Tenerife Ritz Carlton Abama review: is it worth it for families? (2026)

Last updated: April 2026

This is our honest Ritz Carlton Tenerife (Abama) review, written after a week’s stay with our eight-month-old.

When we became parents, we wondered if luxury holidays were a thing of the past. Could we really enjoy a five-star resort with an eight-month-old in tow? And if you’ve read my blog on the different types of holidays to take with a baby, you’ll know this is our first week-long hotel holiday with R – and that I was a little nervous on how it would fare vs an Airbnb or the single nights we’ve stayed at hotels as part of road trips.

After a week at The Ritz Carlton Abama in Tenerife, I can confidently say: yes, absolutely – and we’d return in a heartbeat. But I wouldn’t apply this as a blanket rule to all hotels, and The Ritz is not cheap, so read on for my tips to make the most of what will be a fabulous family stay.

If you’re still deciding where in Tenerife to base yourself, or want to know what else to do on the island beyond the hotel, we’ve written a full Tenerife with kids destination guide covering accommodation at every budget, beaches, activities, and more.

👉 Read our full Tenerife with kids guide →

Ritz Carlton Abama at a glance: key facts and prices

We visited The Ritz Carlton Abama at the end of September into October with our eight-month-old, who had (rather unfortunately with all the tiles!) just started crawling. We booked a week on half board and stayed in The Retreat area, which came with some brilliant perks that I’ll get into later. The other option is a room in the large, main building, called the Citadel.

The hotel is just a 30 minute drive from Tenerife South Airport, so no long transfers here. And it’s located on a huge remote plot of land by the sea.

For the first two nights, we were in a Retreat Deluxe room with a terrace and garden onto a pool. We’d upgraded the rest of our stay on check in (cheaper than via email in advance) to a one-bedroom suite for the remaining five nights, which had a large living area where R slept, and a huge wraparound balcony.

How much does the Ritz Carlton Abama cost?

Prices vary significantly by season and room type, but as a rough guide they can start from £350 a night and go up to over £1000 a night for one-bedroom suites in the Retreat. Half board adds roughly £80 per adult per night but is worth it for 3 courses. Children under 4 eat free at all restaurants across lunch and dinner, which is a brilliant saving.

We’d recommend booking outside of peak season (September/October or late April/May) for the best combination of value and weather. Check current prices here.

Retreat vs Citadel: which should you book?

Ritz Carlton Abama family rooms

Retreat Deluxe room (nights 1-2)

The Deluxe room worked well for those first couple of nights. We’d booked one with a lovely terrace and garden that opened onto one of the exclusive family-friendly lane pools as we felt it would work well during naps (and it did, with one of us sitting in a lounger on the patio while the other went for a swim in the pool, just about within talking distance). It was a big room with a sofa, and a large bathroom with a separate bath and shower.

For context, the Retreat has four pools: two adults-only and one for families in the lanes, where our deluxe room was located, plus the larger infinity pool overlooking the ocean. By lanes, I mean the row of buildings in a street format, each with its own pool for that row’s apartments and suites.

Retreat one-bedroom suite (nights 3-7)

With us in the midst of sleep training R, having a separate bedroom was a game-changer and absolutely worth the upgrade. The extra space meant we actually had somewhere to relax in the evenings after R’s 7:30pm bedtime, rather than sitting in the dark, all in one room (and with us inevitably waking him up at points in the night).

The suite had:

• A huge living area where R slept in his cot
• A separate bedroom for us, with a large en-suite and separate dressing room
• An enormous balcony with two entry points
• A golf buggy included to drive around the resort (not needed, but a fun novelty and a quicker way to climb the hill!)
• Plenty of space for R to crawl around (and for us to escape to once he’d gone to bed at night!)

If your budget allows, I’d recommend booking the one-bedroom suite from the start. We got offered a good upgrade price at check-in for a move partway through, which worked fine, but was a little disruptive.

The Ritz Carlton Abama kids club

The Ritz Kids Club is designed for ages 4-12, with a full daily programme of activities around themes of culture, nature, exploration, and responsibility. The schedule we saw was really comprehensive with things like crafts, games, cooking classes, science activities, and more. The official programme runs 10am-6pm and is complimentary for hotel guests.

For under-4s, while you can’t leave them there unsupervised, you can use the facilities with them. We popped into the kids club a few times just to let R crawl around somewhere safer than our tiled room and play with some different toys. It’s a large indoor space with an outdoor play area – very clean, bright, and well-equipped.

Holidaying in a hotel with a baby: what to bring

With Airbnbs, I tend to look for living areas that don’t have tonnes of dangers that I’ll need to move when we arrive, and ideally ones with carpet or rugs. It’s hard to do this in a hotel, and pair it with an eight-month-old who was just starting to crawl and pulling himself up, this meant we had quite a few bumps and bruises during our stay.

