Tenerife in 4 days: the route, day by day

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Four days is enough to see Tenerife properly, but only if the route does not make you cross the island twice. Tenerife is about eighty kilometres end to end with a mountain range down the middle: what ruins an itinerary here is not distance, it is going up and over the ridge more times than you need to.

This is the split that works best, ordered by geography rather than by appetite: a day of sea in the south, a day on the Teide, a day through the north-west and a day through the north-east. To go from the plan to something bookable, there are the excursions in Tenerife.

Day 1: the south and the sea

Start on the water, and do it in the morning. Off this coast, between Los Gigantes and Punta de Rasca, lives a resident colony of pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins that does not migrate: they are there all year and the trip is short. In 2021 the strip was declared the first Whale Heritage Site in Europe. Boats leave from Los Cristianos and Puerto Colón, and the options are compared in whale and dolphin watching.

The reason for the early start is not capacity, it is the sea: it is flat in the morning and the trade wind gets up around midday and puts a chop on it. Anything on a small boat, do it early.

In the afternoon, the beach. Playa de las Vistas, in Los Cristianos, is the most comfortable and has the calmest water in the south because two breakwaters shelter it. If you would rather have undeveloped sand, La Tejita, next to Montaña Roja, though there is nearly always wind there.

Finish the day at El Médano, with Montaña Roja behind it, which is where the sun sets best on this coast. The rest of the area is in the guide to things to do in South Tenerife.

Day 2: the Teide

This is the day you cannot skip, and the one most people organise badly. First, the distinction that sorts everything out: entering the national park is free and open, and setting foot on the crater at the summit needs a permit that sells out months ahead. They are two different things and nearly all the confusion comes from mixing them. It is explained in the guide to Mount Teide.

You go up from the south through Vilaflor, the highest village in the Canaries, or from the north through La Orotava. In a little over an hour you go from the beach to 2,000 metres. Inside the park the stops that count are the Llano de Ucanca, the yellow plain that appears in every photograph, and the Roques de García, with the Roque Cinchado in front of the peak. If you are taking the cable car, buy the ticket days ahead: it goes up to La Rambleta, at 3,550 metres, and from there to the summit you only pass with the permit.

Come down the opposite side from the one you went up. If you went up through Vilaflor, come back through La Orotava, which has the best-preserved old town on the island and the Casa de los Balcones. That way the day does not repeat a single road.

And if day or night makes no difference to you, the night version is better: the sky over the park is among the clearest in Europe. The options are in Teide tours and in Teide stargazing.

Day 3: the north-west, from Masca to Punta de Teno

The day of the villages, and the best one to drive.

Masca is a hamlet at the bottom of a ravine reached by a road of tight bends. Seeing the village and the viewpoint is free; walking down the ravine to the beach requires booking and a helmet, and you come back by boat, so it is not a spur-of-the-moment plan. For most people the viewpoint and a coffee up there are enough.

Carry on to Garachico, which was the island’s most important port until the 1706 eruption took it away. That same lava flow left El Caletón, the best known natural pool in Tenerife, with steps and walkways. There are more in the guide to natural pools in Tenerife.

In Icod de los Vinos stands the thousand-year-old drago, which is neither a thousand years old nor a tree in the strict sense: it is a monocot with no growth rings, and serious estimates put it between 800 and 1,000. You can see it from the square without paying.

Finish at Punta de Teno, the lighthouse on the north-western tip, with Los Gigantes on one side and the Teide behind on clear days. Private cars are restricted during the day: you get there on the shuttle bus from Buenavista del Norte. Check the timetable before you set off.

And if the day falls at a weekend, lunch has a place of its own: a guachinche around Tacoronte, even if that means going a little further east.

Day 4: the north-east, La Laguna and Anaga

The part of the island almost nobody fits into four days, and the one most missed once it is discovered too late.

San Cristóbal de La Laguna has been a World Heritage Site since 1999, and not for individual buildings but for the layout: it is the first unwalled colonial town designed on a grid, and that grid was later exported across the Americas. You can walk it in two hours, and it has the best tapas scene on the island because it is a university town.

From there you enter the Anaga massif, a Biosphere Reserve since 2015. It is the oldest part of Tenerife, with laurisilva, a cloud forest that in Europe survives only in Macaronesia. For a first visit, the short Sendero de los Sentidos at Cruz del Carmen does the job in forty minutes and with no difficulty.

Then drop down to the coast. Las Teresitas, next to San Andrés, is Santa Cruz’s golden-sand beach, and here the story that is a legend on other islands is actually true: the sand was shipped in from the Sahara in the 1970s. It has a breakwater, still water and is the most comfortable beach in the north.

If you would rather have wild, carry on to Benijo, black sand with the sea stacks in front and the best sunset on the island. A serious warning: the currents there are strong and there is no lifeguard. You go for the view and the walk.

If you want to swap a day

Three alternatives that work without breaking the logic of the route:

  • Theme parks, instead of the southern day. Siam Park is in Costa Adeje and Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz, which is to say at opposite ends: if you are doing both, the twin ticket is better value but split them across different days rather than crossing the island twice in one.
  • Puerto de la Cruz, instead of the north-west. The Botanical Garden, César Manrique’s Lago Martíanez and Playa Jardín make an easy day on foot.
  • Candelaria, instead of half a day. The basilica of the patron saint of the Canaries and the nine statues of the Guanche kings facing the sea, on the road between the south and Santa Cruz.

Statues of the Guanche kings in Candelaria, Tenerife

Getting around, and why this order

  • Car. You need one for this route. The bus covers the coast and Santa Cruz well, but neither Masca, nor Punta de Teno within its timetable, nor Anaga work by public transport in a single day.
  • Where to stay. If you sleep in the south, days 3 and 4 start with a good hour and a half each way. Splitting the stay, two nights south and two north, saves around four hours of driving in total.
  • The order matters. The sea day goes first because it depends on the wind and you want room to move it. The Teide goes second because the altitude tires you more than you expect and it should not sit next to another demanding day.
  • Do not stack two big activities. After four hours on a boat or a morning at 2,000 metres, the only thing anyone wants is a terrace.

If you end up with three days instead of four, the short route is in Tenerife in 3 days, and the full catalogue is in excursions in Tenerife.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Four days fit the south with a boat trip, the northern villages, a day of theme parks or culture and a final day of nature and beaches, without spending the trip in the car.

It is the most practical option, especially for the north and Punta de Teno. If you would rather not drive, there are tours with hotel pick-up that handle the transport each day.

A whale and dolphin watching trip from Los Cristianos, then the Playa de las Vistas promenade and the town centre. It is an easy start and everything is within walking distance.

Very much. The lighthouse and the views of the Los Gigantes cliffs are among the best on the island. Access is restricted at certain times of year and you have to go in by shuttle bus, so check before you set off.

It depends on the kind of trip. Siam Park if you are travelling with family or fancy a day in the water; Candelaria if you prefer the basilica, the seafront and Guanche history.

El Médano, next to Montaña Roja, at the end of the first day. If you are in the north that evening, Benijo, with the sea stacks in front of it, is every bit as good.

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