Playa La Tejita
Playa La Tejita is a long, open stretch of volcanic sand on Tenerife’s arid southern coast, backed by the red cone of Montaña Roja and shaped by steady trade winds. Less built‑up than nearby El Médano, it offers space, horizon and a raw southern landscape.
Playa La Tejita stretches along the southeastern coast of Tenerife, just beyond the town of El Médano, in a landscape shaped by old volcanic activity and near-constant wind. The beach runs wide and largely undeveloped, a contrast to the more built-up seafront a few minutes away, with the land behind kept low and scrubby by the dry, sun-baked conditions typical of this part of the island.
Dominating the view is Montaña Roja, the reddish volcanic cone that rises directly behind the sand and gives the beach its sense of enclosure. The cone is part of a protected natural area, its slopes bare of building and covered in the sparse, drought-tolerant plants that survive on this stretch of coast. Paths skirt its base, giving walkers a route between the beach and the headland with views back over the water.
El Médano itself, a short walk along the coast, is one of the Canary Islands’ established centres for windsurfing and kitesurfing, and the same steady trade winds that make the bay famous are felt here too, arriving unbroken off the Atlantic. La Tejita tends to draw people looking for a quieter, more open alternative to the town beach, away from the main cluster of boards and sails.
The setting is emphatically volcanic and southern: flat light, dry air, and a horizon uninterrupted by high-rise development. It suits an unhurried visit, whether that means a long walk beneath Montaña Roja, watching kites cut across the bay from a distance, or simply sitting with the wind and the sound of the sea.