If you’re in a similar boat, I’d recommend packing a thick or padded mat for the floors, or consider bringing your own travel cot and asking for one from the hotel too, so you can put one on the balcony and create a safe space for your little one to play in.

The Ritz provided a metal cot on wheels (good quality), which we actually moved about as a safe play zone while we used our own travel cot for R to sleep in.

Hotels also offer less equipment typically than Airbnbs, but The Ritz have an extensive hire list. Below are a few examples of the items and prices quoted to me:

• Baby bath: €20/week
• Baby bouncer: €40/week
• Baby pram: €72/week
• Bottle warmer: €30/week
• High chair: €42/week

It adds up quickly, so factor this into your budget or bring your own gear where possible.

High chairs are available throughout the hotel (and by the pools, which was brilliant for lunch), but not in the room, which was a bit of a miss in the suite where you had a decent sized dining table.

There was also no nappy bin in the room. We’ve stayed at other 5 star hotels previously that had our brilliant Tommee Tippee nappy bin. This would be a great addition.

Top tip: Bring a baby monitor – this was essential, as it meant I could have a swim during R’s nap time while my husband sat on our balcony lounger with the monitor, or we could both relax on the terrace knowing we’d hear him wake up.

Check out my easy to copy packing list.

Getting around the resort

The Ritz Carlton Abama is spread over a hillside, so there’s a fair bit of ground to cover. There’s a short but steep(ish) hill from the main Retreat pool and breakfast area up to the top building where reception and most restaurants are located. From the Retreat pool, there’s very steep steps down to the beach, and a funicular (although this wasn’t running when we were there).

The good news is that it’s very pram-friendly, though it can be a bit of a maze to work out how to get into the top building from the gardens. An accessibility map at check-in would have been helpful. Even better news, you don’t even need to walk if you’re feeling particularly lazy! Here’s why:

• A land train runs every 30 minutes from the top reception to the beach at the bottom, with a stop halfway for the Retreat. This is free for hotel guests, although the beach is open to all.
• If you’re staying in a suite, you get a complimentary golf cart, with underground parking under reception. Quite the novelty!
• You can ring for a lift at any point, and someone will come along quickly in a car to collect you and drive you around the resort. They didn’t seem to mind us having R on our lap, although we only did this for a couple of very short trips.

We found it relatively easy to navigate with a pushchair, and the transport options made it stress-free when it was later at night after dinner.

Pools and beach at Ritz Carlton Abama

There are seven temperature-controlled pools across the resort:

The Citadel: 3 pools

• Lagoon Pool – the largest, main family pool
• Serenity Pool – adults-only (13+)
• Persian Garden Pool – quieter option on the side of the building

The Retreat (where we stayed): 4 pools

• Large infinity pool – the main Retreat pool right on the ocean, next to lunchtime and afternoon snacks and a larger bar
• Three private building lane pools – two adults-only, one family-friendly (where our first room was)

We spent most of our time at the main Retreat infinity pool, and while it was relatively quiet of children (we visited outside school holidays), we saw a few other babies dotted around and we never felt out of place. There were high chairs available, so we often sat a table near the pool for lunch with R, and plenty of sofa areas to chill in.

The water was warm enough for R, but there was little shade in the infinity pool. The Retreat atmosphere was tranquil but family-friendly, and R loved going in the pool every single day.

We went down to Abama Beach using the land train and the beach was lovely – sandy, with a warm sea, and towels provided. We ate lunch at the hotel beach restaurant one day, which was good, and the kids under 4 eat free policy applied there too (more on this later). On the weekend there was music playing over the beach, but it was quieter and more chilled midweek.

The Retreat perks: complimentary food and drink all day

This is where The Retreat really shines and, in my opinion, makes the extra cost absolutely worth it.

Throughout the day at the Retreat pool area and lounge, you get:

• Drinks (hot and soft drinks, beer, Cava, non-alcoholic beer etc) on tap – these are also available at the lane pools I mentioned
• Daily cocktail of the day hour between 5-6pm, with really delicious options
• Cake hour between 4-5pm
• Tapas lunch – and this wasn’t just crisps and nuts. We’re talking risotto dishes, octopus salad, and ample options to serve as a filling lunch, plus cookies and candy as a sweet treat

While we couldn’t take full advantage of the unlimited drinks, we enjoyed what we could, and it all contributed to that feeling of luxury – which, honestly, I wasn’t sure was possible with a baby in tow. We barely needed to leave the hotel and we definitely didn’t need to spend money on food and drink outside of our half board plan (except a drink with our evening meal).

