Kayak and snorkelling from Los Cristianos: the tour with the free videos
Updated September 10, 2026 · 7 min read
The title gives away neither the location nor the operator, but the booking page does: behind “Kayak & Snorkel in a Rich Marine Ecosystem with Free Videos” is Xplore Tenerife, and the paddling starts from Los Cristianos. The tour costs €27.36, lasts three hours and holds 4.7 stars from 11,905 reviews. Among the 307 tours this site compares for Tenerife, only four have more reviews: two whale-watching trips and the tickets for Siam Park and Loro Parque.
Many reviews don’t mean the tour suits everyone. It’s above all a paddling tour, and it has an age limit you should know before booking.
Where it starts and who runs it
The meeting point is the Xplore Tenerife office in the Cristianmar building, on the ground floor to the left when you face the sea, according to the booking page. The operator states it’s a seven-minute walk from the bus station in Los Cristianos. A hotel transfer isn’t in the list of what’s included, so you make your own way there. From the office it’s a five-minute walk to Playa de Los Cristianos, where the kayaks go into the water.
According to the booking page, the guides speak Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian and French. German isn’t on the list. If you’re not confident following a safety briefing in English, that’s worth knowing before you book.
What €27.36 covers
The €27.36 is the price in this site’s database. On the booking page, the price currently shows as reduced, with a higher, struck-through amount next to it; what counts is whatever the calendar shows for your date.
According to the booking page, this includes the kayak, snorkelling gear, wetsuit, accident insurance, a guide and a locker. The “free videos” mean exactly that: photos and videos cost nothing extra and arrive the same day, by email according to the operator.
There’s a small discrepancy over the wetsuit. The booking page lists it without qualification, while the operator’s own site lists it under “Wet-suits in the winter”. If you’re insisting on one in summer, ask beforehand.
Not included are drinking water, a towel and swimwear. You should also bring water shoes, a sun hat and sunscreen. You can cancel free of charge up to 24 hours beforehand.
How the three hours break down
The booking page shows a schedule, explicitly for orientation only:
- 15 minutes of safety briefing at the office
- a 5-minute walk to Playa de Los Cristianos
- about an hour of paddling along the coast, watching for dolphins
- 15 minutes at the Cueva de los Enamorados
- around 30 minutes of swimming and snorkelling at a stop the outline calls the “Secret stop” and marks as optional
- about an hour of paddling back
Add it up, and you’re sitting in the kayak for a good two hours, while half an hour is set aside for snorkelling. Anyone expecting a snorkelling tour with a bit of paddling is, in reality, booking a paddling tour with a snorkelling break.
What to expect in the water
The booking description stays general: volcanic coastline, rock reefs in a remote bay, dolphin-watching as part of the programme. The operator is more specific on its own site. Dolphins and turtles are wild animals, it writes, and on the route taken the chance of seeing them stands at 90%. That’s a claim from the operator, not a guarantee. Recent reviews tell both stories: groups that saw dolphins, turtles and even sharks, and one where the dolphins didn’t show.
The description refers to a protected marine area without naming it. Off the coast of Arona, which includes Los Cristianos, lies the Zona Especial de Conservación “Franja marina Teno-Rasca” (ES7020017), designated a ZEC within the Natura 2000 network since September 2011 and covering just under 69,490 hectares. The official map lists the bottlenose dolphin and the loggerhead turtle among the species the area is designated for. Whether the route runs entirely within it, the operator doesn’t say. The boats for whale and dolphin watching also operate within the same protected area.
The booking page doesn’t state rules for how to behave around the animals; the operator only writes that its guides explain how to make wildlife encounters responsible. Ask about the distances that apply during the briefing.
Kayak, fitness, swimming
Being able to swim is compulsory, and both sites say so. The minimum age is 14, according to the operator, justified on its own site by insurance requirements; between 14 and 18, a parent must come along. For families with younger children, that rules the tour out before fitness even comes into it. For what does work well with teenagers, see Tenerife with teenagers.
For the stability of the kayaks, there’s a weight limit of 100 kg per person. No experience is needed. The two texts differ slightly on fitness: the booking page asks for a “basic level of fitness”, the operator itself for “a good level of fitness”. With two hours of paddling on the open Atlantic, go by the second figure.
