20 May 2025

 

Tenerife

We offer a wide choice of cheap flights to Tenerife together with Tenerife hotels, tours and self-drive itineraries.

Putting on the GLITZ-Z

John McEntee explores the resort in in Tenerife where Zidane hides away

Tenerife - Hit a round at the ABAMA Tenerife - Sunbathing at the rock pool Tenerife - Made for lazing with room to relax

1 Hit a round at the ABAMA 2 Sunbathing at the rock pool 3 Made for lazing with room to relax

DOES Zinedine Zidane like swimming? Golf? Tennis? Massages? It seems sensible to ask because the former France football captain is hiding out somewhere in the Abama Golf & Spa Resort in Tenerife. At least, I’ve been told he is. One of my tasks in the next few days is to find him. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

The five-star Abama is a luxurious, salmon pink resort and golf complex as large and diverse as a medium-sized town. Run by the prestigious Ritz-Carlton group, its turreted towers and villas embrace 476 rooms, ten restaurants, three bars, a cathedral-sized spa and 18-hole golf course. The holiday statelet also has a tennis academy, seven pools and private beach. Has Zinedine dined at the Michelin-starred M.B Restaurant? No one has seen him.

What about the Japanese Kabuki eatery? Or is the Marseille-born genius’s penchant for fish being catered for at El Mirador, alongside the magnificent infinity pool? To explore all potential celebrity bolt holes, I am being ferried by buggy through Abama’s palm-fringed acres. With nearly 900 adults relaxing and sunbathing, it’s needle and haystack time.


As I’ve only ever seen ZZ, 38, playing football on TV, it will be tricky to spot him in a towelling robe or wearing golfing gear. ‘He does play golf and likes to swim,’ says my buggy driver. ‘But he has so many places to choose from that he could be anywhere.’ He could be sampling the delights of Tenerife beyond the gates of Abama. I point my hired car northwards and head via the winding mountain road to Garachico.

My welcome is warm and there is no punishment for escaping

Located only 24 miles away, it takes more than 70 minutes to reach. But the easy-on-the-eye vista of banana plantations, craggy crevices, startling volcanic rock and sea views more than makes up for the precarious journey. At my right elbow is the towering dormant volcano of El Pico Del Teide, which dominates Tenerife’s rainforest-like interior.

There is no sight of Monsieur Zidane in the pretty town of Garachico, with its palatial squares, boutique hotels, fish restaurants and harbour still bearing the scars of a 1706 volcanic eruption. From there, I motor to Teno – the most westerly point of the island – where the Atlantic breakers from north and south converge, foaming into magnificent 20ft water towers.


Perhaps an old Tenerife hand such as Zinedine is aware that the north of the island gets more rain than the south. It is a beautiful part to visit, with old-fashioned towns and villages and splendid walks. I wonder what Zinedine, who retired in 2006 and now works with JoseMourinho at Real Madrid, makes of it all.

Perhaps he has sought seclusion in walking? My fellow British tourists Joe, Sarah and their 15-year-old daughter Rosie do not encounter the great man on their Santiago del Teide circular walk. They trekked from the town of Los Cristianos, making a steep ascent on to a barren, but magnificent, cliff. So back to the luxury of Abama.

My welcome is warm and there is no punishment for escaping. However, Zinedine remains elusive. Jaded from my fruitless search, I decide to relax over a DVD free from the excellent customer relations department.

This article was featured in the February 2012 DialAFlight magazine. All information was correct at time of going to print.

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