Moving To Tenerife Your Story

[Angusjim]

Recently we seem to have had a never ending amount of posts with people saying there are relocating to Teneife and are looking for information which is great , but we never seem to get any feed back from them on how this went. So I thought maybe people could come on this thread and let us know how the move went and how it is going.

[LindaD]

Recently we seem to have had a never ending amount of posts with people saying there are relocating to Teneife and are looking for information which is great , but we never seem to get any feed back from them on how this went. So I thought maybe people could come on this thread and let us know how the move went and how it is going.

Here, here :agree:

[AndyG]

We relocated to Playa de San Juan on Nov 2nd 2015. My partner and I have both retired early and decided that Tenerife was our ideal retirement location. We are renting a fabulous apartment very close to the harbour in Playa de San Juan and we have loved every minute so far. We have joined a sport centre in Playa La Arena and play tennis 3 times a week, followed by a dip in the indoor swimming pool. Good luck to anyone else who relocates to Tenerife!

[amber54321]

I relocated to Tenerife in September 2015, great weather and a wide range of things to do, such as sports ect. I would certainly recommend it. The people are lovely and friendly, however, as a young person it is often difficult to meet people and make new friends.

[lynno52]

I relocated to Tenerife in September 2015, great weather and a wide range of things to do, such as sports ect. I would certainly recommend it. The people are lovely and friendly, however, as a young person it is often difficult to meet people and make new friends.



Thanks Amber and welcome to the forum. :welcome: How did you find getting accommodation, work etc?

[amber54321]

Thanks Amber and welcome to the forum. :welcome: How did you find getting accommodation, work etc?

Hi! Thank you very much :wave: Finding accommodation was not a problem as I have some connections, at the moment I am studying Spanish but will be looking for work after Christmas so hopefully it's not too much of a struggle! Perhaps I will try some hotels.

[swifty26]

Can I ask how much it cost for Spanish lessons as I'm relocating to Tenerife next week and it be more than helpful to learn the lingo

[amber54321]

Can I ask how much it cost for Spanish lessons as I'm relocating to Tenerife next week and it be more than helpful to learn the lingo

I heard individual Spanish lessons in Tenerife range from €10-15 per hour.

[swifty26]

Cheers much appreciated

[splishsplash]

I relocated, but temporarily. Perhaps my experience will be interesting or useful anyway.

I never meant to stay for long, so this is not really a 'return with my tail between my legs' situation. I was on tenerife for 8 months.

I work with computers, I write software ; Id been working freelance all over the uk for years, so it never made sense for me to buy a house/flat. I never lived in the same place for more than 2 years or so. Most of my work meant I had to attend a client site all day every day and sit at a desk with all the other worker bees. Eventually Id had enough of that, and decided instead to make my own products instead of working on someone elses. This meant I'd be working 'from home' for an extended period, and getting income from the sale of my products over the internet. Id been doing that for a while before I decided to take advantage of my freedom and miss a uk winter for a change.

in terms of relocation suitability I had this going for me -
1, no owned house in the uk
2, existing passive income
3, savings from my freelancing days
4, a 'job' making my own products that I could do from anywhere with an internet connection

So I found an apartment in los cristianos and turned up one november with a full suitcase and a laptop.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience. It seems redundant to say it, but for those that haven't been there for an extended period past a 2 week holiday its not the same when you live somewhere versus a holiday in the same place.

Little niggles that you brush off on a holiday will irritate you. A small example, the culture is laid back which is nice when you don't care either… but if you're in your 'work mode' and for example need your internet connection the 'definitely by the end of today!' and 'tomorrow, tomorrow' *beam* will annoy you if you let it. The answer is to settle into their ways, and let it wash over you! Accept its another culture, and adapt yourself rather than become irritated that they won't change the habits of a lifetime to suit you. It took me a while to slow to their pace, but its the only way.

I chose the tourist part of the island partly because my foreign language skills are poor. I simply have no aptitude for it. My stay was always going to be temporary, so I missed out on learning any spanish. Id pick up the odd phrase or word, but was treated mostly like a tourist which suited me fine. I was busy using my mind for my work, so had enough to worry about. Some might think I missed a trick there, but I did what suited me.

There is plenty more to say about my experience, but I don't want to go on too much in my first post.

The most significant parts for those thinking about it I would say are these -
=Tenerife is not that big. Of the canary islands it has the most going on, which was why I chose it. But you might feel like you've seen it enough after a relatively short while.
=The weather is the best thing about the place, in my opinion. For my taste the winter is lovely, the summer too hot. Thats when I went back to the UK.
=Adjust to them, don't expect them to adjust to you. This applies to a lot, attitudes and also driving!
=If your stay is temporary, you hide in an expat enclave (like I did!) and you've enough to worry about maybe you don't need to learn spanish. If you relocate permanently, I'd say it would be better to integrate yourself better than I did.
=You're going to need a car. I hired one, but since I was competing with holidaymakers it could be relatively expensive.
=Dont go there without an income. Don't go there without some savings. Take any guarantee with a pinch of salt.

