Visiting La Casa del Plátano in Tenerife

Would you like to visit a banana farm in Tenerife and learn how important this fruit is to the Canary Islands? La Casa del Plátano is in Icod de los Vinos, in the north of Tenerife. It's an old estate where you'll take a journey through the history of the Canaries and discover how important this product is to the islands' economy. Coming along on our visit?

Our visit to La Casa del Plátano

As soon as we arrived they treated us to some delicious bananas. A lovely girl in traditional Canarian dress welcomed us and explained how to plan our visit.

The visit is self-guided. The estate is split into two parts: a first, more museum-like area with machinery, old photos and information panels (in Spanish and English), and a small banana plantation. Getting the visit started took us a while — to the right of the Land Rover there's a pond with carp, and all our daughters wanted to do was stay there watching them feed.

In the exhibition area you'll learn how the banana plant arrived in the Canaries and how important it's been to the islands' economic development. Work on the plantations was mainly for women. I loved seeing old photos of those women packing bananas with their young children beside them (now that was work-life balance, never mind the rest…).

In the photo below you can see a typical plantation office from back then. Here Lily got to learn what life was like before computers and mobiles, seeing a typewriter and an old telephone up close. The little wooden safe is adorable.

After all we'd learned, we headed down to the plantation to see different types of banana plant up close.

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How can you tell if it's a Canary banana?

Canary bananas stand out for their sweet flavour, their intense aroma and their little black speckles. You can also recognise them by the «Plátano de Canarias» label, which both boxes and bunches must carry.

Banana plant facts

• It comes from southern Asia.
• They're not trees, but giant herbs.
• Each plant needs 15–20 litres of water a day.
• Once the bunch is cut, the plant stops growing and dies.
• The banana is the best-selling product in the Walmart supermarket chain.
• Each plant produces a single bunch of bananas, which can weigh 30–60 kilos.

But without a doubt, what our daughters will remember most about the Casa del Plátano was getting to climb into an old Land Rover and be drivers for a few minutes. This is the car they used back then on the plantations.

Before you leave, don't forget to take a fun photo at the original photo-call boards behind the Land Rover. On the way out, and included in the ticket, you can taste local products: jams, liqueurs, sweets and mojos. We bought a mini banana plant. I doubt it'll ever give us bananas, but the girls are thrilled, waiting for it to grow.

Opening hours and how to get there

La Casa del Plátano opens every day from 11:00 to 19:00 (last entry at 18:30).

How to get there: the Casa del Plátano is at Calle Hércules, 4, in Icod de los Vinos (north of Tenerife). It has accessible parking.

How much does it cost to visit La Casa del Plátano?

Entry to La Casa del Plátano in Icod de los Vinos is quite affordable, with discounts for residents. Here are the detailed prices:

The reduced price for Canary Islands residents is applied at the ticket office.

You can buy your tickets for the Casa del Plátano here.

Is it worth it?

For us, yes. It's a short visit (around an hour) and very cheap, perfect to do with kids while learning about Canary banana growing. What the little ones liked most was climbing into the old Land Rover, and the tasting at the end is a lovely finishing touch.

And while you are up in the north, Icod de los Vinos is worth a whole morning: the Drago Milenario is a five-minute walk away, and there is no shortage of guachinches nearby for lunch afterwards.