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Tenerife's Siam Park Sensation

Tenerife Siam Park 🌊 An Outing not to be Missed

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If you are planning to spend some time in the south of the island, then the Tenerife Siam Park sensation is something not to be missed. Siam park is a large, clean, beautifully landscaped and well organized water park, officially the No 1 water park in the world.

If you come to Tenerife, this is absolutely a ‘must do’ attraction.

Even if you are not bothered about the rides, this is a great place to relax on their huge artificial beach – with real white sand and a Gi-normous Wave Palace.

Highlights

 

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation

Waiting for the next 3-meter wave in the Wave Palace

Designed for all age groups, Siam Park is not just for the kids. In fact, several of the more daunting rides are prohibited to children under 14 (or anyone else under a certain height).

Getting to Siam Park

Our day out to Siam Park didn’t start too promisingly. Without any familiarity with the local bus network, it took us a while to reach Los Christianos, from where we eventually managed to take another bus to the Water Park.

In fact, there is a regular free shuttle service running throughout the day to and from Siam Park from Los Christianos, Las Americas and other locations on the island. These buses are easy to recognize from their colorful park advertising. You just need to purchase a valid ticket to the park to board the bus.

When you leave the park, the same free shuttle service will also take you back to most of the main hubs on the island.

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation – Take the complimentary bus

Entrance to the park is €34, (children 3-11 are charged €23) with extra small supplements for towels and lockers.

Click here for full details on pricing and opening hours (multi-language).

If you also plan to visit the highly-recommended Loro Park during your stay in Tenerife, there is a worthwhile reduction when you buy both park tickets together.

Get to Tenerife from Barcelona

Siam Park – First Impressions

Siam Park is beautifully landscaped with trees, bushes and flowers. It’s a pleasure just to walk around and enjoy the colorful atmosphere. There are plenty of reasonable-priced places to eat and drink while you observe some of the more hair-raising water rides on offer.

Tenerife's Siam Park Sensation
Tenerife's Siam Park Sensation
Tenerife's Siam Park Sensation
Tenerife's Siam Park Sensation
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For the more adventurous visitors, there is a selection of 13 water ‘experiences’ to choose from.

The entrance to each of these rides features a useful information board which explains the highlights and difficulty (read ‘scariness’) of the ride.

Similar to a skiing resort, each ride is categorized by a color: Green, yellow or red. The green rides are fine for everyone, whereas the yellow category rides are pretty hairy. With most of the red category rides there is a warning for people with heart or back conditions.

… this is no idle warning.

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation Map (click image to enlarge)

Siam Park’s Sensational Rides!

The first ride we took was the popular (and relatively tame) Mai Thai River ride. This is a leisurely family-friendly ride (the longest in the park) which won’t stress you out too much.

Upping the scale, our 2nd ride was the Singha. After this we tried in quick succession the Dragon and one of the 3 Jungle Snake rides (we chose the Cobra).

Apart from the Tower of Power, you descend all rides on 1, 2, or 4-person inflated rings.

Some of these rides plunge you into total darkness during extreme spinning sections of the descent, which is pretty unnerving.

Before taking a ride you need to carefully read the basic instructions (all-language pictograms) and heed advice from the attendants at the top.

You have to take care to keep all limbs inside the rubber rings and to hold on tight to the side handles. Some rides throw you sideways at close to 180 degree angles.

I suppose some experts have carefully worked out all the centrifugal forces, but it seems a miracle that people aren’t thrown out of these lightweight plastic craft.

There are medically trained staff at the exits of the more extreme rides, which is at the same time both encouraging and unsettling.

The ‘Wave Palace’

After our first three rides, we scooted over to the beach to experience the biggest artificial waves in the world in the Wave Palace.

We then wandered off to warm up on the suntrap beach.

Walking around the park in wet swimwear in May can get a bit chilly – especially if you climb to the top of some of the higher rides where you really feel the cool sea breezes.

The Big One – ‘The Tower of Power’

Of course, we had to leave on a (literal) high.

We tried two more rides – the Vulcano and the Giant, and finally it was time for the vertigo-inducing Tower of Power.

The Tower of Power is an insane 30-meter drop from the chilly top of an Inca temple, vertically down an open slide then underwater through a shark-infested tank before being spewed out with a rush of adrenaline into a pool before the waiting spectators.

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation

The shark plunge …you won’t get much time to make their acquaintance

This is the one ride in the park which is very methodically supervised from above.

Each guest is given individual instructions and carefully positioned with arms across chest before being gently pushed over the precipice. The initial angle of descent is so steep that you can’t even feel the slide beneath/behind you. You feel just a rush of water and air as you hurtle vertically down to the shark plunge.

Although it feels much longer, this whole cathartic experience takes around 8 seconds.

The Tower of Power is both thrilling and terrifying. A veritable rite of passage for anybody visiting the park.

… and don’t forget that other theme park

Understandably, cameras and other objects are not allowed on the actual rides. This is just as well, since you’ll be busy enough hanging on for your life.

On the day we visited there were very short queues for the rides, so we did very little waiting around.

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation

Tenerife Siam Park Sensation

Following our day out at Siam Park, we were looking forward to visiting their sister company – Loro Park (‘parrot park’) – in North Tenerife.

