The highest mountain of Spain can in fact not be found on the Spanish mainland, but on the island of Tenerife belonging to the Islas Canarias. The Teide is 3,715 meters high and of volcanic origin – the last erruption was in 1909. Surrounding the mountain you can find a beautiful national park and a caldera named Las Cañadas with a diameter of 17 kilometers. The Pico del Teide was also the holy mountain of the Guanche indigenious people who gave it the name Echeyde, El Teide is just the Spanish transformation of this name.
Most people get up to the Teide to go with the cable car to the top. If you intend to do so you should book tickets online in advance at minimum a week prior to your visit; capacity is limited. But you don’t need to take the cable car, being in the caldera is also a nice experience with different rock formations, cold streams of magma and obsidian created by different erruptions. Various parking lots along the road offer the possibility to just take a picture, have a short walk or a longer hike. The earlier you get up, the better are your chances to park your car.
When getting up you really feel the elevation and the reduced air pressure which also affects your oxigen absorption. That’s also a good training and that’s why you’ll see quite a lot of cyclists making their way up the hill. To get to the Teide you can use the road TF-21 which starts in the north close to La Orotava and runs via the Teide (or better said: through the caldera) down to the southern airport (TFS). It is a road in good condition and already passing all those vegetational zones is worth the drive up.
Pico del Teide
Tenerife
Islas Canarias
Macaronesia
Spain
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