You can smell the seafood here before you get to the sand and the locals flock to Melenara Beach to chow down on fried fish and heaps of squid. The line of fish restaurants behind the sand knock out excellent seafood at low prices and with lashings of mojo. Like all good Canarian restaurants the focus is on big portions of good food rather than décor  Expect plastic chairs, makeshift roofs and impatient waiters. And bloody tasty grub.

Melenaras Beach is artificial, or at least enhanced. It's a bit of a mystery why they chose to use dark sand rather than white or golden sand as it could have been a tourist beach with the right coloured grains. Maybe Telde wanted to keep its favourite beach local and not share the calamares!

At 600 metres it's a big beach and is so wide that there is always space. The sea can get rough but there are lifeguards during busy periods. Other than sunbathing, swimming and eating local sea bass (farmed just offshore) there isn't much to do at Melenara. 

The only active option is to walk north along the promenade towards the fishing port of Taliarte. The attractive walkway was done up a few years ago and you find wooden platforms on the rocky shore that are perfect for sunbathing. At the weekends they are covered in trendy young things that don't want to get sand in their tangas (men and women). 

If you like your beaches golden and your menus in English then this isn't your beach. However if your idea of fun is to sit on the sand for a few hours with the locals, stuff yourself with seafood and then walk it off in the afternoon then Melenara is perfect.