Escape the post Christmas 'winter blues' and join us in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with some great food, relaxation and wonderful music.
We stay for five nights at the beautifully restored 5* Grand Hotel Mencey, voted #1 hotel in Santa Cruz by Tripadvisor and set back from the ‘Rambla’ de Santa Cruz. The hotel is an oasis of calm and tranquility – ideal for a winter break – and has a wonderful swimming pool. Across the Rambla is the beautiful Parque Garcia Sanabria from which the mainly pedestrianised ‘Calle’ and ‘Pasaje’ wind through the historic centre of the capital.
For 2020 all of our rooms are Deluxe Garden View category with balcony or terrace.
Santa Cruz, Capital of the Canary Islands, is very much the ‘secret’ Tenerife. 90% of guests arriving at the airport turn left and head for the concrete jungle of the south coast. Those few that head north are rewarded with a charming city that retains an ‘old town’ feel yet is full of life, excellent restaurants and plenty of shopping. The city has the old port area (which is now a mix of shops, cafes, galleries etc) and set behind the old town (in a semi-circle from the left side to the right side of town) is the Rambla of Santa Cruz. This was the avenue of the smart and aristocratic set high above the port and today is a mix of old money villas and home to the Grand Hotel Mencey.
Santa Cruz has it's own 'white sand' beach (imported from the Spanish Sahara!) with excellent fish restaurants just fifteen minutes from the centre of town on the local bus. The modern tram takes you all the way to the old capital of La Laguna which is a really lovely town and interesting to explore.
A marvel of modern Spain are the new concert halls and opera houses that have appeared since the turn of the millennium. Santiago Calatrava's magnificent 'Auditorio de Tenerife' opened in 2003. The Canary Islands Festival is well establised as one of the premiere classical music festivals of Europe and one of the few that takes place in the winter.
During our stay we will have two half day walking tours of Santa Cruz and La Laguna and two excursions by private coach, on one day visiting the Anaga Forest and some of the beautiful gardens of the island and the second traversing the island to the moon-like Mount Teide National Park.
The journey from Santa Cruz to Mount Teide is one of the great drives of the world as you climb first through semi-tropical vegetation, then through a beautiful pine forest emerging from the ‘Corona Forrestal’ around 5,000ft and continuing along the spine of the mountain, occasionally above the cloud!. The drive affords wonderful views to both sides of the island.
The musical programme includes three concerts:
Beethoven String Quartet with the Ornati Quartet at the Conservatory of Music
No. 4 in C minor, opus 18, No. 4
extracts from opus 59 No.2 & opus 74
No. 13 in B♭ major, opus 130
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Fumiaki Miura) & Shostakovich 5th Symphony
- Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada Auditorio de Tenerife
Arcadi Volodos in recital (Liszt & Schumann) at the historic Teatro Guimerá
Confirmed flight times – reserved seats and 22kg baggage allowance
Monday 20th January Manchester T2 – Tenerife 0940 – 1425 Jet2 - hot breakfast included
Saturday 25th January Tenerife – Manchester T2 1620 – 2055 Jet2 - hot dinner included
Deposit £500 per person. Balance is due 20th November.
**You can now complete the booking form electronically but will require Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be downloaded for free using the link below the booking form. You can then download & save the PDF form to your computer, complete the details, resave and then email the completed form to Stacey, stacey@maestrotouring.com. If you prefer, you may still print and complete the form by hand.**
