After doing a road trip around Tenerife, I realised there are so many places to visit in Tenerife that offer a unique experience, many of which reminded me of my travels in South America and that Tenerife is not all high-rise all-inclusive resorts!
So, in this blog post, I’m going to share the top places in Tenerife that are easy to visit and add to your holiday itinerary so you can properly see the island, whether that’s on an adventurous hiking road trip like we did, or between beach and pool days!
Places to Visit in Tenerife
You will want to hire a car in Tenerife to visit most of these places, although where organised tours with a bus and guide are available, I have linked them.
We found driving around Tenerife good and relatively easy. For more information about hiring a car, the roads and driving conditions, read my Tenerife Road Trip Guide here!
I always use Rental Cars to search for car rental as they search the top rental companies for the best price. Search for car hire in Tenerife here!
We spent our day in the National Park hiking Mount Teide (more on that below) so we didn’t get to explore much else of the area but there are many ways to see Mount Teide National Park like taking the Mount Teide Cable Car close to the Summit, hiking, stargazing, quad biking, on a buggy tour and visiting the Teide Observatory.
Many of these activities can be booked as a tour so you don’t need a car, a company will pick you up from your hotel and take you to Mount Teide National Park to do the activity, these are great options:
If you don’t have a plan or don’t know what to do in Teide National Park, you can just drive to the area and there are plenty of lay-bys you can just pull into with signs leading away from the road that you can just follow and explore for yourself!
2. Mount Teide
Easily one of the top places to visit in Tenerife is Mount Teide which is Spain’s highest Mountain at 3715m and the third largest volcanic structure in the world with the first 2 being in Hawaii!
There are many ways you can visit Mount Teide, if you don’t have a car you can get a tour bus to Mount Teide like this and then get the cable car up to see the amazing views from very near the top of Mount Teide.
If you do have a car, you can drive to the cable car base and get the cable car up, or you can hike to the top like we did!
Here is my full post on how to hike Mount Teide from the bottom, all the way to the top. Let me warn you that it’s not easy but it is a great hike!
3. Masca Valley
Masca Valley is an absolute highlight in Tenerife and if you’re like me, you didn’t know such places existed in Tenerife!
Masca is a small hidden village within the Masca Valley with a very small population. Now, it is one of the major tourist destinations in Tenerife with lots of tours visiting as well as tourists like us hiring a car and going independently, but there’s a reason why it’s so popular as it’s incredibly unique.
If you have time, you can go for a wander into the town of Masca and get a coffee in one of the cafes in Masca. There are many walking and hiking opportunities in the area, hiking the Masca Canyon is one of the popular things to do in Tenerife. Or you can carry on down the windy roads to Masca Beach / Playa de Masca!
The road leading to Masca has a lot of sharp hairpin turns so it requires some concentration and cautiousness and you’ll come across lots of viewpoints and lay-bys to stop in to take in the view before you descend into the village.
To see Masca on a tour, this full-day tour of Mount Teide National Park is a great option!
4. Garachico
When I asked on my Instagram, where to visit in Tenerife, a few people told me to go to Garachico and I’m so glad we did.
It’s one of the prettiest towns in Tenerife with lots of colourful buildings and a fantastic coastline to walk along. I loved it as it reminded me so much of towns I’ve seen in South and Central America.
Garachico is one of the popular places to visit in Tenerife on a day trip, especially from the South Coast so do expect it to get busy, but when I went on a Saturday lunchtime at the start of October it was lovely.
To see Garachico (and Masca) on a tour, this full-day tour of Mount Teide National Park is a great option!
Most of the top things to do in Garachico are visiting lovely buildings and churches, plus relaxing in the main square which we did whilst eating some authentic Churros!
If you are doing this road trip in Tenerife in the Summer, you can also enjoy the natural swimming pools of El Caleton and Garachico Beach.
5. Icod de los Vinos
Like probably most people, we got pulled to the town of Icod de los Vinos because of Drago de Icod de los Vinos which is the lone Dracaena Tree estimated to be 1000 years old that sits in the middle of the town, one of the top attractions.
Although the tree is impressive, we didn’t pay to see it up close and we weren’t a huge fan of Icod de los Vinos, however, it’s on this list of places to go in Tenerife because if you are doing this driving around Tenerife with children, it does have some good tourist attractions like a Butterfly farm and plenty of places to eat to break up a drive with kids.
6. Charco del Viento
There are many natural pools in Tenerife to swim in, and and Charco del Viento is one of the best natural pools in Tenerife to visit because it’s not hugely close to a town and therefore is going to attract fewer people than the likes or Garachico I mentioned above where the El Caleton pools are right in the town.
It was a bit of a random drive down a side road along a huge banana plantation to get here but well worth it for what was waiting for us.
Although the weather was not good enough for us to swim, we could see how amazing these natural pools were along with the small pebble beach areas, and even if you aren’t coming to swim as we weren’t, it’s a great place to visit and I read it’s lovely at sunset!
