Going on holiday can be quite a stressful experience for IBS sufferers. It can be hard enough managing the symptoms in known territory let alone in a foreign country. I always feel a bit anxious prior to travelling. Especially to a non-English speaking country. I’m haunted by the thought of what I will eat, if there will be toilets close-by in case of a flare-up. I have already written an article with some travelling tips when I visited India and you can find that here. However I wanted to share my experience in Tenerife.
Despite having been on the low FODMAP diet for 1 1/2 years, most of my reintroductions have been unsuccessful. This means I still have to avoid most FODMAPs. However I found eating out in Tenerife was really easy and I was symptom free the whole trip (Hurray!). All menus in restaurants have an allergy key which indicates whether meals contain any allergens. This indicated whether the meals contained wheat, gluten, soya and lactose which made eating out so much easier. All the foods at the hotel buffet breakfast where also labelled which was brilliant! While in Tenerife I mostly ate seafood. Luckily they simply grill or fry the seafood and just serve it with a wedge of lemon. Here are a few of the meals I had.
My favourite restaurant was a small local place called El Cine. Their menu was quite limited with just a short selection of seafood and fish but it was really good and best of all FODMAP friendly. Locals usually ordered a variety of dishes and shared. On my trip I also discovered a low FODMAP ice-lolly called Aupa pictured below.
While in Tenerife I stayed at the Cleopatra Palace Hotel. The hotel is situated in the south of Tenerife in the Las Americas/Los Cristianos area. This area is only 15-20 minutes away from the Tenerife Sud airport. The buffet breakfast was amazing. There was a huge choice of food available including a variety of fruit, cereal, and an egg station which made eggs to order. The hotel was situated just infront of the beach so I could relax knowing that if I experienced urgency I could just go up to my hotel room. Below you can see a picture of the beach which I took from the hotel room balcony. There were also public toilets along the promenade. The hotel was also situated close to plenty of restaurants, bars, a mall, a supermarket and mini golf. There are also plenty of activities at a nearby beach which is approximately 5-10 minutes walk away including paragliding, paddle boat hire and jet skiing.
At times there was a language barrier however tour guides and waiters and restaurants were usually fluent in English. Over all it was a great trip and I would highly recommend it.
Feel free to leave any other questions you may have in the comment box below.
Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been to Spain and the Canary Islands many times, but not while on the low FODMAP-diet. What I know is that they do use lots of onion and garlic and onion and garlic is not an allergene, so they don’t have to declare it. How did you manage to avoid it?
Meat and seafood dishes were mostly grilled or fried. Meat such as steak and chicken were served without sauces unless otherwise stated on the menu. There was usually an option to opt to have it without sauce. Seafood dishes such as octopus, squid and prawns were just served with a wedge of lemon. For side dishes I usually ordered canary potatoes (boiled potatoes with salt) or fries and salad. When in doubt I simply asked the waiter. However most menus had pictures of the dishes too so it was easier to see what the dishes contained.
Dishes such as pasta and paella would probably contain onion and garlic so I stirred clear of those. I hope this answers your question.
Thank you very much for these useful tips: I went to El Cine yesterday and it was indeed easy to find lowFODMAP options. The food was also tasty and cheap! I also tried the Aupa: I cannot remember the last time I ate an ice-lolly! Thank you very much again! 😀 kisses from Tenerife
I’m glad you found it helpful 🙂 El Cine was by far my favourite! I hope you had a great time in Tenerife. x
Thank you for your tips!!
I’m going in a few weeks and this will make it easier. I do have a few questions.
Do they have “low-fodmap” foods in supermarket like lactose free yogurt/milk, speltflour or speltbread, glutenfree bread, buckwheat flour or bread, rice cakes, glutenfree cereals?
We are going to hike so something easy to take with me for lunch would be nice. I also eat a lot of seeds and nuts like almonds, macademia’s, pinenuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, chia seed, linseed. Is that kind of food available in Tenerife? We have a aparthotel in costa Adeja which is pretty close to las amaricas (we rented a car) so if you know a bigger supermarket or store that has this kind of products would be very helpful.
I know I have a lot of questions but I would be really gratefully if you could help me.
Thanks in advance,
Cindy Aerdts
Hi Cindy. I’m glad to hear you found the tips helpful. I only visited one small supermarket in Las Americas. I only bought water so I am not sure whether they have gluten free and lactose free products. However they did have a vast selection of nuts, fruit and vegetables. I packed some snack foods to have while out. I’m sure a bigger supermarket would have free from products. I have heard that they have a very good selection even better than the UK! This may be helpful. http://www.tenerife-information-centre.com/shopping-in-tenerife.html
Enjoy your holiday. We hiked down the masca gorge and it was amazing.
Thanks you very much for the information and the link. You’ve been very helpfull to me.
We will go hiking down the masca gorge too, I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks