INTRODUCTION Despite its predictably sunny weather and the wide variety of landscapes that attract millions of tourists every year, Tenerife has a bit of an image problem, thanks largely to the attentions of the package tourism industry. As a result the entire island is commonly, though rather mistakenly, assumed to be just a playground for the hordes of rowdy, booze-fuelled holiday-makers looking for sun, sea and often sex in the islands large resorts, particularly Playa de las Americas. And though most visitors largely content themselves with lazy days on the beach, there are plenty of opportunities to be more active and go surfing, windsurfing, sailing, diving or deep-sea fishing.
Tenerife first established itself as a holiday destination over a century ago when it became a fashionable place for the aristocracy of Europe to spend the winter months. Since then, but particularly in the last fifty years, during which time mass-tourism has become a major global industry, the numbers of holiday-makers have vastly increased. Today the island gets over four million annual visitors who, together with the thousands of northern Europeans settling here, have significantly changed the personality of the island.
Though commonly viewed by independent travellers as an aesthetic and social curse that has distorted the cultural landscape and cloaked vast areas in concrete, mass tourism has also guaranteed plentiful and excellent services in the resorts towns and cheap flights to the island. And if the resort honey-pots arent to your taste, youll find that its easy to leave the mass of holiday-makers behind. Despite the compactness of the island that puts most areas of the island within an easy day trip of its resorts you wont find many other foreigners in the islands vibrant, unpretentious and distinctly Canarian urban centres and only a small stream of hikers in its mountainous regions. Here its easy to find great quiet hiking trails, a couple of good climbing areas, as well as some quiet (though hilly) backroads and dirt roads for cycling and mountain biking. And for those wanting to get even further from the humdrum, theres the option of heading out to hike or bike on the strikingly precipitous and laid-back nearby island of La Gomera.
AROUND THE ISLANDS
For a small island, only 86km long and 56km wide, Tenerife has a startling range and number of distinct ecological zones arising from the islands mountainous topography which is dominated by a huge and barren volcanic backbone centre on Mount Teide. The islands mountains stand in the way of prevailing cool northerly trade winds, forcing them to condense as cloud and bringing moisture to the island and keeping its northern side damp and green, while having little effect on the southern side which is left to bake in the sun.
At the northeast end of the island the capital and largest city, Santa Cruz, is at the heart of a large sprawling urban area that also encompasses the old university town La Laguna, and houses around half of the islands population of 650,000. Preventing the expansion of this urban area further north is the steep, wildly rugged, forested and impenetrable Anaga region where modern infrastructure has only recently arrived to its remote villages which remain great gateways for quiet hikes through the areas mist-smothered laurel forests or along its beautiful unspoilt rocky coastline.
There are more good hikes through the thick forest of Canarian pines on the north side of the island. This is at its thickest on the old volcanic ridges surrounding the islands most verdant region, the heavily populated, fertile, terraced and thickly planted Orotava valley, where the islands first resort, the stylish Puerto de la Cruz, became fashionable over a century ago.
Further west along the coast pines give way to the deforested dry, rocky and steep-sided Teno massif, an ancient volcanic area. And though theres more good hiking here, the area is best known for the presence of the giant cliffs Los Gigantes, from which a quiet neighbouring resort has taken its name.
Like the African continent only 300km to the east, the islands southern side is dry and dusty. Only a few hardy shrubs and cacti can take hold in this sun-baked desert, although the ubiquitous sunshine has resulted in the construction, from scratch, of the lions share of Tenerifes big resorts. Lining the coasts of the south and attracting thousands of tourists are Playa de Las Americas, Los Cristianos and the Costa del Silencio strings of hotels, restaurants and bars, many of which line the islands major (artificial) beaches.
A much more stunning and memorable island landscape, though equally barren, is that around its central volcanic plateau. The massive 3,718m volcano Mount Teide, the highest point on Spanish territory and symbol of the island, is at the centre of this region and surrounded by Las Canadas, a vast beautiful tree-less volcanic wasteland containing gnarled and twisted lava contortions which are protected as a national park.
Theres another national park on Tenerifes closest neighbour in the Canarian archipelago, the small round and much less visited island of La Gomera, 28km away. But in complete contrast to Tenerifes national park the Parque Nacional de Garajonay, a UNESCO world heritage site, is a haven for the worlds premium remaining deep green and misty laurel forest. Also in contrast to Tenerife, the resorts in La Gomera are remarkably small-scale.
