A two week round trip on Tenerife Island

March 1996

We explored almost all parts ot Tenerife Island including the ascend to the highest mountain Teide (3715m). Here are some impressions...

Arriving at the Airport in the south of the island, we took the highway to travel north-east to the Anagara Mountains. There we spent a day exploring small villages at the coast and riding some small trails, before climbing up a long winding road to the Laurus forests with Erica arborea. There we enjoyed the cool climate for two days. Then we rode down to the capital of the island before starting the long ascend to Teide on the main road from the north-east. The highest point of the main road goes to an altitude of about 2500m.

At least in March, with the peak of Teide still being covered in snow, riding further on smaller roads was not advisory. Therefore we camped in the Caldera for a few days and climbed the Teide by foot... On the day of our climb the weather was stormy and on the summit we had ice-rain and strong winds. It was fun after all (anyone can climb in good weather...). Due to the storm we spent one day in the tent waiting for better conditions to continue cycling. From Teide we had a beautiful descent to the northern coast!! We decided to not only use the paved main-road, but also some smaller gravel roads through the Pinus canariensis forest. We then found a very nice camping site near the lighthouse at the north-west point of the island. From there we continued our tour through the Teno Mountains. The vegetation was beautiful, with many flowering Euphorbia-species, but the roads were extremely steep, especially when riding with full equipment. After a short visit to Masca and the gorge, we continued back down to the south-western coast. There we took the coastal road passing a lot of tea and vegetable plantations. The last days of the tour we spent at the southern point of the island, near the lighthouse and at Punta Roca, relaxing at the beach.


Bike tour Teneriffa 1996 on a bigger map