[AndyG]

It is almost 4 months since we relocated to Tenerife permanently, following early retirement. We are both blissfully happy and have no regrets at all. Our rented apartment is fabulous and we have achieved a longer term rental agreement starting in March 2016. We have found day to day living to be much cheaper than expected and enjoy making our own meals as we have the time and energy to do this now. We know enough Spanish to get by and have arranged paperwork such as NIE, Empadronamiento ,Spanish Bank Account and Certificado de Registro without the help of a translator or similar. We enjoy travelling around by bus and have joined a great sports centre which has a gym, tennis, squash and a swimming pool.
My partner has been back to the UK once and we will be be going back for a few days to see family and friends next week but I honestly haven't missed much since I have been here and we have kept in touch using FaceTime etc.
We are both so pleased that all of our research and planning worked out without any problems at all and we look forward to many happy years relaxing and living on Tenerife.

[Richj]

That is a great story well done! We are creeping closer to our long term goal. We fly out on Sunday for a month.

[AndyG]

Thanks! Where will you stay. Which area are you planning to move to and when? We drove all along the south coast many times but always kept coming back to Playa de San Juan and this is where we now live. We wanted a town that has most facilities but also a Spanish feel. Even though our Spanish is basic, the locals that we come into contact with in shops/cafes etc are really friendly and we feel totally comfortable at all times. There are of course many places inland and in the north but the south west is ideal for us and the winter so far has been fantastic with literally a few unsettled days in almost 4 months.

[Richj]

Hi, we now have an apartment in the el medano area. We did a lot of looking around, so I can really relate to what your experiences are. I have been learning the language and am looking forward to the next month to practice. Pm me if you are in the local area .

[Lissalyon]

Is playa San Juan near Los gig antes ?

[bennoa1]

Is playa San Juan near Los gig antes ?

Not too far away. Alcala is in between but maybe 4 miles along the coast road away from the airport.
Prefer San Juan to LG as LG is very steep away from the harbour.

[AndyG]

San Juan is a lovely place to live in every way, from our point of view anyway! We went to our regular Sunday morning cafe today and had 2 large fresh orange juices, 2 cortado coffees and a crossant mixto all for €7!!! There are some expensive cafes/ restaurants next to the beach but most of the cafes in the square or along the promenade are very friendly and very good value for money too.

[galli2015]

Well I have moved to Tenerife here last summer but my story is different.
I am born in the Netherlands but I come from Italian parents but I went to live in Aruba 15 years ago and to my surprise things were very terrible there.
The Crime rate kept going up there and there was a strong hood mentality there and the lack of human rights and also the discrimination they have against europeans have made things very terrible for me.
So I needed to come back to Europe and came to Puerto de la Cruz.
At first I need to say that Puerto de la Cruz is still very safe so I feel better here but things have been terrible to start working.
At first you need to speak both good Spanish AND GERMAN to be able to work in Puerto.
If you don,t speak German nobody will hire you.
And Second of all it,s a mostly Latino city and not really Tenerifian so you feel a little left out here.
The Tenerifians are very nice people I mean they are nicer then Dutch people to me but to bad there aren,t a lot of them here.
I am looking to start a web design business here but I need some one to help me with public relations.
But nobody here wants to work for me because they are Latino,s and they are afraid of computers they don,t wanna work anywhere where computers are involved.
And no matter how many times I explain to them that I will do the designing and they will only have to do the public relations they won,t understand.
That,s the problem I have with Latino,s they are so Narrow minded and I can never get through to them.
Tenerifians on the other hand understand me totally but there,s only a few of them here and most of them are retired people.
Almost all the others all Latino,s and Africans and Africans also doesn,t want to work with me and they are only interested in selling merchandise on the streets.
So no help here.
I so want to find someone to get started and then when I get money I will move to Orotava where there are more Tenerifians.
So sorry that I have to say that but it,s difficult for me to live in an area that I am left out of just because of my race.
But others then that I don,t regret moving to Tenerife.
And one thing to remember is that we Europeans are not entitled to get ANY HELP from the government till after 1 year of being registered in the census berau.
So if you come here make sure you have money for 1 year or have someone to support you because you won,t get any help not even from the foodbanks

[r.bartlett]

Hi

We properly started investigating relocating to Tenerife first week of October 15. I came out to rekkie the place and prople. I had a week working with the potential company and went home to report. During that time I did look at some houses and put an offer in on a place in San Miguel.(worse case it was to be our holiday home or we withdrew the offer)
Wife and Daughter accompanied me on the next visit 3 weeks later.They both agreed it could work.

House went up for rent whilst we sorted the mortgage.
offer accepted for business in Tenerife

December
house purchase agreed for 15th Dec.
Rental agreed for mid January
23rd Dec removal men came and started packing
29-31 removal men gutted house and containerised everything we owned
shipped 1st jan 2016
8th Jan the three of us came out. Myself returned on 15th Jan to sort my business sale
28th Jan Daughter started school ( IES San Miguel )
Feb
15th Business sale completed and hand over and I flew out to join family

Started to remodel house works so far , new walls and fence around garden. New shed, en suite gutted and being reformed to dressing room
to be completed:-
new gates
remodel of adjoining finca to make habitable

march
Business slowing starting to hand over, small amount of legal work to complete, getting to know area and clients etc.

All in apart from mortgage hassles which would take another 3 pages pretty painless and no regrets from either of us three.

Start to finish around 4 months.

6456

[AndyG]

Great to hear that your plans have worked, as did ours. Good luck and I hope you have a great life here too!