The Queen's Shoe and 12 Million Cubic Metres of Lava, Small Group

Tenerife Stars have been guiding on this island for more than ten years, and they keep the groups small on purpose. The alternative is a coach with far too many people on it. The day starts at Vilaflor, around 1,500 metres, with a walk round the square and a coffee in a local cafeteria while the altitude settles. Then El Pino Gordo, one of the oldest Canary pines on the island, and a viewpoint that takes in the whole south-east, from the southern airport down to Los Cristianos, with Gran Canaria across the water and the pine forest close enough to smell. Inside the national park, at Boca Tauce, the lava on the ground comes from different periods, and both Teide and Pico Viejo are in view. Pico Viejo is the second highest peak in Tenerife and in the Canaries at 3,135 metres. It last erupted in 1798, from vents on its flank known as the noses of Teide, and put out around 12 million cubic metres of black lava in 92 days. There is the Queen's Shoe as well, a rock that thousands of years of weather have worn into the shape of a high-heeled shoe, and the Roques de García, the most photographed rocks in the park, where there is a cafeteria and time to walk. The last stops look west over Adeje, Los Gigantes and the Teno mountains, with La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro out at sea and pines growing straight out of volcanic rock. From there it is half an hour to 40 minutes back to the hotel.