Where to stay in Tenerife: sunny south or green north, area by area

Costa Adeje officially runs from Playa de Troya to Callao Salvaje, but the part to sleep in is the stretch from Playa del Duque to Torviscas, where one seafront promenade links the beaches and you can walk to the sea, the shops and dinner. Playa del Duque, a Blue Flag beach, is the quiet, smart end, and Bahía del Duque faces it across the promenade. Fañabé and Torviscas are the lively family beaches: Fañabé has lifeguards, sunbeds and jet skis, and Torviscas sits behind a breakwater, so its water is usually calm. After dark the Duque end is dinner and a stroll; it gets livelier towards Torviscas, and Playa de las Américas beyond is the nightlife strip.

TITSA's line 40 runs from Estación de Costa Adeje through Los Cristianos to Tenerife South in about 40 minutes, every day; the 343 express crosses to Puerto de la Cruz four times a day by way of both airports; the 110 reaches Santa Cruz in 55 minutes. By road from Playa del Duque, Tenerife South is 21 minutes, Tenerife North 62, the Teide cable car base station 56 and Puerto de la Cruz, on the other coast, 69.

The trade-off: this is a resort, not a town, and in February half term the pools and breakfast rooms show it.

La Caleta is where Costa Adeje's promenade starts and the building stops. The old fishing village is a thin, rocky strip with a row of seafood restaurants along the front, and beyond it the coast turns wild: the cliff and beach of La Caleta are a protected Site of Scientific Interest, and Playa de Diego Hernández, a natural cove with no facilities and strong currents, is reached only by a path. Nights are quiet; what you hear is the sea.

Swimming is the catch. La Enramada, where Royal Hideaway Corales Beach sits, is pebbles, shingle and a little sand; for a proper sandy beach, Playa del Duque is 27 minutes along the promenade and Fañabé 39. TITSA's 452 and 467 link La Caleta with Estación de Costa Adeje, where the line 40 airport bus starts. By road, Tenerife South is 25 minutes, Tenerife North 66, the Teide cable car base station 60 and Puerto de la Cruz 71.

Choose it for grown-up evenings on foot, not for a week on the sand.

The Canaries' first resort still feels like a town. The historic quarter has more than 140 protected buildings, the old fishing quarter of La Ranilla has street-art murals and small restaurants, and the tourism board credits the town with more restaurants and shops than anywhere else on the island. Swimming means the Lago Martiánez lagoons, the San Telmo pools and black-sand beaches rather than a sheltered sandy bay. The town is the coastal end of the Orotava valley, so it climbs: Gran Hotel Taoro sits in Parque Taoro, a 12-minute walk up from Plaza del Charco, and Hotel Botánico is beside the Jardín Botánico, a 22-minute walk. Both walks are easy going down and a climb coming back.

The weather is the honest trade: cooler, damper and cloudier than the south, with gardens to show for it. The buses are good. TITSA's 30 reaches Tenerife North in about 35 minutes, the 100 runs direct to Santa Cruz in 40 minutes to an hour, the 385 loops on weekdays from the bus station through the Botánico and Taoro districts, and the 343 express goes south by way of both airports. By road, Tenerife North is 25 minutes, the Teide cable car base station 50, Tenerife South 71 and Costa Adeje 71; La Orotava's old town is 10.

West of Costa Adeje the building thins out. Guía de Isora has 15 km of this coast: Playa San Juan, an old fishing village that has become a quiet resort, has a promenade with an old lime kiln, and walking on towards Alcalá you pass small black-sand bays and rock pools. Our two hotels here are resorts you are meant to stay inside: The Ritz-Carlton Tenerife, Abama on its own estate above Playa de Abama, a 100-metre cove of pale sand reached down a path with steps, and Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora on the front at Alcalá.

Everything else is a drive. Playa San Juan is 6 minutes from Abama, Costa Adeje 20 from Playa San Juan, and Los Gigantes, the town under cliffs up to 600 metres high, 12. By road from Playa San Juan, Tenerife South is 31 minutes, Tenerife North 72, the Teide cable car base station 54 and Puerto de la Cruz 65. TITSA's 473 links Los Cristianos, Costa Adeje, Playa San Juan and Los Gigantes, but takes 80 minutes end to end.

Pick it for the sunsets over La Gomera and a resort that does everything, not for evenings out.

