Tenerife Siam Park 🌊 An Outing not to be Missed
It’s a curious thing, this business of being crowned the ‘World’s No 1 Water Park’. It conjures images of some adjudicating body meticulously measuring the incline of every ride and the structural integrity of every wave.
But honestly, when you arrive at Siam Park in Tenerife, even a grouch like myself has to admit they’ve cracked the code.
So if you find yourselves moseying around the south of this Canarian island, then this Thai-themed, hydro-powered sensation is something you ought to pencil in. And yes, for once, the hyperbole is warranted.
Highlights
- Getting to Siam Park
- Siam Park – First Impressions
- The Park’s Sensational Rides!
- The Scale of Terror 🎢
- Don’t Miss Loro Parque 🦜
- All Hotel Options in South Tenerife
- Getting to the Canaries from Spain
- Our Complete Canaries Itinerary
- Like this? Try the Lost World of Tambun 🌋 Malaysia
Siam Park Sensation
We’re talking about an attraction with real white sand and a Gi-normous Wave Palace. The place is so beautifully landscaped it feels like you’ve wandered onto a movie set. And while the youngsters have their own little paddling areas, the more daunting experiences are strictly reserved for those over a certain height or, frankly, those who haven’t yet learned the value of a quiet life.
Designed for all age groups, Siam Park is not just for the kids. In fact, several of the rides are prohibited to children under 14 .
Tenerife’s Siam Park Sensation
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.
Take the complimentary Siam Park bus
Entrance to the park is €34, (children 3-11 are charged €23) with extra small supplements for towels and lockers.
Unless you’re prepared to carry your keys, phone, and wallet in the waistband of your Speedos (a look I certainly wasn’t going for), you’ll need a locker.
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
Upon finally getting through the turnstiles and securing our worldly possessions in a tiny, rented metal box, the park’s aesthetic audacity hits you squarely in the eye.
They’ve gone all-in on the Thai theme. We’re talking sprawling, intricate architecture, a veritable jungle of exotic trees and bushes, and flowers in such vibrant hues they look chemically enhanced.
It’s a genuine pleasure just to stroll about, assuming you can ignore the high-pitched shrieks of terror emanating from the high-speed descents.
You’ll find plenty of spots dotted around to grab a pint or a meal, all while observing some of the more hair-raising water rides on offer.
The Scale of Terror 🚨 Decoding the Colour-Coded Danger Signs
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. These multi-language pictograms communicate the basic rules: ‘Keep your trousers on’, ‘Don’t stand up’, and ‘Please try not to vomit’.
Siam Park Map (click image to enlarge)
Similar to a skiing resort, each ride is categorized by a color: Green, yellow or red:
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Green: The gentle, family-friendly options. Think floating along, perhaps a mild splash or two. Nothing that requires a signature or a small life assurance policy.
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Yellow: These are where things start to get a bit hairy. Expect significant G-forces, drops that make your stomach float up into your throat, and a healthy dose of complete darkness.
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Red: Look, if they’ve put a warning sign advising against participation if you have a dodgy ticker or a bad back, they’re not just being polite. This is a genuine, no-mucking-about warning. These are the ones that demand a pre-ride pep talk and a serious re-evaluation of your life choices.
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.
Mai Thai river ride
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.
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.
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.
So, was it worth the faff? ✅ Concluding verdict
After a solid six hours of being spun, soaked, and scared half to death, we emerged from the park absolutely buzzing. Our day had been punctuated by moments of genuine thrill, fleeting moments of deep philosophical reflection (‘Why are we paying money to do this to ourselves?’), and a good deal of shared laughter.
“My swimming trunks were absolutely ruined, but I haven’t felt that alive since 1998.”
The verdict? It lives up to the hype. It is, genuinely, a world-class water park. It’s an outing that demands a full day of your holiday, leaves you feeling pleasantly knackered, and gives you a good few anecdotes to bore your acquaintances with back home.
… and don’t forget that other theme park!
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.
If you enjoyed Tenerife’s Siam Park, check out Tenerife & Gran Canaria with Stopovers in Spain. You may also like:
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