Most vegan travel guides to Tenerife are written by people who visited for a week, ate at three restaurants, and called it research. This one is different. We run Dulce Vegan, a raw vegan bakery based in Costa Adeje in the south of the island, and we have been here long enough to know which places are consistent, which ones have closed, and where a vegan tourist is most likely to get burned.
Tenerife in 2026 is a genuinely good destination for plant-based travelers. The scene has matured. Most of the southern resort areas still cater to British and German tastes, so you will find fish and chips before you find a cashew cheesecake, but if you know where to look, you eat well. This guide covers the whole island by area.
The South: Costa Adeje, Los Cristianos, Las Américas
The south is where most tourists land and stay. Tenerife South Airport (TFS) drops you right into the resort belt. The food options here are the most uneven on the island: everything from proper vegan restaurants to “vegan options” that turn out to be a pile of iceberg lettuce.
The standout is BuenaVida Vegan, a fully plant-based restaurant inside Fañabé Plaza shopping center in Costa Adeje (Av. de Bruselas 20). An Italian couple runs it, and the menu changes every two weeks. The burgers are the thing to order. Seating is limited, so book ahead — walk-ins during high season get turned away.
For dessert, or for something to take back to your apartment, Dulce Vegan delivers raw vegan cakes across the south of the island. Everything is made to order: no eggs, no dairy, no gluten, no refined sugar. The Strawberry Cheesecake and the Choco-Caramel Coconut cake are the two most ordered. You can place an order from anywhere — including before you arrive, if you want something waiting for you. Order here.
If you are in Los Cristianos, the K-Vegan stall in Mercado de la Pepa is worth hunting down. It is a market food stall, not a sit-down restaurant, but the dishes are original. The alga wrap is unlike anything else on the island.
Self-catering in the south is straightforward. Mercadona stocks oat and almond milk, a range of tofu and tempeh, and Violife dairy-free cheese. HiperDino carries a decent selection of fresh local produce, including the papayas and avocados that grow across the island. The larger Alcampo in Las Chafiras has the widest vegan product range in the south.
El Médano
El Médano sits about 20 minutes east of the airport and feels like a different island from the main resort strip. It draws a younger crowd, surfers mostly, and the food scene reflects that.
El Med Veg is the restaurant to visit here (Pje Gregorio Guardia 5). It serves homemade vegan food close to the beach: aubergine lasagna, lentil patties, tofu Milanese. Everything is made fresh. The gluten-free options are among the best on the island. It is small, it gets full, and it is worth the detour even if you are staying further west.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife (the capital)
Santa Cruz is undervisited by tourists, which is a shame because the vegan food here is good and the city has genuine character. Most of the action sits within a short walk of the old town.
Sweet Paradise (Calle de Cairasco 13) is a fully vegan bakery that has been running for years. The cakes are made fresh daily with local and organic ingredients. No white sugar, no palm oil. Saturday brunch gets crowded. Go early or go mid-week. If you are looking for a comparison point: Sweet Paradise does baked vegan cakes, while Dulce Vegan in the south does raw versions. Both are worth trying for different reasons.
Il Gelato del Mercato makes vegan ice cream daily in small batches. The flavors change, and the shop is genuinely tiny. If it is closed when you arrive, it is either sold out or between batches. Check back in an hour.
For a sit-down dinner in the capital, La Hierbita (Calle El Clavel 27) is a traditional Canarian restaurant that handles vegan requests well. It is not a vegan restaurant, but the kitchen adapts dishes on request. The papas arrugadas with mojo verde are vegan by default. Berenjenas a la miel (aubergines with honey) can be made vegan if you ask them to hold the honey and use agave. Book ahead; it is popular with locals.
La Laguna
La Laguna is the old university city, about 20 minutes north of Santa Cruz by tram. The cobbled streets and colonial architecture attract a different kind of visitor, and the food scene is more experimental than anywhere else on the island.
