PLAYA DE LAS TERESITAS TENERIFE

Despite its huge popularity, the appeal of Tenerife predates the sun, sea and sand recipe of today's mass tourism. Most beaches are unattractive and consist of rough, dark volcanic material (which comes as a shock to some visitors. However, island authorities are aware of the lack and have created some artificial beaches. By far the most outstanding of these is the beautiful curve of Las Teresitas, created in the 1970s with 98,000 metres of sand from the Sahara desert. Ironically, it was created not in the tourist heartland of the south, but in the far north, where locals could enjoy it. San Andres, at one end of the beach, is a working fishing village.