Surf spot guide · Tenerife, Spain
Powerful hollow left over a lava platform in Playa de las Americas, one of the Canaries' most consistent and most crowded reef breaks.
La Izquierda, known locally and internationally as Spanish Left, is a reef break peeling over a lava platform in the heart of Playa de las Americas on Tenerife's south coast. The wave takes W to NW swell and spins down the line for up to 200 metres, opening with a sucky, hollow take-off section before settling into a steep, smackable wall loaded with cover-up opportunities. The lava bottom is uneven and shallow, producing boils that can distort the face and a hard landing for anyone who falls on the inside. Bowl sections well up through the mid-section of the wave and the ride stays fast throughout, giving little time to recover between manoeuvres. Easterly trade winds hold the faces clean for much of the year, making the break reliable across all tides, though the incoming tide tends to fill in the shallower sections and add a touch more power. At its best from 0.6m to 3.5m, Spanish Left becomes a serious, heaving wave above overhead that is best left to experienced surfers.
Lava platform spinning two hundred metres of hollow, boiling-bottomed line.
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Always packed. Spanish Left draws a tight-knit local crew alongside visiting surfers from across Europe, and the lineup rarely has fewer than 20 people on a working swell. Priority belongs firmly to those who surf here regularly.
Heavy local reef, world-class left
Tenerife
Long, peeling right-hander over uneven reef in Playa de las Americas, with hollow bowl sections and rides stretching to 500m on NW swells.
Tenerife
Fun, consistent a-frame reef peak in front of Hotel Conquistador, Las Americas, with lefts running longer over the uneven reef.
Tenerife
Popular a-frame reef peak in Las Americas with hollow bowls and racy walls, firing best on S swells with a northerly offshore.
+6 MORE →Paddle out on a mid to rising tide to avoid the shallowest lava sections on the inside
Sit wide and deep in the pack on your first session and observe the rotation before competing for waves
Easterly trade winds are most reliable from late spring through summer, aligning with smaller, cleaner swells
The wave fires best on a pure NW groundswell with a period above 14 seconds
Short rights appear occasionally but the left is the reason to be here
HAZARDS · KNOW BEFORE YOU PADDLE
Walk-in access from the beachfront promenade at Playa de las Americas. Car park and roadside parking available nearby. Surf shop on site.
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