Tenerife
November 29, 2019
8 days on Tenerife
This November we took a little break and decided to go to the stunning Island of Tenerife.
Right of the coast of Marocco it’s one of the Spanish Islands that are together know as the Canarian Islands.
With a year round warm climate, Tenerife is the perfect location to catch some sun in the European winter. But due to the impressive El Teide volcano, that is also the highest mountain in Spain, there are multiple climates on the island.
This also makes it a great hiking destination.
Read on for the best tips on where to stay and where to hike!
Our Route
We landed on the southern airport where we picked up our car. It’s a 4,5 hour flight from Amsterdam which is still very doable.
Upon leaving the plain we were imidiatly greeted by some nice warm air and sun.
The south west of the island is known for the higher temperatures that are around 25 degrees Celcius the whole year.
We picked up our rental car and headed east toward our first apartment in San Cristobal de La Laguna.
This would be our base camp for the coming days from where we could explore the nearby national park Parque Rural de Anaga.
The East part of the island receives far more rain and is therefore much greener but also a bit colder with 18 to 20 degrees. The views more then make up for that little rain!
After a day in the national park with a nice hike in the remote village of Taganana we drove all the way to San Andrés and back allong the coast. The drive alone is well worth your time. The roads are steep and curvy but there are some realy nice view points allong the way.
The next day we drove up towards the volcano El Teide from East to West. We started under the clouds but as we climed higher and higher we eventually reached a point where we could see the peak rise out of the clouds. Very Impressive!
We did a hike near El Portillo Visitor Center and then drove down towards our next appartment in Puerto de La Cruz. On the drive down we made another Hike in the pine forest covering the North side of the Volcano. We passed throughLa Orotava. A scenic village, but with very little parking places, so we where not able to check it out.
After a night in Puerto de La Cruz we awoke with a great view on El Teide from our balcony. We started the day with a walk allong the Northern coast of Tenerife, towards an old and abandoned hotel.
We then drove allong the coast towardsGarachico. A scenic and quiet fisherman town. After a short sight seeing tour we drove on towards our next stay in Puerto de Santiago. Google maps decided to give us the scenic route, with some of the steepest and curviest roads I have driven in my life! But after surviving these we could finaly enjoy the sunny side of the Island.
Puerto de Santiago is located beneath the huge cliffs of Los Gigantes, that catch most of the wind. El Teide catches the clouds so the climate is remarkably warm in this area. We therefor decided to stay here the rest of our trip.
From here we drove back up to El Teide once more, this time from West to East. It was a clear day and we did a great Hike halfway allong the road.
We also made some shorter trips allong the coast towards Plaza del Duque and did some nice hikes allong the coast before heading to the airport on the final day.
Just South of the airport lays Reserva natural especial de Montaña Roja where we did one last hike before our departure. The hike climbs a smaller volcano that gives a great view over the southern coast. Highly recommended.
Highlights & Tips
I’ve covered most of the highlights in our journal above, but here are they once more in an easy list:
1. Parque Rural de Anaga: A must visit for the great scenery and many hikes. Start of at the visitors centre (Mirador de Cruz del Carmen in google maps). Check out Alltrails for the best hikes around.
We did this one
2. Drive up towards El Teide from the east and then decent along La Orotava towards Puerto de la Cruz. We hiked here.
3. Walk allong the coast in Puerto de la Cruz
4. Chill a couple days in Puerto de Santiago and make some nice walks allong the coast there.
5. Go back up El Teide from the other side and hike here.
6. Before you depart, make this morning walk
(These are all easy hikes, check out All trails for more dificult or longer ones.
Weather and location
- If you plan on going up on El Teide, definitly bring some warmer cloths. With a height of 3800 meters it can get quite chilly above the clouds. two good sources for checking the weather and visability are:
- Meteoblue
- VolcanoTeide
Also if you use Alltrails for your hiking routes, you get weather info in the app
* If you don’t like the large resorts or all inclusive hotels, no worry. It was very easy to find very affordable appartments for under €40 a night all allong our route. We booked most of it only a day before through booking.com. It was low season though. There are really good supermarkets all across the island and we cooked our own meals.
Some of the appartments where we stayed:
Aparatamentos Bello Zona Hospital in La Laguna
Apartamentos La Carabela in Puerto de la Cruz
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