With thermometers nudging the high 30s on Tenerife for the past week or so, it’s a good time to take a look at some favourite ways to keep cool in the tropical heat.

1. Visit a Water Theme Park
The most fun way to keep your cool on Tenerife is to spend the day at Siam Park where the sweat you work up waiting in line will rapidly dissipate as you hit the water from the terrifying heights of the Tower of Power, hurtle along the Mekong Rapids or enter the vortex of the Dragon.

2. Dive into the Sea
With so many great dive sights around Tenerife, it’s worth donning the leather and lead and reaching almost boiling point before diving beneath the waves for the delicious cool of the depths. Also, it’s very James Bond to emerge from the water, unzip your wetsuit and stride up the beach, provided of course you’ve got a body like Daniel Craig or Halle Berry.

3. Strip off at a Nudist Beach
There’s nothing quite like feeling the breeze in places it doesn’t normally visit to lower the body heat, especially if you head to El Médano’s nudist beaches of La Tejita or La Pelada where the breeze can be of gale force power. Just be prepared to pay a visit to chafe city when you also get sand in places it doesn’t normally visit.

4. Drink a Cocktail
Find yourself a nice shady table at one of Tenerife’s stylish bars and order yourself a long, cool cocktail. Try a zingy, refreshing Mojito or a tangy Mai Tai to bring the temperature down from the inside out or sip a Black Russian through a straw before seeing the day out with a Tequila Sunrise. By that time you’ll be impervious to everything, including the heat.

5. Visit the Botanical Gardens
It’s not until you’ve reached the gates of the incredible Botanical Gardens in Puerto de la Cruz in blinding heat, and then stepped into the delicious cool of its canopy that you realise how incredibly efficient Mother Nature is at keeping her cool. Giant strelitzas, towering palm trees and leaves the size of festival tents all conspire to produce an air conditioned jungle.

6. Take a Shady Stroll
Escape the heat of the coast and head up into the interior to find natural shade and the pure scent of pine on dappled forest trails. There are loads of paths to choose from which will take you through spectacular landscapes with stunning coastal views and if you choose wisely, will end at a bar where you can reward yourself with a cold Dorada – bliss.

7. Get Soaked by a Whale
Spend a day at Loro Parque where, not only can you visit Europe’s largest artificial iceberg and watch jealously as the penguins sit beneath their snow shower, but you can also grab one of the front rows for the Orca Show. You’ll be issued with waterproof aprons but they’ll prove useless as around 6 tons of Orca hits the water and displaces most of it over you.

8. Go underground
It’s a well known fact that the ambient temperature in caves is the same year-round, so do what The Jam did in 1980 and head to the outskirts of Icod de los Vinos and the 27,000 year old Cueva Del Viento volcanic tube. And while you’re keeping your cool, remember to duck or you just might lose your head in there.

9. Swim in Lago Martiánez
It’s a strange phenomenon, but whatever the time of year and no matter how broiling the temperatures get, the lake at Lago Martiánez in Puerto de la Cruz always stays several degrees colder than the Atlantic Ocean. But when you’ve been slowly tanning on the terraces of this iconic swimming pool complex like a chicken on a spit, it’s as refreshing as a cold shower.

10. Go Dolphin Watching
When the sand’s so hot it burns your feet through your flip flops, there’s only one thing left to do;  jump ship and catch a sea breeze while you cruise the waters off the western coast for sight of a dolphin pod. Watching these magnificent creatures as they glide their silver bodies through the surf is one of the coolest things to do on the planet.

Local entrepreneur Subash N, Manskukhani has taken his Indian heritage, fused it with his Puerto upbringing and business know-how and has created a sumptuous palace for eating, drinking and socialising the night away.

Walking down Calle Santo Domingo a couple of months ago I suddenly became aware that something was very different. A striking red and black interior with über chic tables and chairs, a New York style cocktail bar and a mock cliff face, trickling waterfall and smiling Buddha occupied the glass fronted building which last time I looked was selling shoes.
Suan Chill had arrived… full of Eastern promise.

An alluring emporium of kaleidoscopic, neon colours reflecting on embroidered and sequinned upholstery and state of the art bar and restaurant fittings, Suan Chill is offering something a bit different; a tapas bar/restaurant front of house and a chill out bar/party venue back of house.

Gawping around at the myriad of display cases, the busy bar, the eclectic décor and our fellow diners, we have to send the smiling waitress away twice before we finally settle on our choice of food.
We opt for a selection of tapas dishes, some of which sound familiar while others, like the frikenden are culinary strangers to us. As we sip our beers a selection of delicious looking montaditos (lightly toasted bread slices topped with a variety of savouries) arrives at the table next to us and opposite, we overhear someone telling the waiter that the steak he’s just eaten was one of the best he’s ever had. The gastric juices tingle in anticipation.

Within 10 minutes our dishes arrive. Everything is beautifully and artfully presented on white, triangular shaped dinner plates and accompanied by a small salad. First to arrive is a tasty Russian salad, one of the items we’ve ordered which doesn’t deviate from the standard tapas recipe.
Next up is mushrooms stuffed with tartare; half a dozen large, flat mushrooms filled with a tangy tartare sauce which becomes a bit rich by the time I’m finishing my third mushroom. Then comes morcilla de Burgos, a black pudding and rice combination heavily spiced with cumin and accompanied by a dollop of the tartare sauce which is finding its way onto every plate. The papas arrugadas appear next, accompanied by thick mojo sauces; the verde has a lip-smacking kick to it and the rojo is a sweet, tangy delight. Finally, the mysterious frikenden makes an appearance and it turns out to be savoury mini beefburgers accompanied by a crisp, light hash brown and a dollop of the now ubiquitous tartare sauce.

