Los Patos (La Orotava, Tenerife) has always been one of the best beaches in Tenerife. It is not a tourist beach nor it is easy to get to, and these are the reasons why it is so famous for surfing and bodyboarding. Nevertheless, Los Patos has been abandoned by the local government and nobody really knows the real reason, is it that they really want it to be dangerous to get to so that it remains out of the claws of tourists and fearful local people? Is it because repairment budgets aren’t high enough for the local politicians to get some money from the operations? It is a disgrace, honestly.

In order to get to Los Patos you have to go to the coast of La Orotava. If you are coming from the South of the Island, you need to get off the highway on the 32 Exit to Puerto de la Cruz, but once you get out of the highway you must not go down to Puerto, instead you must turn left on the curve as if you were going up to La Orotava. Then you will get to a roundabout in which you have to head to the coast beneath a little tunnel that goes to the road of “El Rincón” as if you were going to the beach of “El Bollullo” which is more famous for tourists because it has a bar and the access is much easier. The road that goes down to El Bollullo is narrow and if you have bad luck you will have to manouver with your car because two cars don’t fit on the road, but don’t worry because there are some double spaces every thrity meters so that you can put your car there for the other cars to pass on and carry on.

Once you get to El Bollullo I recommend you to park the car in the parking lot. They’ll charge you 3€ for the whole day. Get your surfboards out of the car, buy some water in the restaurant of El Bollullo and start walking down as if you were going to El Bollullo. When you get to a little view point in the middle of the path, you will see Los Patos to your right and Bollullo to your left. Leave Bollullo behind and head to Los Patos through a very interesting path that will take you to the beginning of a semi-dangerous stairway that will take you down to Los Patos. This stairway isn’t the one of the picture, it is the oldest way down a cliff. People with vertigo can’t go down. To be honest I’ve seen children of less than 5 years old going down with ease, so it all depends on how fearful you are. It can get a bit slippery, but I don’t think it is really dangerous, people from La Orotava go down there on a daily basis during summer, it is really worth it.

Ok once you get donw to Los Patos you will see a big rock in the water of about ten meters long. From the beginning of the beach to more or less that rock the locals call it “El Pozo” because as you can see to your right there is a ruin that used to be a water well that gave water to the whole of La Orotava. From that rock to the end of the cliff they call it “Los Patos”.

When it comes to the waves and surfing, Los Patos can get quite strong and dangerous. You won’t find waves bigger than 3 meters but you can get strong currents towards El Bollullo, normally. Although it is a sand break Los Patos can produce big tubes but as in every surf spot it depends on the conditions (strength, wind, position of the moon, etc). You will find more than 4 surfing spots in the same beach so they will be waves for everybody and it’s never packed with people because as we said it is quite difficult to get to and people prefer going to a bar or a swimmingpool. So more waves for you !

Go and try this recommendation from Atlantik Surf and you will have a fantastic surfing day. There are always waves, just take a look at the surfing apps if you really want to enjoy surfing in Los Patos. And if you don’t want to go alone or don’t know how to surf, call us or send us an email and take your first Surfing Lessons in Tenerife.