7. Rambla de Castro
If you’re looking for an alternative trip to Tenerife to visit more off-the-beaten-path destinations, Rambla de Castro and its hike are for you!
This is a nature preserve in Tenerife with spectacular views across the ocean. The Rambla de Castro hike starts in the city of Puerto de la Cruz, here’s a great post on how to do the Rambla de Castro hike.
Check out prices and availability for car hire in Tenerife on Rentalcars here!
8. Puerto de la Cruz
Known for being one of the first tourism destinations in the world, as you creep up the West Coast from Southern Tenerife to Northern Tenerife, you’ll come across the popular resort town of Puerto de la Cruz.
With just a few days in Tenerife, we didn’t visit, but if you have longer, it should be on your list to see how this popular resort has kept some of its old charm.
There are many things to do in Puerto de la Cruz like visiting its famous black sandy beach, swimming at the huge Lago Martianez swimming pool, paragliding, submarine trip, quad biking.
9. Piscina natural de Jover
Another one of the popular natural swimming pools in Tenerife, this one is much further up North so perfect if you are focusing on places to visit in Northern Tenerife!
One of the great things about being up in this part of the island is that there are not lots of resorts around here and therefore, this swimming pool is going to be much quieter, or at least quieter from tourists and more popular with locals.
10. Chinamada
We really pushed ourselves to visit Chinamada at the end of a long day in Tenerife but I’m so glad we did!
We had to drive through the beautiful, and windy, roads of Anaga Rural Park to reach here (more on that soon) and when we arrived in the small remote village of Chinamada we couldn’t believe it.
It’s a remote place but not cut off, there was one restaurant, a church and a few houses. We walked up a track and got an incredible view of the mountains and I saw many footpaths carrying along the mountains in different directions.
11. Anaga Rural Park
We drove through Anaga Rural Park to get to Chinamada in the North of Tenerife from San Cristobal de la Laguna and we were so surprised by this mountainous forest! This is not what we expected Tenerife to look like at all!
After some research, I found that the forest is called a laurel forest made up of laurel trees which is a type of subtropical forest that grows in areas of mild temperatures and high humidity, this is probably why it looked so unique.
If you have more time in Tenerife than we did with our long weekend in Tenerife, perhaps you have 1 week in Tenerife, I recommend planning in time here to do some hikes and walks. Just from driving along the (windy) road up to Chinamada, we saw so many lay-bys to park in and footpaths leading from the road into the forest, or you can go to the visitor centre at Cruz del Carmen and start a walk from there.
12. San Cristobal de La Laguna
We stayed overnight in this city and I really liked the vibe. It’s a much smaller city than the nearby capital city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife but has plenty of amenities and charm, especially in the old town area.
We stayed at La Laguna Gran Hotel which we loved and we loved the old surrounding streets.
The streets reminded me of being in South America and I later read that the city was the model for several colonial cities in Latin America, so that now makes sense!
13. Mirador de Jardina
Before you leave San Cristobal de La Laguna, or as you arrive, be sure to drive out of the city and up to Mirador de Jardina which is a viewpoint that looks over the whole city and the surrounding mountains!
14. Playa de Benijo
Benijo Beach is one of the most popular and best beaches in Tenerife to visit because of the rock formations along the coastline, known as the Roques de Anaga rock formations.
Because of its location, it’s a great place for sunset in Tenerife too so try to plan this into your Tenerife road trip itinerary!
These places to visit are very focused on places to visit on the West Coast of Tenerife and in Northern Tenerife as this is where most of the natural and ‘off-the-beaten-path’ places are.
For more information on Tenerife including road trip ideas, itineraries and car hire info read my Tenerife Road Trip Guide here!
East Coast of Tenerife
For even more ideas of where to go in Tenerife, the East Coast looks like it has some nice places too, especially the North East.
Unfortunately, I did not have time to see this side but I love this post on places to visit on the East Coast of Tenerife so have a read of this too!
South Coast of Tenerife
For more places to visit in Tenerife, there is the South coast of Tenerife. This is generally where holiday tourists go and many of the Tenerife tourist attractions like Siam Park are.
If you’re looking for places off the beaten path in Tenerife, the South might not be for you, like it wasn’t for us, but just in case, here are the top places to visit in South Tenerife.
Map of places to visit in Tenerife
To help you plan your trip and see which places you can easily visit, here’s a map with all the above locations detailed:
I hope you have found these places to visit in Tenerife helpful!
- For more of my posts you might like see:
- Hiking Mount Teide! How To Hike Spain’s Highest Mountain at 3715m, Easily!
- 16 BEST Winter Sun Destinations in Europe & Nearby!
- Southern Spain Itinerary – Where To Visit & Things To Do. Complete Guide!
- Visiting Marrakech in August, The Weather & Things To Do in Marrakech in August!
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