What you can see on the El Médano webcam
The camera looks out from a surf shop on the seafront, over pale sand and a boardwalk to the bay. Along the shore to the south-west rises Montaña Roja, the red volcanic cone that closes the beach. It is the webcam to check before loading the car with boards: whitecaps across the bay mean the wind is up, glassy water means a beach day. Early in the morning the sun rises over the sea on the left of the picture.
El Médano beach and Montaña Roja
This camera looks out from a surf shop on the seafront promenade of El Médano. In front lies a wide expanse of pale sand, crossed by tyre tracks and footprints in the early morning, with the boardwalk and a beach shower at the bottom of the picture. The shoreline curves away to the south-west towards the dark hump of Montaña Roja, and the bay opens out on the left.
It is a live stream, and it answers the questions people ask here every morning: is the wind up, are there whitecaps in the bay, are the kitesurfers out yet? In the early hours the sun rises over the sea on the left, so the first light glitters off the water.
Wind, dunes and a red mountain
Médano means "sand dune", and the name fits: wind and sea have shaped this coast into dunes and wide beaches. The town beach, Leocadio Machado, runs for about 750 metres, and beyond Montaña Roja lie the long natural beaches of Playa Grande and La Tejita. The mountain, roughly a kilometre across, was built by explosions when hot magma met seawater, and it is now a protected nature reserve. Sailors here talk about three spots: the bay, with flatter water; the harbour wall, with waves breaking side-shore; and El Cabezo beach, where the waves roll straight in.
When to watch El Médano
Tenerife keeps UK and Irish time. The north-east trade wind usually blows hardest in summer and builds through the day, so mornings tend to be calmer for swimming and afternoons belong to the sailors. Winter brings lighter, more changeable wind and the softest light. On hazy days, when dust from the Sahara (the calima) hangs over the island, the far end of the beach fades from view.
Around El Médano
A path climbs Montaña Roja for a view over both beaches. Golf del Sur and the marina at Amarilla are a few miles to the west, and the drive up to Granadilla de Abona leads towards the pine forests below Mount Teide.
Visiting El Médano
The airport is only about 2 miles (3.4 km) away, so you will hear planes now and then. In the bay, a line of buoys separates the swimming area from the sailing zone: keep inside it, and give kitesurfers room on the sand when they launch.
