Tenerife for a total holiday

My recent visit to Tenerife (The Canary Islands, Spain) turned out to be a unique experience besides being a delightful holiday. Some highlights of Tenerife are beautiful beaches with clean seawater, dry and rocky hills, thick green forests, and Volcano Teide with its huge National Park. This imposing volcano is the reason for the island's existence and those who visit Mount Teide will be rewarded with incredible views from the summit! Blessed with temperate weather throughout the year, Tenerife attracts tourists in great numbers.

Mount Teide is a unique landscape of craters, volcanoes and rivers of petrified lava, surrounding the impressive silhouette of Teide Volcano which stands at 3,718 m above sea level. The Teide National Park, located in the centre of the island of Tenerife, is home to the best manifestation of the vegetation of the supra-Mediterranean soil. It offers one of the most spectacular examples of volcanism in the world and represents the best example of the high mountain volcanic ecosystem in the Canary Islands. In 2007, Teide National Park was included as a natural property on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is the most visited National Park in Europe, thanks to its spectacular geological scenery and the different life forms that live exclusively in it. Astrophysicists, geologists, volcanologists, and visitors who never cease to be amazed by the singularity of such a Martian landscape on an Atlantic island frequent Teide. For people with special needs, there are lots of accessible resources of interest, such as accommodation, transport, leisure and the sale or rental of support products.

Things to do in Tenerife:

• Climbing the Teide You can choose hiking and sleeping at the Altavista refuge or going up by cable car and then walking the last stretch. Either way, you will be impressed.

• Cycling along the trails through the Corona Forestal, over a sea of clouds, smelling the Canary pine with a mild wind caressing your face; strolling through the enigmatic laurisilva forest full of clouds amongst the intricate trunks of its trees in the Anaga and Teno Rural Parks.

• Star Gazing: The skies of Tenerife are extraordinarily clear. The island is home to an important international astrophysical institute that contains some of the best telescopes in the world in its observatory. On certain days, many people assemble at these places to witness the annual meteor showers of the Perseids or the Leonids, and to see constellations, planets or satellites.

• Swimming in some of the numerous ponds formed by the lava from the volcanoes.

• Bird watching the blue chaffinch, the laurisilva pigeons, the great spotted woodpecker or the different species of unique birds that live on the island.

• Whale watching in the blue waters and admiring the sea's most fantastic beings.

• Visiting one of the farmer's markets that are spread out around the different municipalities on the island to purchase some local produce, such as the varieties of potatoes that are so internationally famous.

• Kayaking at the Los Gigantes cliff, discovering beaches and places that are inaccessible by land.

• Entering the Cueva del Viento, the largest lava tube in Europe, where you will discover an incomparable underground world.

• Partying with the locals at any of the joints or during carnivals, listening to traditional music and dancing to their tunes.

• Walking along any of the numerous paths that cross the island's Protected Nature Areas, understanding how it was formed and deciphering the evolution of life on Earth.

• Spotting any of the more than 150 plant species endemic to Tenerife, visiting some of the unique trees that exist on the island.

• Enjoying the spring flowering of the Echium wildpretii, with a height of up to 3 metres, a display where the number of plants that will flower is unknown every year as they only do it once in their life cycle before dying.

Food

Tenerife is a top-class gastronomic destination.

To enjoy the most modern and creative cuisine, you can try dishes that are inspired by the volcanic environment made at different restaurants on the island, where revamped traditional dishes add a modern, sophisticated and elegant touch without forgetting their essence.

Wine

The local recommendations are Guachinches, which are small family restaurants that are associated with seasonal wine production, where simple dishes are made to provide an outlet for the year's wine.

If you are a wine lover, you can book a day to visit the Casa del Vino (house of wine), in the northern municipality of El Sauzal, where you can do tastings, discover more about its history, wander through a garden full of different varieties of grapes, purchase some of the wines with the most awards on the island or eat at the typical tavern. Or visit any of the 70 wineries on the island to discover the production process followed here and learn how the climate, the soil, the orientation and the grape varieties make it possible to obtain such different wines in such a small area as Tenerife.

Honey

Another product with its designation of origin is honey. It stands out due to the variety of flowers available to the bees on this island. The island's geographical characteristics mean that the bees can produce practically all year round. Flowering occurs throughout all seasons, depending on the latitude, which lends Tenerife a unique advantage and singularity compared with other honey–producing places in the world.

With so many interesting things to do and enjoy, don't you think Tenerife should now top your bucket list?