Most people budget for a holiday in Spain and forget that Tenerife isn’t quite Spain, not in the way your wallet expects. The tax rate is lower, the portions are bigger, and if you know where to eat, €12 at lunch will leave you genuinely full until dinner.
But here’s the thing nobody writes about honestly: the gap between a €50 day and a €200 day in Tenerife isn’t really about comfort. It’s about what kind of trip you’re having. And those are two very different questions.
I’ve done all three. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not. Let me tell you what they actually feel like.
What Does a €50 Day in Tenerife Looks Like?
As soon as you wake up you might fancy a coffee at a local café nearby. Not the ones on the seafront with their chalkboard in English, but the ones a couple of streets behind the main promenade areas. If you’re want a quick snack, a cortado and a tostada con tomate will cost around €2.80 which is popular locally. It’s thick bread topped with fresh tomatoes and a small dish of olive oil on the side, that’s how the start a €50 a day might look like.
When the time comes for lunch, you should look for a menú del día. At arund €10 – €12, it comes with a starter, a main dish and bread, which also includes the drink and usually a dessert or coffee to end with. It’s fresh food cooked that morning and to be eaten at a table with a paper tablecloth. You often find better meals on a €10 menú in the non tourist areas than in pricey restaurants in the resorts.
Having dinner on a €50 budget is where you have to be a bit careful so you’re looking around €15 – €18 for a meal with a glass of wine which is fine, but it doesn’t leave much room for anything else.
What €50 doesn’t cover is a hire car, any paid excursion, a second round of drinks, or any kind of spontaneous decision. Remember, you’re planning every euro to maximise the budget.
The TITSA bus network is your best friend at this budget. It’s cheap, it runs regularly between the main towns, and the drivers are generally fine about luggage. A single from the south to Puerto de la Cruz is under €5. You won’t see the Anaga mountains or the back roads above Vilaflor, but you’ll see plenty.
What a €100 Day Actually Buys You
This is the budget where Tenerife stops feeling like a puzzle you’re trying to solve and starts feeling like a holiday.
Breakfast is still simple, maybe €5 to €7, but you’re not rushing. Lunch is still a menú del día most days because honestly, why wouldn’t you, but you might splash out on a proper restaurant once or twice. Dinner is where the €100 day really earns its keep because you can now sit somewhere decent and order fresh fish with a bottle of nice local wine and not feel anxious when the bill comes. You should budget around €35 to €45 for the dinner with drinks and you’re in good shape.
The real difference with a budget of €100 is that you can hire a small car for roughly €25 to €35 a day depending on the season and how far ahead you book and the addition of a car can really change things. You now have the freedom to explore new places on the island with the rental car and unlike public transport, you don’t have to wait or rely on fixed routes when exploring areas of the island.
Drive up to Teide on a clear morning and you’re above the clouds before 10am. The air up there is thin and cold and smells of nothing, which sounds odd but is actually quite striking after days of sea air. Entry to the national park is free. The cable car costs around €27 if you want it, but the views from the base are already worth the drive.
At €100 a day you can also say yes to places like Siam Park which has been consistently rated as one of the best water parks in Europe, costing around €36. You could also go on a whale watching trip off the west coast that goes for around €40 or €50, which fits into a €100 day without breaking the budget.
What €200 a Day Gets You
With the top tier budget, you’re not anxious about the cost and have more room to play with when it comes to selecting your meals and options.
A breakfast at your hotel or somewhere nice for around €10 to €15 is a nice way to start the day. For lunch, you could go somewhere with a terrace and a nice view for about €25 to €30, and then to round up the day, a dinner at one of the better restaurants in either Costa Adeje or Puerto de la Cruz, depending on which side of the island you’re staying.
The dinner will have a nice bottle of wine and a starter, with a delicious main course meal and indulge more by having a dessert you didn’t plan on ordering, and the total bill coming to about €60 to €80 for one person.
You’re staying somewhere good. The Bahía del Duque in Costa Adeje is the kind of hotel that’s been doing this for decades and knows exactly what it’s doing. The Royal Hideaway Corales Resort is newer and sharper. Both make sense at this budget.
You’re hiring a comfortable car, or maybe booking a private tour for a day if you don’t want to drive. You’re doing the whale watching on a small boat rather than a big one. You’re not checking the price before you order a second glass of wine.
I’ll be honest: I’ve had some of my best days in Tenerife on €60 and some fairly forgettable ones on €180. The money smooths things out, but it doesn’t write the day for you. What makes a good day here is usually the same thing that makes a good day anywhere: getting somewhere you didn’t expect to like, eating something you didn’t plan to order, and not being in a rush.
The Thing About Where You Stay That Changes Everything
Here’s something I should mention before I forget, because it affects all three budgets. If your accommodation is all inclusive, your daily spend drops dramatically. You’re essentially just paying for transport, activities, and anything you eat or drink outside the hotel. A €50 daily budget becomes genuinely comfortable when breakfast, lunch, and dinner are already covered.
If you’re self catering, the maths shifts again. The supermarkets in Tenerife are good. Mercadona is everywhere and it’s cheap. A week’s worth of breakfasts and a few dinners cooked at home can save you €100 or more over a week, which you can then spend on one really good meal out instead of five mediocre ones.
One Last Thing
Whatever you budget, spend at least one evening eating somewhere with no photos on the menu and no one outside trying to wave you in. Order whatever the table next to you is having. Drink the local wine, which is better than it has any right to be for the price. Stay until the place starts to empty out.
That’s the version of Tenerife I keep coming back for. It doesn’t cost €200 a day. It doesn’t even cost €100. It just costs a bit of willingness to wander slightly off the obvious path.