Whether you sit in a single or a double kayak isn’t stated on the booking page, only that the kayaks are stable and have a backrest. Another booking platform lists single or double kayaks (“double kayak”) for the same operator’s kayak tour. If you’re booking solo, ask whether you’ll be paddling alone or with someone else in the kayak.
One review describes how the guide helped a family’s seasick son. That speaks well of the staff on site, but it also shows: out there, you can’t just get out, the way back is a paddle back.
Wind, waves and the morning
The north-east trade wind builds up over the day. In the morning, the water off Los Cristianos is often calmer than in the late afternoon, though that isn’t a fixed rule. In a kayak, a short, steep swell hits you twice as hard, because you’re the one paddling back. If the calendar gives you the choice, take an early start time.
The booking page doesn’t give a specific weather rule, only that you can’t take part if the operator considers conditions unsafe. According to the operator, the tour runs all year. Even so, don’t schedule it for your last day of holiday, so a rescheduled date stays possible. How wind and time of day change boat trips is also covered in Boat trip with kids: minimum age.
What gets wet and what stays dry
Everything you wear gets wet. There are changing rooms and lockers, according to the booking page; for whatever goes out on the water, the operator mentions waterproof containers (“dry buckets”). Because photos and videos come anyway, your phone doesn’t need to go out with you. A bottle of water does, since water isn’t included, and two hours of paddling off the coast of Los Cristianos is a long time in the sun.
The five obvious alternatives
All 44 tours in the snorkelling and diving category start at €22.95, with a median of €65.70. These five come closest to this tour:
Los Cristianos: kayak and snorkel sea adventure (€22.95, 3 hours, 4.3 stars, 1,021 reviews). A different operator (Tenerife Kayak Tours), same location, meeting point next to Bar El Infierno according to the booking page. Here it explicitly says “double kayak”, you’re on the water for about two hours, and snorkelling only happens if the swell allows it. Photos aren’t in the list of what’s included. The page doesn’t state a minimum age, minors need an adult; for children under 14, ask. German-speaking guides are available, but without a guarantee for any specific date.
Kayak and snorkel tour in the Palm Mar marine reserve (€45, 3 hours). Easy Kayak Tenerife starts in Palm-Mar, with double kayaks and around two hours on the water. Water and snacks are included, photos cost extra there. According to the booking page, it’s not suitable for children under 6.
Kayak, snorkel and boat to Masca Bay (€35, 2 hours). Los Gigantes Blue takes you by boat from the port of Los Gigantes to Barranco Seco; only there do you paddle beneath the cliffs, in a single or double kayak with an escort boat. This one, too, states: not suitable under 6. More on this coastline under Los Gigantes boat trips.
Boat snorkelling tour in a turtle habitat (€45, 2 hours 30 minutes, 4.2 stars, 1,786 reviews). Travel Sub Dive Center departs from Puerto Colón: 15 minutes by speedboat, 50 minutes of snorkelling with fins, a maximum of ten participants. No paddling, but more time in the water.
Abades: guided snorkelling tour with photos (€33, 1 to 2 hours). Entry from the beach, a maximum of six people, photos and videos included, guides also in German. The operator says it takes weak swimmers too, but writes that non-swimmers won’t reach the turtles, since that requires swimming a long way out.
Who it isn’t for
The tour is not an option for non-swimmers or children under 14. The booking page also excludes pregnant women, people with pre-existing conditions, back problems or over 100 kg, wheelchair users, and anyone who gets seasick easily. It also mentions medication for seasickness there; whether and what you take is something to check with a pharmacist or doctor, as is what your skin needs after two hours without shade.
Anyone who gets uneasy the moment there’s no ground underfoot spends two hours here off a rocky coast in the open sea, and is better off in Abades with a guide at their side. Anyone who mainly wants to see dolphins and would only tolerate the paddling is better off going out more relaxed by boat, for instance on the whale watching without the chase. Which spot in the south suits which kind of holiday is covered in South: which place suits whom, and everything else under things to do in Tenerife.
