| Tenerife walks and
                    drives (click on thumbnails) | |||||||||||||||
|  |   Santa Cruz de Tenerife. If staying in
                  the capital Hotel Mencey is well placed at the
                  junction of the Rambla and Parque Garcia Sanabria.
                  (However in 2009 it is undergoing extensive
                  refurbishment and we stayed a few metres away at Taburiente - with its excellent restaurant "Gom" on
                  the premisies) It is a pleasant walk down through a
                  series of small parks and pedestrianised streets to
                  the harbour and Plaza España (expensive). The
                  original part of the hotel (far left) statue (left)
                  and fountains (right) in the park. Canarian food and restaurants. | ||||||||||||||
| Las Cañadas Teide and the caldera area. Climbing Teide is an energetic full day, as are other major peaks of the caldera rim, there are however easy walks in Las Cañadas. | |||||||||||||||
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|  |  The La Fortaleza walk (2
                  hours - walk 1 in the Teide National park walks booklet) from the information centre at La Portillo | ||||||||||||||
|  | The Pico Viejo walk from
                  Los Roques (walk 23) | ||||||||||||||
|  |  The Volcan de Fasnia walk (walk 20) | ||||||||||||||
|  |   Drives. Once away
                  from the coast, roads become steep and sometimes
                  tortuous, all the roads that go anywhere of
                  significance are metalled but there are many
                  "forestals" and rough jeep tracks in out of the way
                  places. In the national park the jeep tracks are now
                  blocked to vehicles and are used as footpaths. I
                  suspect this is a general trend. | ||||||||||||||
|  |     Walks. There are many easier walks than Teide and Guajara. Three walks start from a Jeep track just above Vilaflor. | ||||||||||||||
|  | There are a couple of good roads through the old caldera area giving good views of Teide. In this photo the source of the 18C eruptions can be seen. | ||||||||||||||
|   |  Rare winter storms bring problems to the
                  roads. | ||||||||||||||
|  | As you drive up from the capital into the caldera area, its not uncommon to pass through low cloud and then into the sunshine. | ||||||||||||||
|   | The resort at Los Gigantes seemed pleasant. | ||||||||||||||
|  | The Blue Chaffinch
              (Pinzon Azul) and other birds of Tenerife | ||||||||||||||