A Review of Aqualand in Tenerife

Book Your Aqualand & Dolphin Show Tickets Here

What is Aqualand in Tenerife officially?

A swimming pool in a water park with a castle theme

The only combined water park and dolphinarium on the island, Aqualand in Tenerife delivers a family-friendly day out that offers much more than first meets the eye.

As you'd expect for a Tenerife water park, Aqualand has water slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, and kids' mini water parks.

But this attraction also boasts a spa-inspired chill-out zone with hot tubs, hydro-massage jets, and submersed bubble baths.

According to the official Aqualand site, the stars of the park are the bottlenose dolphins which put on "the best show in the world" - a title awarded to them by IMATA (International Marine Animal Trainers' Association).

The show takes place daily at 3.30pm and highlights the dolphins' incredible sense of balance, coordination, speed, agility, and visual capacity.

Although you can take your own nibbles into Aqualand Tenerife, there's a great choice of food, snacks, and drinks in the park.

You'll find everything from burgers, kebabs, and pizzas to salads, smoothies, and ice creams. There's also an obligatory gift shop where you can pick up a stuffed pink dolphin to remind you of your visit.

What is Aqualand in Tenerife really?

A white and blue water slide going into a yellow pool in Aqualand Tenerife

Aqualand has been running for a long time and when Siam Park arrived on the island, most thought Aqualand would simply shut up shop and go away quietly. That wasn't the case and so began a very expensive refurbishment project which many would say was 10 years overdue.

Now, from the outside, there's a whole medieval theme going on with castle walls, portcullis, etc. It's impressive.

New water slides were installed and some of the original ones were reworked. Cleverly, they've almost done away with those painful direct contact body-to-fibreglass slides in favour of slides that use rings and mats.

Going one step further, they even have a different style and colour rubber ring for each individual ride. The children's areas are large and the dolphin show, whether you agree with it or not, is cleverly put together.

The makings of an awesome comeback? With Siam Park quickly being titled the #1 water park in the world, Aqualand had its work cut out. A few years on and it seems the water park is letting standards slip and it shows.

Ian's Aqualand in Tenerife review

A man in a pink top next to a water slide in Aqualand Tenerife

Aqualand has a Colosseum complex - it looks awesome from the outside, but inside it's not so great.

Firstly, they use salt water in all the pools, which sucks. You can actually see where the salt has corroded some of the paths, making it bloody painful to walk on.

The fact that they allow people to bring in their own food to boost visitor numbers has resulted in all but one of the restaurant areas being closed down. It's so sad. All the extra buildings are staff-less.

I'm surprised they don't get the dolphins to put in a few extra shifts. And the way they try to get people to pose with birds for photo money reeks of desperation.

The spa area looks really good, but why aren't the adults in there relaxing? Simple. 'Cos it's full of cold water, full of salt, and full of kids. How do they not see this as a problem?

The lazy river is a health hazard. I dare you to run your hands along the edge. It's disgusting.

Surely the new rides were their saving grace? The first problem is you need to be 7 feet tall just to lift the rings of the storage poles.

Then every slide-goer has to go up the same staircase and there aren't any signs at the top telling you where to go.

The lifeguards spend most of their time directing traffic to the ride the rings are designed for. The newer rides are good. Just stay away from the reworked Rapids slide. That's well dodgy.

As a water park lover, I left Aqualand rather disillusioned. I wouldn't recommend you go anytime soon. But I fear if you don't, you may never get the chance, as I think its days are numbered.

My overall rating is a little generous, 'cos dolphins are cute.

Overall rating: ⅗

Nicky's Aqualand in Tenerife review

A woman in black shorts and top in a waterpark

In the same way that Jungle Park is no match for Loro Parque, sadly Aqualand is also no match for Siam Park.

Our last visit was the first after quite a few years and with such a new grandiose entrance, I was expecting good things. Unfortunately, good things don't always come to those who wait. Those who prefer not to wait can book their tickets in advance here.

I absolutely love water slides, but a few at Aqualand actually made me feel sick. Some people say you're meant to feel a bit of fear on a water slide. But surely it should be because you're not in control and not because you're rapidly coming to the intense realisation that safety standards just aren't standard here?

The number and variety of rides are great. But aside from one very small wave pool designed for children, there's no swimming pool, so the sun loungers are just dotted all over the place.

Sun loungers which you have to pay for. They're only €2 each. But I really don't see how Aqualand couldn't have worked that into the ticket price.

One thing I did really like about Aqualand was the lack of queues. We didn't have to wait at all for most of the rides. And the ones that we did have to wait in a queue for were for less than a minute each.

I don't know whether the lack of queues was due to the popularity of Siam Park (we went there the next day and it was packed!) or if it's because we went on a very overcast October day.

Something that's unique to the Tenerife water park is its dolphin museum, which is a fancy way of saying you can walk below the show stairs and look into the bottom of the tank.

Unfortunately, it's only open Monday-Friday 12:30pm-4pm, so we never got to see it.

The saltwater can be a literal pain - especially when it gets in your eyes. And for a Tenerife water park that uses 100% salt water in its pools, spa, and slides, there really should be more freshwater showers.

An adult entrance into Siam Park is €45 for non-residents and €22.50 for residents. An adult entrance into Aqualand is €34 for non-residents and €23 for residents, including the use of a sun lounger.

If you're only going to visit one Tenerife water park (and I highly recommend you do) it's got to be Siam Park. There's just no comparison.

Overall rating: ⅖

Insider tips for Aqualand in Tenerife

A yellow and orange water slide on a cloudy day

Buy your ticket online to save money

Not only do you get to skip the queue when you buy your Aqualand Tenerife tickets online, but you can also save money.

Standard adult and child tickets are €2 cheaper when bought online. Canarian adult and child tickets are €0.50 cheaper when bought online.

Use the free bus

If you don't want to drive to Aqualand (there's no official Aqualand parking, but there are parking spots before and after the park entrance) hop on the free Aqualand bus. There are daily pick-ups and drop-offs in Los Cristianos, Las Americas, and Costa Adeje.

If you're in Golf del Sur, Costa del Silencio, Los Gigantes, Playa Paraiso, Callao Salvaje, or La Caleta, Aqualand will put on a bus for you at the rate of €2.50 per person for a round trip. That's cheaper than catching the local bus!

You can see the shuttle bus timetable here.

Bring your own food

Aqualand in Tenerife lets you take as much food and drink as you like into the park for free. Seriously - you can walk in there with a loaded cooler and no one bats an eyelid. Take advantage of the kindness and save yourself some money.

Come back for only €9

If you have an amazing time at Aqualand, you can buy another ticket from the gift shop for only €9 per adult and €5 per child. That's a fantastic saving! The discounted price is only valid inside the park, so make sure you grab your ticket before you leave.

Visit the dolphin museum

Aqualand has a dolphin museum where you can see the dolphins in their tank in between shows. The museum is open Monday-Friday 12:30pm-4pm, so time your visit right if you want to go.