Veggie Penguin (Calle Quintín Benito 25) is the most talked-about vegan restaurant in Tenerife. The menu changes daily, which means you cannot plan what you will eat — you show up and eat what they made that morning. The lentil burgers in pumpkin bread buns are on the menu regularly enough that people come specifically for them. The turmeric almond latte is worth ordering. Reserve a table for lunch; the dinner crowd fills the place faster.
Somos Lo Que Comemos (Calle el Juego 14) is the quieter alternative. The food is home-cooked, the portions are generous, and the owner runs the place with a warmth that makes it feel like eating at someone’s house. Set menu of the day, with a few options. No frills.
La Laguna is also where you will find Burger Mel, the vegan fast food chain with a few locations in the north of the island. If you are with people who want a quick meal without negotiating a mixed menu, Burger Mel works.
Puerto de la Cruz (the north)
Puerto de la Cruz sits on the north coast and attracts a more settled, longer-stay crowd than the southern resorts. The vegan scene is smaller here but the two main options are solid.
Humus Vegan Tenerife (Calle Aceviño 12) serves Italian-style vegan food: pizza, pasta, and generous desserts. The creamy vegan sausage pizza and the homemade noodles with ragù are the dishes people come back for. The café is relaxed, the staff are friendly, and the prices are fair.
The north is also banana plantation country. You will see them everywhere on the drive up. Local Canarian bananas (platanos de Canarias) are smaller and sweeter than the imported variety, and you can buy them at almost any roadside stall for almost nothing. If you are self-catering, buy them from a market stall rather than a supermarket.
The Mountain Towns: Masca and Teide
If you are hiking Teide or driving through the Teno mountains, food options are extremely limited. Pack your own.
In Masca, El Guanche is a family-run vegetarian restaurant with a garden menu. Most things can be made vegan. The Canarian soup and the salads with papas arrugadas are the safest bets. It is not a vegan restaurant, and you need to ask clearly what each dish contains, but the family are accommodating.
For the Teide cable car day, stock up before you leave your accommodation. The facilities at the Teide national park serve coffee and basic snacks. Nothing is reliably vegan up there.
Canarian Dishes That Are Vegan by Default
These appear on menus across the island and require no modification:
- Papas arrugadas: small potatoes boiled in heavily salted water until the skin wrinkles. Served with mojo verde (herb and garlic) or mojo rojo (red pepper). Both sauces are traditionally vegan, though check for honey in some modern versions.
- Pimientos de padrón: padron peppers fried in olive oil with sea salt. Most restaurants serve them as a tapa.
- Gofio: a toasted grain flour used in Canarian cooking for centuries. It appears in bread, porridge, and as a thickener in stews. Buy it in a supermarket and take some home.
- Fresh tropical fruit: papayas, mangoes, avocados, and chirimoyas (custard apples) grow on the island. The chirimoya season runs roughly October to February. If you visit during that window, eat them.
Practical Notes
Where to stay: Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos in the south give you the easiest access to BuenaVida and Dulce Vegan delivery. La Laguna is the best base if restaurants matter more than beaches. Santa Cruz sits between the two and works for both.
Getting around: TITSA buses connect the whole island. The tram (tranvía) runs between Santa Cruz and La Laguna every few minutes and costs under a euro. Renting a car gives you access to the north, the mountains, and the smaller towns that buses skip.
Language: Most restaurant staff in the south speak English. In La Laguna and Santa Cruz, Spanish gets you further. “Sin carne, sin pescado, sin lácteos, sin huevo” covers the basics (no meat, no fish, no dairy, no egg).
Apps: HappyCow still works for finding vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants. The listings are occasionally out of date, so call ahead if you are making a special trip somewhere.
One More Thing
If you are staying in the south and want to bring a proper vegan dessert to a group dinner, to a birthday, or just to your apartment because you deserve it, Dulce Vegan delivers across southern Tenerife. Raw cakes made to order: no baking, no dairy, no gluten. You can also order from outside Tenerife if you are planning ahead for a visit.
Tenerife rewards planning slightly more than most islands. The restaurants worth visiting fill up, the market stalls keep short hours, and the mountain towns have almost nothing once the lunch rush ends. Use this guide, check opening hours before you go, and you will eat well.