Air
Most visitors fly direct to Tenerife Sur airport, from the UK or Europe, using a variety of airlines. Local flights from the adjacent Canary Islands land at Tenerife Norte, and are operated by Binter Canarias, tel. 902-391392, www.bintercanarias.com, or Canaryfly, tel. 902-808065, www.canaryfly.es.
Frequent, fast and cheap TITSA buses link Tenerife Sur with the bustling nearby resorts of Los Cristianos and Playa de las Américas, and some services also run to the capital city of Santa Cruz. From Tenerife Norte, regular buses run to Santa Cruz and the northern resort of Puerto de la Cruz. Taxis are also available at the airports.
By Ferry
Two ferry companies operate between Tenerife and neighbouring islands. Lineas Fred Olsen, tel. 902-100107, www.fredolsen.es, is quick and expensive. Naviera Armas, tel. 902-456500, www.naviera-armas.com, is slower and cheaper. Ferries berth at Los Cristianos, from the westernmost islands of La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, and at Santa Cruz, from Gran Canaria.
Getting around
By Bus
TITSA buses operate all over Tenerife from sea level to almost 2400m (7875ft) at the foot of El Teide
Tenerife has an excellent network of bus services operated by Transportes Interurbanos de Tenerife SA (TITSA), tel. 922-531300, www.titsa.com. Obtain an up-to-date timetable for the whole island as soon as possible, from bus stations or information kiosks. There are two timetables, one listing all services and another listing only those regularly used by tourists. Details can also be checked on the website. Tickets are for single or day return journeys and fares are paid on boarding the bus. For the best deal, obtain a pre-paid bono ticket and use the on-board machine. The bono will be debited less than what you would pay for a ticket on board. Buses are referred to as guaguas, although bus stops, or paradas, may be marked as ‘bus’.
By Taxi
Long taxi rides are expensive, but short journeys are worth considering. Taxi ranks are located in all the towns and some of the villages. Fares are fixed by the municipalities and can be inspected on demand, though negotiation might be possible.
Car Hire
Some people will automatically pick up a hire car in Tenerife, and this is easily arranged in advance or on arrival. In some instances, a car is useful to reach a walk in a remote location, and using a car might sometimes offer more flexibility than using bus services. However, some of the best walks on Tenerife are linear, and if you park a car at one end it can be very difficult to return to it.
Planning your Transport
To make the most of walking opportunities, and limit long and awkward travelling, it is best to choose a number of accommodation bases with good bus connections. Linear routes described in this book generally start at the higher end and finish at the lower end, but there are exceptions. Where buses serve both ends, timetable details need to be checked, and you need to pace yourself to fit in with the schedules. In the few places where bus services are extremely limited, or completely absent, the only options are to arrange drop-offs and pick-ups, either by taxi or by arrangement with a car-driving friend. Pick-ups require careful planning and timing so as not to inconvenience or alarm those who are waiting for you.
What to take
If planning to use one or two bases to explore, then a simple day pack is all you need, containing items you would normally take for a day walk. Waterproofs can be lightweight and might not even be used. Footwear is a personal preference, but wear what you would normally wear for steep, rocky, stony slopes, remembering that hot feet are more likely to be a problem than wet feet. Lightweight light-coloured clothing is best in bright sunshine, along with a sun hat and frequent applications of sunscreen.
If snow and ice covers the highest mountains, warmer and more protective clothing will be needed, possibly even ice axe and crampons. If planning to backpack around the island, bear in mind that wild camping is technically illegal, though surprisingly popular. Lightweight kit should be carried, as a heavy pack is a cruel burden on steep slopes in hot weather. Water can be difficult to find, so try to anticipate your needs and carry enough to last until you reach a village, bar or houses where you can obtain a refill.
Waymarking and access
Tenerife only recently adopted a system for signposting and waymarking routes using standard European codes. The island has a network of short PR (pequeño recorrido) routes, which are marked with yellow and white paint flashes, and numbered to keep them separate. Signposts will read ‘PR TF…’, with a number following the letters. These codes are quoted in the route descriptions so that walkers will always be able to check that they are going the right way. There are also GR (gran recorrido) routes, which are intended as long-distance walks, but can also serve as simple one-day linear walks. Some short links are marked as SL (sendero local), literally ‘local walk’.
Red and white flashes mark the GR 131, and yellow and white flashes mark the shorter PR routes
Apart from signposts, routes are marked by occasional paint marks, parallel yellow and white stripes for the PR routes, with red and white stripes for the GR routes and green and white stripes for the SL routes. These confirm that walkers are still on course, and usually appear at junctions. Left and right turns are indicated with right-angled flashes, but if the paint marks form an ‘X’, this indicates that a wrong turn has been made.
The national park, Parque Nacional del Teide, has for many years used its own method to mark a splendid network of routes, generally using metal plaques fixed to rocks. These plaques bear the word sendero followed by a number that can be checked against map-boards and route maps produced by the national park authority.
Maps
The Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), www.cnig.es, publishes maps of the Canary Islands at scales of 1:50,000 and 1:25,000. These are part of the Mapa Topográfico Nacional (MTN) series. To avoid disappointment, please check the style and quality of these maps before making a purchase, since they generally do not show the sort of details that walkers require.
On Tenerife, good maps suitable for exploring are rather limited. There is the excellent 1:25,000 ‘Teide Parque Nacional’ map, stretching well beyond the national park in the middle of the island. For complete coverage of Tenerife on one sheet, the next best map is the 1:50,000 Kompass map of Tenerife, and this is available in Britain with an Automobile Association cover, as the AA Island Series 11 – Tenerife. The evolving trail network does not yet feature on maps, though routes are usually outlined on map-boards around the island, from which details can be copied and transferred to other maps.
Mapboards, signposts and waymarks have appeared where old paths have been restored
Maps can be ordered in advance from British suppliers such as Stanfords (12–14 Long Acre, London, WC2E 9BR,
