For the full set from 8 guests up, see large villas in Tenerife for 8 to 17 guests. Big-group villas are where holiday listings stretch the truth. "Sleeps 16" can mean sixteen real beds in eight rooms, or it can mean eight beds, three sofas and a mattress in the corridor. If you are the person booking for twelve, fifteen or seventeen people, here is how to tell the difference, and how our own villas in Costa Adeje and Las Américas stack up.
Count beds, not bodies
Ask for the bed list room by room. Adults want a bed each or a proper double per couple; a bunk room is fine for teenagers and a nightmare for four grown men. Sofa beds are for the seventeenth person on the third night, not for a couple who paid the same as everyone else.
Our flagship, The Surf Villa, has seven bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, for up to seventeen. The Surf Villa 3 has six bedrooms and sleeps fifteen (five double beds, four singles and a bunk room, plus a sofa bed in the top-floor apartment). The Surf Villa 2 sleeps twelve across five bedrooms. Villa Black is the small one at eight, with a heated pool.
Bathrooms decide the mornings
With sixteen people and four bathrooms, the first hour of every day is a queue. Aim for one bathroom per two people, or ensuites. The Surf Villa is seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms; Surf Villa 3 has three ensuite rooms plus shared bathrooms.
One table for everyone
The point of renting one house instead of four apartments is eating together. Ask whether there is a single table that seats the whole group, and whether it is outside. Ours seats sixteen under the pergola beside the pool at The Surf Villa; at Surf Villa 3 the two outdoor tables push together.
The licence and the guest limit
Every Canary Islands holiday let needs a VV licence with a fixed guest limit. No licence number on the listing, no booking. The Surf Villa sleeps 17 (VV-38-4-0090194).
Noise rules are real
Spanish law and every community of neighbours mean no loud noise after 22:00 and no parties. A stag or hen group is welcome in our villas when that is respected; a group that wants a nightclub should rent a nightclub.
How the four compare
| Villa | Bedrooms | Sleeps | Pool | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Surf Villa | 7 (all ensuite) | 17 | 32ft heated pool, jacuzzi, sauna, ice bath | Three families, a big birthday, a sports team |
| The Surf Villa 3 | 6 | 15 | Pool plus a large heated jacuzzi | Big groups of friends, a surf crew |
| The Surf Villa 2 | 5 | 12 | Pool and jacuzzi, ten minutes' walk to the beach | Two families, a 40th |
| Villa Black | 4 | 8 | Heated pool, jacuzzi | One family or four couples, ten minutes from Siam Park |
All four are fifteen to twenty minutes from Tenerife South airport, run by the family that owns them, with Alejandro, our manager, meeting you at the door. Prices and minimum stays are live on each page, and booking direct means no platform fee.
Before you pay
Check the deposit terms (ours: 50% at booking, balance before arrival, €500 damage deposit held on a card, not cash), what is included (towels, linen and toiletries are), and who you are paying. The company and the licence holder should be named on the site. Ours are, at the bottom of every page.
If you would rather talk it through, send us the dates and the group and a person will reply, not a queue.