the hotel anymore, guests have easy access to them. Four golf and two tennis coaches can help improve your game. There are seven attractively landscaped pools; some surrounding loungers and umbrellas could do with updating, but the main pool has swish Bali beds (€50 [£43] per day per adult, including unlimited drinks, fruit and popcorn [for children], and butler service). There’s plenty to enjoy at the spa - though access is charged at €25 (£21) unless you book a treatment. If like me though you find yourself stiff and achey from all the sporting activity, it’s much-needed relief - my deep tissue massage (€115 [£98]), and time in the sauna and varied hydrotherapy pool, was bliss. There’s also a herbal steam bath, Turkish hammam, cold plunge pool, cold cabin (like a walk-in freezer) and heated beds, plus a spacious relaxation lounge with balcony, serene spa garden with yoga pavilion and refurbed top-spec gym. The beach is set in a small rocky cove (covered with imported sand), with ladders to access two natural swimming pools. There are around 800 members of staff here, including 40 just to tend the gardens - so this is a major operation. Everyone I encountered was very friendly and eager to please. Breakfast was generally a smooth operation, and service in the restaurants was good (the warm and experienced manager of the Beach Club restaurant runs a memorably tight ship), apart from one rather chaotic meal in El Mirador - bread never arrived, there was a wait to be shown to tables upon arrival, and a party seated next to me were brought the wrong food. Transfers around the resort are complimentary.