If Loro Parque is as much fun as Siam Park, we were in for a treat.

Hotel Options in South Tenerife


If you enjoyed Tenerife Siam Park Sensation, check out Tenerife & Gran Canaria with Stopovers in Spain. You may also like:


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Bali and Nusa Lembongan

Bali and Nusa Lembongan 🏝️ 2-island itinerary

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Bali is a universal favourite with travellers and tourists alike, but it is not so well known for its beaches. If it’s clear blue sea and uncrowded white sand beaches you’re after, then you need to venture a little further afield. So why not try a combination of Bali and Nusa Lembongan – one of Bali’s sister islands to the south?

Highlights

 

Bali and Nusa Lembongan

Unlike the rest of Indonesia, Bali is an island apart – almost like a separate county. This is partly due to the predominantly Hindu population and their related culture.

Having previously spent several weeks in the largely Muslim cities and towns of Central Java, we were keen to see how Bali compared.

This would be our 2nd trip to Bali, following a gap of around 30 years. It would be interesting to see how much the place had changed.

We planned a relatively short stay in Bali – just 2 weeks – including a stay in Nusa Lembongan. However, flying with Cathay Pacific from London, our trip would also allow us 2 short city breaks – one in Hong Kong and the other in London.

Bali and Nusa Lembongan 2-island itinerary

Bali and Nusa Lembongan 2-island itinerary

Our 18-day Itinerary

We would be flying with Cathay Pacific from London to Bali, with a stopover in Hong Kong. Currently rated at No.8 in the World’s Top 100 Airlines, Cathay Pacific were offering reasonably-priced flights at €490 per person, including the 2-day stopover.

It’s a long way to travel but we intended to include as much as possible in our 18-day itinerary.

The initial breakdown was as follows:

♦  Flight from our home base to London Luton
♦  Overnight stay close to London Gatwick
♦  Flight from London Gatwick to Hong Kong, with a 2-day stopover in Kowloon
♦  Flight from Hong Kong to Bali
♦  4-night stay in Bali
♦  Bus and ferry from Bali to Nusa Lembongan
♦  8-night stay in Nusa Lembongan
♦  Ferry and bus from Nusa Lembongan to Denpasar, Bali
♦  1-night stay in Denpasar
♦  Flight from Bali to London Gatwick
♦  6-hour speed-tour of London
♦  Onward flight from London Luton back to our home base

 

Our plan called for a lot of travelling in a fairly short time period. Hopefully the benefits of a secluded island paradise would justify the efforts it would take to get there.

Ferries from Bali to Lembongan

Hong Kong

Following a brief overnight in London, our first stopover would be in Hong Kong. We reserved a minuscule room in the center of Kowloon for 2 nights.

On our agenda would be a trip to the top of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong island, as well as getting our mouths around some serious street food.

Read our Articles on Hong Kong

Bali and Nusa Lembongan 2-island itinerary

Bustling streets of Hong Kong

Visiting Ubud

Our first destination in Bali would be the spiritual city of Ubud. We would divide our time (4 nights) between 2 guesthouses on either side of the city center. One of the places we would stay had a large swimming pool – an important feature since Ubud is a good distance inland – 13 kms from the nearest beach.

We also earmarked a few promising restaurants.

Bali and Nusa Lembongan 2-island itinerary

Ubud Royal Palace, Bali

Read our Articles on Ubud

Visiting Lembongan Island

Our longest stay of the trip would be in Lembongan – a large, lush island off the south coast of Bali. Here we planned to stay for 8 nights. Again, we chose 2 guesthouses: one in the north of the island and the other in the south.

Our plan was just to relax on and around the island’s beaches, and enjoy some leisurely water sports.

Read our Articles on Lembongan

Bali and Nusa Lembongan 2-island itinerary

View from Lembongan to Bali

Visiting Denpasar

Since our return flight was from Denpasar, we decided to spend the preceding night in the city not far from the airport.

This would be a last chance to catch up on our shopping before heading back home.

London

Our Cathay Pacific flight would get us back to London Gatwick in the early morning. This would give us the chance to do a lightning-tour of the city before catching our flight home in the evening from London Luton.

Read our Article on London

Bali and Nusa Lembongan 2-island itinerary

The pageantry of London

Planned Costs and Budget

Our return flights to Bali from London came to €490 per person, including a 2-day stopover in Hong Kong.

We booked all of our accommodation in advance – the most expensive being in London and Hong Kong. Even so, our total hotel costs for 16 nights came to €278 per person, on the basis of 2 sharing.

On top of our flight and accommodation costs, we budgeted for €38 per person per day in London and Hong Kong and €13 per person per day in Bali, making a a total of €321 per person for all 18 days.

So our total budget for the entire 18-day trip was €1,089 per person.

Getting to and from London from our base in Malta added another €97 each to our final expenses.

So how did we get on?

At just over €65 per person per day all-in, this is quite an optimistic forecast for a 2½ week tropical break half-way around the world.

…and this is not really budget standards – We would be flying with Cathay Pacific and staying in some quite luxurious guesthouses, hotels and resorts.

You can follow our actual experiences in these articles. We offer you an insiders view on where to stay, and where to avoid…

All Hotel Options in Bali

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