Volcanoes, Coast & Colonial Culture A Road Trip in Captivating Tenerife

It's well known that Tenerife's mild island climate has few rivals anywhere in the world; from balmy summers to sunny winters, a road trip here can be enjoyed all year round.

Fly directly to Tenerife from the UK and spend six days on the northern coast, where the island is rather different to its reputation. Your first stop is Garachico: a small colonial town that was flattened by a volcanic eruption in 1706 and rebuilt so thoughtfully that the lava flows have become its most distinctive feature, carved by the sea into a series of natural rock pools that line the waterfront.

The north of Tenerife is easy and rewarding to explore by car; within an hour in any direction, the landscape shifts from fishing villages and banana plantations to the pine forests of the Orotava Valley and, beyond them, the mineral strangeness of Teide National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage site of petrified lava, eroded craters and Spain’s highest peak at over 12,000ft, rising above a landscape that looks less like an island and more like another planet entirely.

Your next stop is the colonial city of La Laguna, which lies to the northeast and is a UNESCO listing of a different kind, with colourful facades, cobbled streets and a daily life that has been playing out in these courtyards for centuries.

During your trip, we’ll arrange a guided visit to one of Tenerife’s oldest banana plantations above the ocean, a wine and produce tasting in one of Garachico’s most characterful bars, and a walk through La Laguna with a local who grew up here and knows the difference between the streets worth finding and the ones that simply look good on a map. Our in-country Concierge will be available throughout your trip and a hire car will be waiting for you at the airport, ready for the adventure to begin...