Everything is fresh, tasty,  surprisingly filling and a pleasant diversion from standard tapa fare. Suan Chill has given ingredients their own signature make-over, adding some of that sexy Eastern spice and creating a concept which, like the place itself, is delivering something a bit different. My only criticisms are that it could have been hotter and could happily have done without the tartare overdose.

We order coffee and I head off to check out the facilities and the chill out section.
Beyond the bar is an area the size of a small nightclub with its own bar, a DJ platform and several large, private booths, each a different colour combination. The décor is a colourful crossroads of traditional East meets 21st century West. Rows of embossed, sequined poufs and large hookahs sit alongside black vinyl and aluminium surfaces watched over by smiling Buddha images.
The toilets are a contemporary delight in red and black tiling and frosted glass.

I return to enjoy my cappuccino just as Subash is doing a tour of tables, checking with diners before he dims the lights front of house as Suan Chill morphs into its night attire.

Where, when and how:
Suan Chill; Calle Santo Domingo, 8; Puerto de la Cruz. Open every day from 08.00 to 03.00; reservations – (0034) 922 37 49 79

Prices:
Starters (incl tapas) average €5; main courses average €10; sweets average €3.50
Three course menu del día €7 – changes daily.
Free parking at the Plaza Europa car park opposite for customers spending €30 or more and a free taxi home to Puerto de la Cruz, La Orotava or central Los Realejos for customers spending €50 or more.

With the party season upon us and little black dresses at the ready (the boys will have to wait until Carnaval to wear theirs), here’s TM’s guide to the top cocktails expected to be sipped across the island over this festive holiday.

The Latin Spirit
Tenerife’s close cultural connections to Central and South America make rum-based cocktails a favourite amongst the Latinos, particularly in the north of the island where Cuban bars and fiesta kiosks like their alcohol infused with sugar and salsa. Or as they say here, azucar!

Mojito (moh-HEE-toe)
3oz Bacardi
juice 1 lime
2 tsp sugar
4 sprigs fresh mint
soda water
Crush 3 sprigs of mint with the sugar into a paste in the bottom of a glass. Add a splash of soda to dissolve the sugar. Add the lime juice and rum and mix. Pour over crushed ice, add the last sprig of mint & top up with soda.

Caipirinha (kie-purr-REEN-yah) – meaning ‘country bumpkin’
2oz Cachaca rum (sweet Brazilian rum – accept no substitute)
1 lime quartered
2 tsp fine sugar
Crush sugar and lime into a paste in the bottom of a glass. Fill the glass with ice and pour over the Cachaca. Stir well and frequently to keep the sugar dissolved.

Mai Tai – which is Tahitian for out of this world
1 ounce light rum
½ ounce triple sec
¼ ounce lime juice
1 ½ ounces pineapple juice
1 ½ ounces orange juice
1 dash of Grenadine
½ ounce dark rum
maraschino cherry for garnish
Shake all ingredients together with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a glass half filled with ice. Top with dark rum and garnish with the cherry.

Daiquiri
2 measures white rum
½ measure lime juice
¼ measure sugar syrup
Shake all ingredients together with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain through a fine strainer (to avoid lime pips and pulp) into a Martini glass.

Up Town Twists
In the chic bars and clubs of Playa de Las Américas and Costa Adeje where the clientele are as manicured as the beaches, nowadays it’s less Tenerife Uncovered and more Sex and the City.

Cosmopolitan
2 measures Russian vodka
1 measure Cointreau
1 measure cranberry juice
Splash lime juice
Shake all ingredients together with ice in a cocktail shaker and pour into a chilled Martini glass. Add an olive.

Margarita
2 measures Tequila
1 measure Cointreau
½ measure lime juice
Prepare the cocktail glass by rubbing lime juice all the way around the edge of the glass and dipping it in a saucer of salt. Shake all ingredients together with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into the glass.

Tequila Sunrise
1 measure Tequila
large dash Grenadine
fresh orange juice
Half fill a tall glass with ice cubes and add the Tequila. Top up with orange juice to a little below the rim. Add a generous dash of Grenadine which will sink to the bottom of the glass colouring the orange juice on its way down. Garnish with a twisted wedge of orange.

Glass-nost
As Tenerife becomes more cosmopolitan, the clientele are changing and a glance at any menu will soon tell you… the Russians are coming. So if there’s one ingredient that’s going to top the cocktail-making list this Christmas, it’s vodka.

Sex on the Beach
2 measures Russian vodka
1 measure Peach Schnapps
3 measures cranberry juice
3 measures orange juice
splash lemon juice
Shake the vodka, Schnapps and lemon juice over ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain and pour into a tall glass. Top up with cranberry and orange juice.

Black Russian
2 measures Russian vodka
1 measure Kahlua
Cola
Shake the vodka and Kahlua in a cocktail shaker, pour over ice and top with cola. You can substitute Tia Maria for the Kahlua if you prefer.

White Russian
As above but gently pour cream over the alcohol instead of cola and don’t mix.