Teide Volcano: My must visit on the island of Tenerife

Hi friends, I hope you are having a great week. I am unfortunately going through a few days with an annoying sore throat and because of my work I can't rest my throat as I have to be teaching a training course at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife (Canary Islands).

I arrived in this wonderful island of Tenerife from Asturias on Monday at noon after a flight of about 3 hours.

After collecting my luggage, I went to the counter of the rental car agency to pick up the keys of the car I had booked and after checking that I had no urgent work to do in my email and before eating a snack in one of the airport cafeterias I programmed a route on my mobile to climb the viewpoint of the ruletá which is located near the volcano Teide.

The ascent to the vicinity of this volcano is for me an internal obligation every time I am on the island. On the other three occasions, because my aunt Carmen lived in the town of Adeje, which is located in the south of the island, so my previous ascents had always been by the route that goes through the town of Guía de Isora. Therefore, I was doubly excited. On the one hand, I was revisiting one of those magical places that one would never get tired of visiting, which is the Teide volcano and, on the other hand, by ascending by another route, I was excited to discover new viewpoints from which to take pictures of this wonderful volcano and other places on the island.

After leaving the airport and taking the TF-5 highway a few kilometers I took the exit that led me to the TF-24 road towards the town of La Esperanza. When I had been driving for about 20 minutes I found the first viewpoint which is the viewpoint of Montaña Grande. This viewpoint is nestled in a beautiful pine forest with ancient pines and from where one can see in the distance the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and partially the end of the island which is the area of Anaga, although due to the haze that was on Monday this part was seen with some difficulty.

After crossing kilometers of pine forests that make up the forest park of Tenerife, the next viewpoint where I stopped was the viewpoint of Ortuño. From this viewpoint you can contemplate the grandeur of the Teide volcano, although a haze of clouds prevented me from taking better pictures. However, seeing the volcano relatively close and checking on the GPS that you are more than an hour away from the roulette viewpoint confirms the perception of the great volcano that is Teide.

A few kilometers after my previous stop, I stopped at the viewpoint of La Crucita, in the summer months with the trade winds a spectacular sea of clouds is formed. However, at this time of the year I was not fortunate enough to encounter the meteorological spectacle, but I was still able to enjoy a dreamlike view of the great volcano and also to see the town of Puerto de la Cruz in the distance.

Because it was getting late and I wanted to get to the viewpoint with enough light, I made one last stop before my final destination at the Mirador de La Tarta with the intention of photographing the astronomical observatory of Teide.

In the route that goes from the viewpoint of the cake to the viewpoint of the roulette, there are many spectacular viewpoints in which I was tempted to make stops. However, I was a bit overwhelmed if I did not have a good light, if I took longer in the ascent and in turn, as I approached the viewpoints closer to the volcano, I noticed that there were more cars stopped without the possibility of being able to park off the road. Mainly, I was amazed at the queue of cars at the viewpoint that gives access to the cable car that allows you to ascend very close to the peak of Teide.

Once I arrived at the viewpoint of the roulette, I found a lot of cars parked in the parking lot. In the other occasions that I had ascended I had not seen so many people in this place. I guess it is due to the fact that November is high vacation season in the Canary Islands and also to a greater interest in volcanoes derived from the eruption of the volcano on the island of Palma.

Once I got parking, I moved near one of the most photographed rock massifs from this viewpoint, which is what is known as the shoe of the queen.

From there you can capture one of the best photos I have in my photo library of the Teide volcano and in turn of the shoe of the queen.

After taking these pictures I moved to another of the most photographed points which is also the viewpoint of the cathedral, where you can see an ancient volcanic chimney and next to it a series of ancient rock formations and the old lava flows of the disappeared volcano Pico Viejo.

Finally, I returned to my car, but not before making a small zoom on my cell phone and capture one last image of the beautiful volcano.

The way back to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, I finally made it by a different route that took me to the town of San Isidro and from there I took the highway to Santa Cruz de Tenerife but making a stop in a small town called Candelaria that soon I will present along with the history of the aborigines of the island.

Best regards.

Own photograph taken with my iPhone SE.

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