Back in Tenerife

Posted on by ilkkalariola

I was guiding a week of hiking in Tenerife and once I got back to Finland, I have just been running around everywhere. Our new paddling center here in Helsinki is opening first of May and there is still a lot to do before that!

Here are some pictures from Tenerife. It was a great week and a great group. Also a big thanks to our local partner Teno Activo and our guide Nayra for making everything work!

Hiking in the La Orotava valley

On our first day we hiked in the La Orotava valley.

La Orotava

And we also visited the city of La Orotava. It is a beautiful place!

Masca ravine

The Masca canyon was great as usual. It rained a bit at the start, but eventually the weather was really good!

Hiking in Anaga, Tenerife

You could spend a week just hiking in the Anaga peninsula!

Teide National Park

There was still snow up on Teide and Pico Viejo.

Hiking in Arona

On our last day we hiked from Arona to Ifonche and visited Bodegas Reveron to taste the local wines.

Sunset in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife.

We stayed in Puerto de la Cruz and the sunsets there are spectacular! It was great to be a week in Tenerife, but now I am looking forward to start the kayaking season for real!

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Hiking in Tenerife, Anaga and Arona

Posted on by ilkkalariola

Here is the last part of my post about Tenerife for now!

On the last two days of our hiking trip we did hikes in Anaga and from Arona to Ifonche. Anaga is a very nice place and the best thing is, that you can end many of the hikes to the sea. There’s nothing better than a swim after a day of hiking.

Hiking in Anaga

Anaga is one of the oldest parts of the island of Tenerife. This is one of the three places where the volcanic island rose from the sea at first. This means that the it is steep with deep canyons. It is a challenging place to hike because of the big height differences, but it is also beautiful.

Anaga is a great place to hike

It is hard to capture the beauty of the landscape in pictures. For me it is really hard to imagine, that we are in Tenerife looking at the scenery in Anaga.

Old farm house on the from Arona to Ifonche

Our last day of hiking was from Arona to Ifonche. It is short hike in the south of the island. Looking down towards the sea you can see the big tourist destinations of Las Americas and Los Christianos. Still on the path you feel, that you are somewhere else.

The path down to Arona

It was a very warm day to hike on the southside of Tenerife. Luckily it was quite windy, which made hiking so much nicer. Here we are almost in the village Ifonche and you can see the coast.

Old wine press in Bodega Reverón

After our hike we visited a local wine farm, Bodega Reverón. It is a very nice place and it was great to get to taste some of the local wines.

For the whole week the weather was warm and it didn’t rain at all. So we were very lucky. No back in Finland you really miss the warm and the sun. Especially as I am in Lapland, where the sun doesn’t come up at all. Luckily I will go back to the Canary Islands in a week. This time to Gran Canaria.

 

Hiking in Tenerife, Masca Canyon

Posted on by ilkkalariola

This is the second post about hiking in Tenerife. If you missed the first part, you can read it here.

There are so many great options for hiking in Tenerife, that it is hard to choose just five hikes for our program. We have tried to choose hikes, which all are different. The Masca Canyon is something we have always had in the program. In my opinion it is just something you can’t miss.

The village of Masca and the way to the sea

We start our hike from the village of Masca and hike all the way down to the sea. The village of Masca is a nice place and you could easily just spend a half day there.

Deep in the Masca Canyon

The path starts from the village and goes down the gorge. The water has carved the deep canyon and the canyon walls are really high.

In the Masca Canyon

The walls of the canyon are just spectacular. Although there are a lot of the people on the route, you still get a feeling you are in a very special place.

Beautiful rock formations in the Masca Canyon

There are really beautiful rock formations in the canyon. You could easily spend the whole day just looking around and taking pictures.

Dolphins on the way from Masca to Los Gigantes

The best option for hiking Masca is to take a boat at the end of the canyon. It is possible also to hike back up, but it is a long hike back up. If you are lucky, you might even see some dolphins on the boat trip.

The boat takes you back to Los Gigantes. It is best to reserve your boat trip in advance, so you are sure to have a place in the boat. Depending on your pace, you should reserve 3 – 4 hours to walk from Masca village to the sea.

Hiking in Tenerife, La Orotava and Teide National Park

Posted on by ilkkalariola

I have been guiding hiking trips in Tenerife for Finnish groups since 2010. It is a great destination for hiking. Especially it is nice to escape the dark and cold weather of Finland in November.

We did 5 days of hiking during the week. Here are a few pictures from the first two days.

Pine forest above La Orotava

On our first day we hiked in the La Orotava valley. The canary pines are beautiful and it is a very nice area for hiking.

Rock formations around Los Roques de García

On our second day of hiking we visited Teide National Park. It is one of the Unesco World Heritage sites. It is one of the most visited national parks in the world. A place to visit is Los Roques de García with it’s spectacular rock formations.

Las Cañadas surrounding the Teide National Park

From the viewpoint in Los Roques de García you can see the Las Cañadas ridge around the flat area. You can also see a lot of old lava flows.

Teide from the paths of Samara

On the same day we also did an afternoon hike on the other side of the national park. The path starts close to the small volcano of Samara. For some reason this is not a very popular hike, but in my opinion it gives you the best view of Teide, the highest mountain in Spain.

Hiking the Samara path in Teide National Park

This is another picture from the Samara hike. The scenery towards the Teno Massif is also great!

I will make other posts about our trip next week. There were just too many great places, so I couldn’t fit everything into one post. My next hiking trip to Tenerife will be in the spring around Easter. More information about the trip in Finnish.