Tenerife in 6 Days: From Teide to the Anaga Forests

Teide and Las Cañadas

Teide National Park is Spain's most visited and still looks like Mars. The Las Cañadas caldera is 17 km wide, ringed by 500-metre walls.

The cable car climbs to 3,555 metres in eight minutes. To stand on the 3,715 m crater you need a free permit requested online weeks in advance.

Roques de García, opposite the Parador, is the essential loop walk: an easy 3.5 km among lava formations.

At night, Teide's sky is one of the world's best for stargazing. Telescope tours depart from inside the park.

Anaga and La Laguna

The Anaga massif, a Biosphere Reserve, is Teide's opposite: humid laurel forest, permanent mist and trails through giant ferns.

The Sendero de los Sentidos near Cruz del Carmen is short and accessible; the Chinamada trail drops to a hamlet of inhabited cave houses.

San Cristóbal de La Laguna, a World Heritage site, was the urban model for many colonial cities in the Americas. Its old town takes two hours and eats better than any resort area.

Playa de las Teresitas, with sand brought from the Sahara, closes the day ten minutes from Santa Cruz.

Masca, Garachico and the North

The road to Masca is a rosary of curves above the ravine; the village, wedged between vertical walls, looks impossible. The gorge walk to the sea requires a booking and a guide.

Garachico was the island's main port until lava buried it in 1706. Today its El Caletón natural pools are the best swim in Tenerife.

Icod de los Vinos has the thousand-year-old dragon tree, and La Orotava the Casa de los Balcones with 17th-century Canarian patios.

We finished in Puerto de la Cruz with Loro Parque gardens and César Manrique's Lago Martiánez.

Practical Tips and Budget

**Best time:** all year. The north is greener and wetter; the south dry and sunny even in winter.

**Budget per person (6 days):** - Flights from mainland Spain: €60-160 - Car rental + fuel: €120-200 - Accommodation: €240-420 - Cable car and activities: €60-120 - Meals: €150-220 - **Estimated total: €630-1,120**

**Essential tips:** - Request the Teide summit permit as soon as you have dates: they go fast - Bring warm clothes up Teide: it can be 20 °C colder than the coast - Sleep one night north and one south to cut driving time - Eat at northern guachinches: house wine and Canarian food for €12-15 - Mountain roads are narrow: budget double the GPS time