Dining at Ritz Carlton Abama: restaurants and kids eat free

The dining at The Ritz Carlton Abama was fantastic – a real highlight of the stay. We were on half board, which included breakfast and a three-course dinner at most restaurants (excluding the two Michelin-starred ones, where you get a credit towards your meal).

Breakfast at El Mirador

Breakfast for retreat guests is served at El Mirador, the clifftop restaurant with a sea view. It was very good – a small a la carte menu (eggs any style, pancakes, tortillas, French toast, etc.) plus a big buffet. And because it’s right on the ocean, the views were stunning.

You could also go to the main building’s buffet breakfast at La Veranda, but we never felt the need when we had El Mirador right there.

My tip: Grab some hard-boiled eggs and fruit from breakfast to use for your little one’s lunch. We often cobbled together R’s lunch from breakfast and supplemented with a pouch of our own baby food where needed.

Dinner: where things got tricky (then brilliant)

Most restaurants open at 6pm for dinner. With R’s wake windows being 3:30pm-7:30pm, this was quite late. He’d often get aggy at some point before our main course when we tried early dinners, even though the staff were good at bringing his food very quickly with our starters.

Our game-changer: It took us half the week to realize that it would be more enjoyable to get R to fall asleep in our lie flat pram around 7:30pm and then let him sleep through our dinner. We took pudding back to the room in a takeaway box most nights and this worked brilliantly, though families can book the hotel’s babysitting service (arranged through external agencies) if they want adults-only dinners.

The half board dinner menu was extensive (three courses) with a great selection. Some items had a small extra charge, and drinks were excluded.

Our favourite restaurants at The Ritz Abama

Verona (Italian) – our go-to
We went here several nights. The food was excellent, and crucially, the kids’ menu (€20) had options we could easily mash up for R. Meatballs with veg or potato, pasta with simple sauces – perfect for an eight-month-old who still needed very soft, mushy food. I’ve included a photo of the kids’ menu for reference.

El Mirador (seafood)
We visited this beautifully-located restaurant on the cliff twice, and the food was good, but we found the kids’ menu was for a more sophisticated palette than R has right now! The atmosphere was a little fancier and more adults only vibe, and we felt less relaxed with R awake – although on our second visit we did end up in an area with more pushchairs and children, which was better suited.

Txoko (meaty Basque dishes)
We went here one evening when R was asleep in his pram. Delicious steaks and local meats, and a must-try stuffed pepper – we really enjoyed it!

The Beach Club
Good food in a fantastic location, which we found worked well for lunch (and charged to our room).

There are a couple of other restaurants, some of which were shut during our stay, and two Michelin restaurants which we couldn’t visit with R.

Kids under 4 eat free

This is a brilliant but under-advertised fact: children under 4 eat free at all restaurants (beverages excluded), regardless of whether you have half board or not.

I really liked that every restaurant had branded plastic plates, bowls and cutlery. It made it really feel like children were welcome.

The Spa: a free visit for retreat members

We each got a complimentary spa visit and used them on two different nap times while the other parent stayed on the balcony. It was a lovely touch and the spa was very good, with a circuit of water massage stations to enjoy, as well as a very decent, large Turkish bath.

Other things to know about the hotel

• It’s isolated – no shops or villages within walking distance, but there’s a shuttle to shopping centers if needed, and it’s only a short walk to some lovely local villages and towns
• Pre-book restaurants
• Check your bills – make sure the free kids meals aren’t accidentally charged

Things to do near the Ritz Carlton Abama

The Ritz is brilliantly set up so you barely need to leave, but Tenerife has plenty to offer beyond the hotel pool. The closest spots to the Abama are Playa San Juan (a lovely local village about two miles away with a harbour, fish restaurants, and a buggy-friendly promenade) and Playa del Duque (a beautiful blue flag beach worth a visit for a change of scene). Agua y Sal, a nearby restaurant where you pick your fish fresh from the counter, was a genuine highlight of our trip.

For everything else on the island, including whale watching, El Teide, the Los Gigantes cliffs, the best family beaches, and more, we’ve covered it all in our full destination guide.

👉 Read our full things to do in Tenerife with kids guide →

The verdict: would we return?

For a luxury hotel stay with a decent kids offering, this is as good as I imagine it gets and we’re already planning to return within the next couple of years, particularly as Tenerife offers lovely weather when the UK is particularly cold and miserable. I still love a road trip and find Airbnbs offer plenty of space for often good value prices, but there’s something about being very lazy with a baby that creates a whole new level of relaxation. When we do return, I’ll want to stay at the Retreat again given how utterly luxurious it was.

I hope this review was helpful! Let us know if you have any other questions, and as always, keep adventuring.

Allie, Jack & R x

Frequently asked questions: Ritz Carlton Abama with kids

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