The Los Sentidos trail runs along an old King's highway. Part of it has been recovered for the enjoyment of hillwalkers and nature fans from all over the world who are attracted to it due to the wealth of plant life in the lush laurisilva, full of textures and lively colours and the scent and the sound of silence emanating from its prehistoric heart. An information board system helps you experience these sensations in a very original way.
Totally adapted, even for people with motor disabilities and sensory impairments, the Los Sentidos trail has different layouts (low to medium-low difficulty) and its short routes provide the option of getting into the magic of Anaga on a few-minute stroll. Located less than 30 km from the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and easily accessible via modern road links, the trail starts at La Cruz del Carmen, which has a visitor centre that provides information on other trails and routes and a viewing point from which you can see a spectacular panorama of one of the areas with the most biodiversity in Europe.
Excursion to the peak of the Teide National Park.
Mount Teide, the most-visited national park in Spain, is located in the centre of the island and its summit rises to an altitude of 3718 m, making it the highest peak in Spain and the third-largest volcano in the world. A modern cable car takes you comfortably up to very close to the top. Departures start at 9 a.m. and the last one is at 4 p.m. unless bad weather makes it impossible to provide the service.
The cable car to La Rambleta at a height of 3550 metres. To continue on up to the Pico del Teide, we should take the Telesforo Bravo trail, for which we must obtain an access permit in advance (click here). Without this permit, you can continue along a different route as far as La Fortaleza or Pico Viejo viewing points. From the first, we can see the whole north side of the island of Tenerife. From the second, the south. In both cases, these are landscapes to remember.
The city of La Laguna, just a few minutes from the port, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 as a “unique example of a non-fortified, colonial town”. After its foundation, its urban layout was used as a point of reference for colonial American cities such as Old Havana, Lima and Cartagena and it shares aesthetic similarities with them. Nowadays, the historic quarter —with its pedestrian streets inviting you to take a stroll— houses a full and bustling range of shops and, above all, quality catering.
To get to La Laguna on your own, you can take a taxi or a modern tram that stops very near the port. There is also a frequent bus service. Once there, it is a good idea to join one of the usual guided routes that visit its most iconic buildings but it is easy to do at your own pace. Distances are short and you can comfortably wander around its streets and squares featuring an outstanding number of churches and historical buildings, many of which are open for visitors.
Not far from the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Teresitas Beach —on more than a kilometre of bright golden sand— has a breakwater that makes its waters an oasis of calm. The little ones can play safely on the shore while the adults leisurely enjoy the sun and swimming on a very special day trip with the family close to the port of call.
Las Teresitas provides cruise-goers arriving in the city with the charm of a lively, family beach much frequented by the locals too. There they enjoy the broad length of golden sand, doing sports, swimming in the calm water, sunbathing or simply watching time go by under the shade of the slender palm trees. The beach has all kinds of services and several "chiringuitos" (beach bars). It also has a lifeguard team to watch over the safety of users, and lots of free parking.
Just a few minutes' drive from the cruise liner moored in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Anaga Nature Reserve —a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve— is a nature area that has managed to maintain its characteristics to an exceptional standard. Marked by deep valleys and cliffs that drop down to the coast with its beautiful black sand beaches, the ecological richness of this nature area is surprising, especially its laurisilva – a living memory of the vegetation that covered the European continent millions of years ago.
A full network of trails takes you into the forests and brings you as far as the sea but you can also visit it by car and enjoy the views from the viewing points. In Anaga, there are also some picturesque country houses with restaurants affording the visitor the chance to enjoy a good sample of typical Canarian cuisine. And there are companies that provide guided excursions on foot – or even on a mountain bike along specific trails.
From the port, a short walk takes us to this extraordinary botanical garden that used to be a rubbish dump. A complex regeneration process turned it into a nature area for leisure and botanical culture, laid out between little lakes and waterfalls and viewing points with views of the sea. The jewel of Palmetum is its octagonal greenhouse, which provides shelter for specimens that need lots of humidity. The garden is open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Loro Parque was chosen by TripAdvisor users as the no. 1 zoo in Europe and no. 2 in the world. Located in the tourist municipality of Puerto de la Cruz, it gained international fame due to its impressive collection of more than 300 species of parrots. It now also includes the largest penguinarium in the world, an aquarium where fish and sharks swim close to the visitor, and lots of other inhabitants from the animal kingdom.
A trip to Loro Parque, where the fabulous facilities include services for the whole family, includes the enjoyment of fun shows where the stars are dolphins, orcas, seals and, of course, their exotic parrots, which fly free over the heads of surprised spectators. Loro Parque is also known for its work on the protection and conservation of endangered animals and this earned it the Animal Embassy Award in 2008. The park opens every day from 8.30 a.m. to 6.45 p.m.
A permanent population of short-finned pilot whales and common bottlenose dolphins live next to the south-west coast of Tenerife. This colony affords us a 95% chance of sighting cetaceans at any time of year. Furthermore, in these waters, we can find up to 21 other different species of these mammals – including the giant blue whale. And their presence is so close to the coasts that the Canary Islands have become the European location that attracts most people for whale and dolphin watching.
From the ports of Los Cristianos, Puerto Colón and Los Gigantes in the south of the island, boats set sail on short marine excursions organised by specialist companies to see the beautiful spectacle of these wild animals attracted by the richness of the sea bed and excellent water temperature. The boats that go close to them bear the "Barco Azul” logo, which guarantees compliance with regulations to ensure a full and happy life for the cetaceans.