Behind La Caleta the land climbs to the Golf Costa Adeje course, and on its edge sit our two villa hotels, Royal River and Royal Garden Villas. Nobody comes up here for street life, because there is none. What you get is space, a pool of your own and a sea view rather than a beach, with the course around you and quieter nights than the coast below.

Walking is not how this area works. La Caleta is a 19-minute walk from Royal River and 28 from Royal Garden Villas, and the way back is a climb, so most evenings start with a taxi: La Caleta is 5 minutes by car from Royal River and 4 from Royal Garden Villas. By road from Royal River, Tenerife South is 24 minutes, Tenerife North 65, the Teide cable car base station 58 and Puerto de la Cruz 68.

Book it for privacy, with a hire car or a taxi budget. If you want to stroll out to dinner every night, stay on the front below.

Los Cristianos is a real town around a harbour, with its beach right by the port and Playa de Las Vistas next door; the Fred. Olsen fast ferry leaves here for La Gomera, 50 minutes away. Playa de las Américas, which straddles the Arona and Adeje boundary, is the other face of the south: a seafront of bars, restaurants, cafés and nightclubs, and that is what you hear at night.

The seafront is walkable and well connected. TITSA's line 40 stops in Los Cristianos on its way to Tenerife South, 19 minutes by road, and the promenade runs on to Costa Adeje. By road from Los Cristianos, Tenerife North is 60 minutes, the Teide cable car base station 53 and Puerto de la Cruz 73.

None of our ten is here, because the hotels we would book on this coast are 14 minutes up it by road in Costa Adeje, where the nights are quieter.

Garachico was the island's main port until the Trevejo eruption of 1706 buried it in lava, and the town rebuilt on top is now protected as an Asset of Cultural Interest. It is small, flat and made for walking. Hotel San Roque is 3 minutes from Plaza de la Libertad, where the San Francisco monastery of 1526 faces the square; the Castillo de San Miguel and the El Caletón lava pools are 4 and 5 minutes from it. An old cliff cuts the historic quarter off from the hills behind, and its streets are cobbled.

Everything beyond the town is a drive. By road, Tenerife North is 48 minutes, Tenerife South 67, the Teide cable car base station 72 and Costa Adeje, on the other coast, 55; Buenavista del Norte is 15 minutes west and Puerto de la Cruz 33 east. TITSA's 363 runs along the coast between Puerto de la Cruz and Buenavista through Icod de los Vinos and Garachico. Swimming means the pools or pebble and black-sand beaches, and the weather is the north-west's, with more cloud than the south.

Buenavista is the last town before Tenerife runs out, and 80 per cent of the municipality is protected nature, including the Teno Rural Park. The town is small and quiet around Plaza de Los Remedios and its church. Playa de las Arenas is pebbles and black sand, and the winter sea carries much of the sand away; our hotel here, Hacienda del Conde, sits beside the town's golf course. Most visitors come for the walking, the cliffs and Masca, 20 minutes away by road. Expect more cloud than in the south.

Distances are the price. By road, Tenerife North is 59 minutes, Tenerife South 63, the Teide cable car base station 73 and Costa Adeje 51; Garachico is 15. The road out to the Punta de Teno lighthouse is closed to private cars, walkers and cyclists every day, so the way in is TITSA's 369 from Buenavista's bus station, about 20 minutes and €1 a trip, or a taxi. The 363 runs east along the coast to Garachico and Puerto de la Cruz.

Santa Cruz is a working capital, not a resort: shopping streets, the Mercado de Nuestra Señora de África, the TEA arts centre, the restaurants of La Noria and Calatrava's Auditorio facing the sea. The city beach, Las Teresitas, is golden sand behind a breakwater at San Andrés, 14 minutes by road or TITSA's 910 from the Intercambiador. La Laguna, up the hill, has been a UNESCO World Heritage city since 1999; its pedestrian centre fills with students, taverns and bars, and at about 600 metres it is cooler and cloudier than the coast.

The tram does the joining. Metrotenerife's line 1 runs from Intercambiador in Santa Cruz to Trinidad in La Laguna in about 35 minutes, every 5 minutes at the winter weekday peak and through the night at weekends, and Trinidad is a 7-minute walk from Plaza del Adelantado. By road from Plaza de España, Tenerife North is 13 minutes, Tenerife South 48, the Teide cable car base station 64 and Costa Adeje 59.

None of our ten is here, because this is a city stay inside an island holiday and works best as a day on the tram, except at Carnival, when the 2027 street carnival runs from 19 to 28 February.