This National Park : offers a fascinating landscape, created by the potent forces of the volcano Teide. Christopher Columbus observed its last great eruption in 1492 from the nearby island Gomera, just before continuing his discovery travel to America. In 1798 there was another smaller eruption. The Teide has piled up some 12 million cubic meters of volcanic material at its sides, those formations being popularly called the noses of Teide.
With a height of 3.718 meters (12083 ft) the Teide is not only the highest mountain in Spain, but the highest elevation in all the Atlantic Ocean. A cableway takes visitors up to 3.600 meters. From there you may climb the peak by foot. On clear days you have a fantastic view. But at least equally impressive is the volcano's immense crater, with a circumference of approximately 80 kilometers.  Around the Teide there are several smaller volcanoes,  Mount Rajada (2.509 m) and Mount Chahorra (2.995 m). At the side of Teide there is a large flat terrain called Cañadas, having been used by the island's original population, the Guanches, as pastureland. Today it is covered with petrified lava having very bizarre forms, as the Roques de García, and several caves, as Cueva del Hielo or Cueva de los Cazadores. 

Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Shining Town
Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a very friendly town with 211.930 inhabitants. The first things to catch your attention will be its beautiful parks, as Park García Sanabria, and its lively streets. Many cruise ships from all over the world call at its scenic port, which is surrounded by high rocks. The port area is the town's real center: Plaza de España, with its Cabildo Insular.  More sights are the baroque church Iglesia de la Concepción, the Museum of Painting and Sculpture and the castle Castillo de Paso Alto. Close to Santa Cruz there are the beaches of Las Gaviotas and Las Teresitas, and a nice destination of an excursion might be the mountain Monte de la Esperanza.

Puerto de la Cruz . Beauty of the Island
Puerto de la Cruz is Tenerife's most visited town, and due to its favored climate one of the most visited towns of Spain all the year round. Its scenic townscape alone makes it worth a visit, but there are many more attractions.  Loro Park is another main attraction. Its name comes from the numerous parrots in those beautiful tropical gardens, but most impressive are certainly the spectacular performances of dolphins. Highly interesting as well is the park Jardín de Aclimatación, between 

Puerto de la Cruz and Orotava, 
Which was created in 18^th century and offers a great variety of plants from all over the world. Worth visiting is the navigation museum Museo Naval de la Casa Iriarte, the fortress Castillo de San Felipe and the church Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia. 

The Beaches of Tenerife
Playa de las Americas, being located at the island's south-eastern extreme, offers fabulous beaches of sand as well as the most modern infrastructure for tourism.

Playa de los Cristianos 
Fine beaches of golden sand and crystalline water, close to a picturesque fishing-village. Its outstanding infrastructure makes it one of the most attractive places for visitors.

Playa de las Galletas: 
at the island's southern extreme, with great hotel and sports installations. Punto de Rasca offers an outstanding panorama.

Playa de El Puertito: 
a 1,6 kilometers long beach of black sand, located close to the village Güimar.

Playa del Roque,
another wonderful beach of black sand.

Playa de las Caletillas:
 another center of international tourism, three marvelous small bays close to La Candelaria.

Excursions at Tenerife

Santiago del Teide  
shows an extraordinarily landscape with an impressive steep coast, the so-called Acantilados de los Gigantes.

Garachico
is a small village of unique beauty with a port that once was the most important on the island. Close to it there are beaches of black sand with beautiful natural basins.

Icod de los Vinos
is popularly called the "Town of the Mythological Dragon Tree". This mighty thousands of years old tree was a sanctuary of the Guanches who believed it had magic forces. The town itself is a nice settlement with buildings in colonial style and is well known for its wine production.

Tacoronte
  is famous for its excellent red wines. This picturesque village is located at the edge of an impressive steep coast.

La Lagun
a  was the island's capital in former times, and has the most important University of Canary Islands. Though small in size, it has numerous monumental buildings and a tourist center. 

La Candelaria  
a well known place of pilgrimship, is located the church consecrated to the island's patroness, Basílica de la Virgen de la Candelaria.

Güimar
  located in a valley, is surrounded with breathtaking canyons and large plantations of bananas. Close to it there is the small village Los Realejos,  with the island's oldest church and several monuments of interest.

Orotava 
is an extraordinarily nice town with manorial houses in the island's traditional style. Particularly well-known are the Casas de los Balcones, 17^th century buildings with those typical balconies of Canarian pine-wood. The best time to visit Orotava is during the celebrations of Corpus Christi, when it is ornamented with innumerable flowers and the streets are covered with earths of six different colors which are found in the surroundings.
The town is located in the really paradisiac valley Valle de la Orotava. When the peak of nearby Teide is still covered with snow, flowers are in full bloom here. Scientist Alexander von Humboldt, after whom is named a viewpoint here, reported that he was on his knees in front of so much beauty when he visited Orotava.

Wines of Tenerife  (Canary Islands)

The First Salon of Tenerife Wines was presented in Madrid on 30 March 1998. Tenerife, one of the major islands of the Canary Archipelago, has long been known as a tourist's paradise; but it's also home to no less than 5 fullfledged DO ("Denomination de Origen") wine producing areas: Abona, Tacoronte-Acentejo, Valle de Güimar, Valle de la Orotava, and Ycoden-Daute-Isora. While DO status is a recent phenomenon - the first, Tacoronte-Acentejo, dates from 1992 - wines have been made here for centuries. Unique local grape varieties, rich volcanic soil, and a mild climate tempered by moisture-laden Atlantic tradewinds, make for distinctive and attractive wines. It may seem strange that there are so many DO regions on one 2,000 sq.km. island, but the differences in local microclimates produced by the island's rugged terrain and its interaction with the tradewinds, make for a wide variety of growing conditions across Tenerife.

Abona (DO since 1996)

Situated toward the south on the eastern side of Tenerife, the region's vineyards lie at elevations from 300 to 1,750 meters -where the best quality grapes are grown. Vineyards: 1,066 hectares .Grape varieties: White (80%) - Listán Blanco, Verdello, Malvasía, Sabro, Bermejuelo; Red (20%) - Listán Negro, Negramoll Wineries: 7 Grape growers: 524 1997 Production: 370,000 liters

Tacoronte-Acentejo (DO since 1992)Situated to the northwest of Tenerife, the region's vineyards lie at elevations from sea level to 1,000 meters.Vineyards: 1,200 hectares .Grape varieties: White - Gual, Malvasía, Listán Blanco, Marmajuelo; Red - Listán Negro, Negramoll Wineries: 42 Grape growers: 1,483 1997 Production: 1,533,000 kilos of grapes

Valle de Güimar (DO since 1996)Situated on the eastern side of Tenerife, the region's vineyards lie at elevations from sea level to 1,400 meters.Vineyards: 670 hectares.Grape varieties: White - Listán Blanco (82.5%), Malvasía, Güal, Vijariego; Red - Listán Negro (13.5%), Negramoll Wineries: 10 Grape growers: 540 1997 Production: 370,000 bottles

Valle de la Orotava (DO since 1994) Situated on the north coast Tenerife, the region's vineyards are situated at lower altitudes, under the more direct influence of the Atlantic tradewinds. Vineyards: 465 hectares .Grape varieties: White- BastaTenerife's History Museumrdo Blanco, Güal, Forastera Blanca, Listán Blanco, Malvasía, Marmajuelo, Moscatel, Pedro Ximénez, Torrontés, Verdello, Vijariego; Red - Listán Negro, Negramoll Wineries: 21 Grape growers: 469 1997 Production: 1,219,445 kilos of grapes     

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