In the windy and cold winter, we escaped to Tenerife for two weeks. This destination we hoped to be a good fit for our first time abroad with a little one of 11 months (A), with a not-too-long flight and not-too-warm temperatures, and a not-too-high flight price. With little experience of the Canary Islands, we picked Tenerife because of the plentiful hiking trails and green nature but though we didn't prepare much beforehand researching daytrips or destinations, it turned out to be a fantastic trip that really exceeded our expectations. In this post I'll do my best to summarize our first week which we spent at a guesthouse in El Tanque.
First, I'll have to mention our flight there which went smoother than expected. We were lucky that the plane wasn't fully booked, which meant that we had an extra seat to use. A was sleeping both at the start and end of the flight, and in between she was happy to sit on the empty middle seat and play, not so much with the toys we brought but rather with any non-toy she could find - the safety instructions card, the wifi instructions or a pack of tissues. After we landed we picked up our rental car (which included a child seat) and headed out to a grocery store to pick up some food, since we planned to mostly cook ourselves. However, we didn't take into account that it was Epiphany Day, and most of the stores were actually closed! Luckily we found a smaller store in one of the tourist areas in the south where we could stock up on some things before driving on to El Tanque. We arrived at Finca El Lance, an old winery turned guesthouse which we had booked on AirBnB. It was owned by an older Swiss couple who greeted us with a piece of a Three Kings cake and a bottle of wine. We had our own small cottage fitted with kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and a yard, but the main treat was the common area of the Finca. It was situated on a steep hill and there were several little places with chairs and tables where you could sit and enjoy the view.
Our first full day we did a hike which started in El Tanque and went up to Arenas Negras. Since El Tanque is on the mountain side it was a very steep uphill to start with, but we were soon treated with excellent scenery both in terms of surrounding nature and views. One of the things we loved about Tenerife was that a single hike could take you through so many different types of nature. As was the case with this one, we started in a village, entered a mossy forest, transitioned into a pine forest (with the largest pine cones we've ever seen) and finally reached the volcanic area with black sand and little vegetation. This was probably one of the longest hikes we did, but we were super happy with it. Since A doesn't walk yet, she was happy to be carried in our Ergobaby carrier, with some occasional breaks on the ground to explore. She loves being outdoors and really liked the forests where she could just reach out a hand to touch trees and bushes that we walked past.
The second day, we drove down to the coast for a change of scenery. We started off visiting one of the Charcos, natural pools where you can take a dip in the ocean while somewhat sheltered from the often rough sea and big waves. We walked eastward to a village San Juan de la Rambla with another charco which seemed quite popular to visit (Charco de la Laja). We took a dip in the crystal clear water which was around 22C perhaps, and then went searching for lunch. This small village didn't have many restaurants, but we found a bar serving drinks and smaller dishes tapas style. They didn't really speak any English and hardly surprising, they didn't have many of the dishes that were on the menu. So I did my best with my duolingo-Spanish to order lunch for us and what we ended up with was this: grilled cheese served with honey and blueberry jam - this turned out to be a local specialty that you could find at basically every food place (and very tasty), tuna in tomato sauce - for some reason the woman I ordered from suggested half a portion, I have no idea why, which was unfortunate since it was really delicious, and a huge plate of fries with shredded ham and cheese, and mayo (papas locas). After lunch we went back towards our car, and along the way stopped at yet another pool - Charco Verde. This one was at the end of a steep path, but we were rewarded with a quiet spot were we were almost alone. It also seemed to be a few meters above sea level, which left it mostly untouched by the waves, and also shaded by the surrounding cliffs - a perfect place to go with a little one for a calm afternoon.
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| Charco Verde |
The next day, we went back to Arenas Negras but drove part of the way to park at one of the many camp/grill spots and just do a roundtrip hike. When google maps picked the most direct route, however, it was one that was extremely steep. In general, when driving on Tenerife, nerves of steel are to recommend, but this path I would not wish anyone to drive on ever, as it wasn't really wide enough for two cars and it was steep enough that you could barely see where you were going. Once we arrived though, we enjoyed a nice hike which was quite flat, and sandwiches that we had made for lunch. When we got back in the afternoon, we started a nice tradition of bringing some snacks to one of the areas at our guesthouse with chairs and table to enjoy some spanish cheese and other things while catching the last of the sun before it disappeared behind the hills.
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| Arenas Negras |
Day four was again spent hiking along the coast, an incredibly hilly hike but with such dramatic landscape that left us in awe several times. Always the coastline ahead of us was shrouded in mist from the crashing waves. Our destination this day was Puerto de la Cruz, a popular place to go to watch big waves crash against the rocks and houses by the coast. We found an excellent lunch spot at a restaurant on one of the smaller streets in town where we ate papas arrugadas - another local specialty with potatoes cooked in saltwater (so they become "wrinkled") served with two sauces, mojo rojo and mojo verde. On top of that, grilled mussels and prawns in sauce. On the way back we stopped for a while in the shade on a wooden deck where A could go exploring and we could rest our feet for a bit.
The next day we felt like taking a break from the hiking and enjoy some time at a charco, so we drove to Los Silos, an area with desert like landscape and plenty of cliffs and charcos. We spent most of the days at a small rocky beach that was right next to one of the more popular charcos, Charco Los Chochos. As the charco caught most of the waves and the tourists, we could enjoy a quiet time and A even enjoyed taking a dip in the cool water. We went for a walk along the coast as well, but it was very warm. To finish off the day, we drove to Garachico, a popular visit on the north coast. It's a cute town, and we did a bit of city sightseeing and treated ourselves to some ice cream.
Day six, our last day in El Tanque, we decided to drive up to Parque Rural de Anaga in the north east corner of the island. This was one of the places where, as we found out, you might want to apply for a permit. Several of the places on Tenerife that attract a lot of tourists require a permit, which is often free but you have to apply online weeks or sometimes months in advance. In the case of Anaga, the permit is only required for a specific hiking trail but luckily there are plenty of other fantastic hiking trails to pick from. We were also happy to park a bit away from the main parking lot which seemed to fill up quickly. We picked out a route along PR-TF 10 which led us to a viewpoint Mirador Aguaide (view on AllTrails). Amazing views both along the trail and at the viewpoint, so we were definitely not disappointed and we would actually have liked to spend more time in this area to explore. Just the forest itself is also really nice, as this is a big chunk of mostly untouched nature and the oldest forest on Tenerife.
Here ends or first week on Tenerife, the next post I will write about our second week spent in El Palmar. Cheers!
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