Tenerife 2024

Santiago del Teide

The west of the island: Teide at sunset and in the morning above the farmed valley, the Los Gigantes cliffs and the black lava shore at their feet. The chapter also gathers a few pictures taken elsewhere on the island.

Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands and, in essence, a single volcanic edifice rising from the Atlantic off the coast of northwest Africa. The album covers the last week of December 2023 and the first days of January 2024, when the winter light is low and clear and the north of the island stays green. Everything revolves around Teide, at 3,715 meters the highest point in Spain, whose national park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007.

Icod de los Vinos

The north coast at Icod de los Vinos: clear water, basalt boulders and a line of cliffs receding to the west.

Buenavista del Norte

The northwestern tip of the island, with a dark rocky shore and long Atlantic swells in the evening light.

Drago Milenario

A very old dragon tree (Dracaena draco) in Icod de los Vinos, one of Tenerife's symbols.

The route starts in Santiago del Teide, in the west of the island. From here the cone of Teide rises above dark ridges at sunset, and in the morning it appears beyond the farmed valley below the town. Toward the coast, the Los Gigantes cliffs drop hundreds of meters straight into the ocean, and the shore around them is jagged black lava with sparse shrubs. On the north coast, at Icod de los Vinos, the surf breaks over basalt boulders, and the Parque del Drago holds the Drago Milenario, a dragon tree (Dracaena draco) whose age is disputed but which is the best-known specimen of its kind.

Parque del Drago

The Drago Milenario, the dragon tree of Icod de los Vinos and the island's plant emblem, surrounded by palms and younger dragon trees.

La Orotava

Black volcanic sand beaches below steep cliffs on the coast of La Orotava, with white surf running up the sand.

Garachico

The Roque de Garachico offshore and the lava pools along the seafront, formed after the 1706 eruption buried the town's old harbor.

Teno

The Teno massif and the village of Masca, set among sharp volcanic ridges and deep ravines running down to the ocean.

In La Orotava, beaches of black volcanic sand lie at the foot of steep cliffs. Garachico still bears the mark of the 1706 eruption, when lava buried the town's harbor; the same flows formed the natural rock pools along its seafront, and offshore stands the Roque de Garachico, a volcanic islet seen here behind a wooden cross. The Teno massif in the northwest is one of the oldest parts of the island: the village of Masca sits on a narrow ridge between sharp peaks and deep ravines, among palms and agaves.

Granadilla de Abona

The sun sinks into the sea at El Médano, on the south coast, in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona.

El Médano

Sunset over the bay at El Médano, with the silhouette of the Montaña Roja cone at the water's edge.

Anaga

The Anaga massif, a biosphere reserve: forested ridges, deep valleys and laurel forest crossed by a wooden boardwalk.

Later on January 3 the route crosses to the south, to El Médano in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona, where the sun sets over the bay beside the silhouette of Montaña Roja, a volcanic cone. The last day belongs to the east: the Anaga massif, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2015, with forested ridges and a wooden boardwalk through laurel forest, then Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with the Auditorio designed by Santiago Calatrava, and the Palmetum, a palm garden built on a former landfill, photographed at night under colored lights with the city and the port below.

Palmetum

The Palmetum palm garden, built on a former landfill, at night under colored lights, with Santa Cruz and its port below.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The Auditorio in Santa Cruz, designed by Santiago Calatrava, its roof curving like a wave, lit up at night.