Teide Cable Car to 3,555 m, One Hour at the Top

The cable car climbs to 3,555 metres and puts you at the Rambleta viewpoint, with the Cañadas del Teide spread out underneath. You get an hour up there. That is the number to plan around: enough for the walking paths, for the Pico Viejo viewpoint, which on a clear day has La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro in it, and for the Orotava valley and the white domes of the Teide observatory. Lunch is whatever you carried up, because nothing is provided. After the hour, back down to the base station and on by bus to the Roques de García, where stairways run between the rock formations and the Llano de Ucanca opens out below, flat and empty enough to unsettle people. About seven hours in total. Pick-up runs from southern Tenerife between 6:30 and 9:35 am: Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje every day, El Médano and Golf del Sur on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, along with Los Gigantes, Puerto Santiago, Callao Salvaje, Playa Paraíso and Marazul. Say which one you want when you book.