Teleférico del Teide

What they do

Volcano Teide holds the concession for the cable car up Mount Teide, and that is its core business: carrying visitors from the base station on the TF-21 road to the upper station at La Rambleta, 3,555 metres up. Three short trails start there — the La Fortaleza viewpoint, the Pico Viejo viewpoint and the path to the crater — and they are the reason most people buy the ticket.

Beyond transport, the company runs guided activities inside the National Park: interpreted walks across Las Cañadas, sunset trips from the summit, and stargazing with a telescope and a guide, taking advantage of the fact that the sky above Teide is among the best in Europe for looking up. Its whole catalogue shares one setting, which is what gives it meaning.

It is worth being clear about what the ticket does not include: access to the crater itself. The final two hundred metres of ascent, on the Telesforo Bravo path, require a separate free permit issued by the National Park authority and requested in advance, because the daily quota is limited and tends to run out weeks ahead.

What you see from up there

La Rambleta sits above most of the cloud, so the usual experience is looking at the sea of clouds from the other side. On a clear day La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro stand out on the horizon, and below you lies the whole Las Cañadas caldera, with the Roques de García and the Ucanca plain.

The Pico Viejo trail looks into a crater some 800 metres across and 225 deep, far older than any historical eruption. On its flank are the Narices del Teide, the vents that in 1798 spent three months pouring lava over the southern Cañadas — the last eruption inside what is now the national park. The La Fortaleza trail faces north, over the Orotava valley. Neither one needs a permit.