Tenerife Reviews
|
Reviews Excursion & Attraction Reviews Mount Teide
Mount Teide
|
 |
7.5 | |
 |
9.0 (1) |
Excursion Reviews
| Location | Tenerife |
Editor review
Get high!
|
I'd been visiting Tenerife for fourteen years before I finally went on a tour to see the volcano that made Tenerife. On reflection It's quite shameful that it took me that long but this half day tour to El Teide (sounds a bit like tidy) was well worth it and I would urge anyone who might overlook such a thing in favour of the beach and bars to make a break from the routine for several hours and have look. Mount Teide is a volcano standing at 3718m, almost three times higher than Ben Nevis, that has literally shaped and made the island of Tenerife. The 8am pick up had me pulling my face, I don't get up that early on days off at home, never mind on holiday so an early night it had to be. With hindsight the early start made very good sense, it was only on my way down from Teide and seeing the queue snaking out of the cable car station and well into the car park that I became aware of how popular an attraction it is and you have to beat the crowds. Anyway, once the pick ups had been made at various hotels we set off for Teide. A good commentary was provided by our guide, Juan - in four languages! The first place of significance we pass through is the town of Arona but we don't stop. Next, where we do stop, for a toilet break and drink is Vilaflor. Vilaflor is the highest altitude settlement in Spain. Unfortunately it is not a picturesque place in itself and in the context of our very short visit, unremarkable. Good views back down to the coast were probably there to be found if you had time but did not immediately present themselves where we stopped. Back on the coach now and the road really starts to hairpin it's way up the mountain, with occaisionally fantastic views. Soon we enter pine forest, scorching on the bark of some trees a reminder of previous forest fires. As the journey continued I got a little miffed as to why we weren't stopping at one or two locations to take some quick photographs. As mentioned earlier there was good reason for it and I wasn't aware that at the time, the driver was basically on a mission to get us to Mount Teide, before the crowds got there. Before long we enter Las Ca?adas national park. This is the caldera left behind by the collapse of an immense vocalno around 180,000 years ago. The scale is huge and the volcano that stood there must have been unbelievabley big. The terrain now is very volcanic with rock and the cliff faces of the caldera all around. We pass an interesting rock formation simply sign posted as "Los Roques" but do call back later. A few minutes later we arrive at the cable car station... and immediately notice how cool it is. The cable car will take you up to within a few hundred metres of the very summit of Teide. The cost of a ticket on it was not included in the price of the tour since it is considered an option. Personally to get this far and choose not bother kind of defeats the object. It is not possible to see the summit from the cable car station. It should be noted however that there are signs advising those with heart problems not to go up to the top (the air is starting to get a bit thin with less oxygen at that height) nor does the cable car run at times of very high wind. It is not possible to casually turn up and go to the very summit of Teide. Permission has to be granted by the relevant department back in Santa Cruz. This is freely given but numbers are strictly controlled to minimise damage and enable proper supervision of the important summit area. After a little queing up it was our turn to get in the cable car. Each car holds 38 people and the ride up takes about eight minutes. Once at the top and you step out of the top station it was like being teleported somewhere else altogether, it certainly wasn't balmy south coast Tenerife up there. The teperature at the top was only a little above freezing at 3C and the wind so strong you had to brace yourself against it. This is where it pays to take some suitable clothing. A good jacket, preferabley with a hood would be ideal. The viewing area immediately around the top station is paved so you don't really need to be wearing hiking boots. There are defined but bare rock paths from the viewing area that will require shoes on the more "sensible" side though. The view at the top (over two miles up) is fantastic. The summit of Teide is right in front of you and so close. You are also well above the cloud tops and can see other islands like Gran Canaria breaking through the cloud cover. The caldera of the ancient volcano collapse now becomes much more appearent as does it's scale. I wanted to explore a little further along the paths but time allocated by our guide didn't really allow for it. It has to be said though I'd very quickly developed a headache, I'm not sure if that was caused by the cold wind on my head or by the thinner air. Since time was against me it was time to come down. Back down at the base station I saw the big long queue and overflowing car park that made me realise that El Teide is a very popular attraction, over three million a year and that the early start was worth it afterall. At the base station there are also toilets, a cafe, information centre and gift shop. We were now back on the road and the first promised photo stop was at Los Roques, the interesting an unusual rock formation which also provided some more good views of Mount Teide. A few minutes later we arrive at Pico Viejo a smaller volcano which last erupted in 1798. The black lava flows are very obvious from Pico Viejo. From this location you can also look across over the ocean to see the mountains of La Palma breaking through the cloud. We are now heading out of Las Ca?adas national park but have a slow drive by of El Chinyero. This is the site of the most recent volcanic eruption on Tenerife in 1909. Although it would have meant parking a large coach on the relatively narrow road, I would have liked at least a five minute photo stop here. The tinted windows of the coach are not ideal for taking photographs through and of course those on the "wrong" side of the coach are disadvantaged with respect to their view. Having left El Chinyero behind as we continue coming down from the mountains, the main part of the tour is more or less over, although there are still fleeting views through the trees back up to the volcanic peaks. The final stop of the excursion is in Guia de Isora at another cafe/gift shop that seems to exist solely to service coach parties. In any event it had a good range of gifts and local produce. I was dropped off back at my original pick up point shortly before 3pm. I grabbed my towel and Walkman and plonked myself down on a sunbed by the pool, not much more than an hour later than I would if I'd spent a full night out on the booze. All in all a very interesting tour that got me out to see real Tenerife and some great scenery... all before tea time. [edit: not for the first time the automatic scoring seems to have missed the mark when coming to an overall rating. "Fun factor" is not really a relevant scoring criteria for an excursion such as this where the general interest and experience of having been up there has more to do with it. I'll score it 8 overall] Excursion Reviews
|
Reviewed by Garry
September 27, 2008 |
User reviews
Average user rating from: 1 user(s)
|
|
|
beautiful
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The volcano is beautiful! The surroundings and views are breathtaking. I was just a little dissappointed as when i went it was to windy so the cable carts were not running to take us to the top of the mountain. We had to drive a certain way up and stay there with a convenient shop and cafe. I have to say though the cafe sold the most amazing waffles ever! Lovely trip but maybe not for small children.
Excursion Reviews
|
Was this review helpful to you?
|