Water: Make sure you’re well stocked with water before setting off (1.5 to 2 litres per person). It’s worth checking if there are any places to refuel en route as walking under Tenerife’s hot sun can have you gulping the agua as though you’ve just emerged from the Sahara. If there aren’t any bars in the vicinity, look out for ‘zona recreativas’, they usually have drinking fountains with sweet, refreshing spring water.

Clothes: Wear layers. Even in winter when walking at high altitude and initially the temperature may feel cold, it usually isn’t long before you find yourself sweating and have an overwhelming urge to do a Helen Mirren - strip off. Alternatively it might be August and the temperature might be red hot, but when the bruma (cloud) sneaks up through the pine trees and embraces you in a thick damp mist, chilling you to the bone, T shirt and shorts suddenly seem very inadequate.

Sunscreen: Essential, especially when walking in areas with little shade such as Las Cañadas del Teide; the boiled beetroot look is not an attractive one.

Hat: Ditto above. The waiting room at casualty is NOT on our list of preferred routes.

Footwear: If you’re heading into mountainous or volcanic terrain in winter, or hoping to descend forest paths where dead pine needles have created a natural dry ski slope, you’ll need hiking boots. For coastal walks sturdy sandals will suffice

Timings: Due to the diversity of terrain, routes of a similar distance can have significant differences in the time it takes to complete them.

A hiker’s paradise may not be the first thing that springs to mind when Tenerife is mentioned; amongst the Canary Islands, the neighbouring island of La Gomera tends to hold that distinction. Yet Tenerife possesses a richness of diversity in its landscapes and scenery which makes it ideal for visitors who enjoy getting out and about on foot. Whether it’s idly strolling along the coast to a favourite restaurant or pushing the stamina boundaries for the buzz of achievement and of sights unseen by most residents, let alone visitors, Tenerife offers hundreds of kilometres of paths and trails.

If you like being master of your own timetable and pace and wish to easily access the best hiking trails independently, a car is an essential.
Although the island has good coverage by bus, routes into the hills and mountains offer infrequent services and you could find the routes you’re able to take restricted by the time of the last bus back to your resort.

Fascinating routes course through dense forests, plunging ravines, ‘other worldly’ volcanic landscapes and unspoiled coastlines; in some places it’s possible to walk all day and never encounter another living soul.

At Real Tenerife, as well as exploring Tenerife by car, we’ve spent much of the last four years hoofing it up hill and down dale and, although we’re pretty sure that we’ve still to discover a good deal more of what walking on Tenerife has to offer, we’ve compiled this general guide to what we consider are some of the best places for lacing up your boots, slipping on your rucksack, splashing on some sunscreen and heading off into the great outdoors.

A real favourite and one which is becoming more popular every year. Paths from the San Pedro Mirador in Los Realejos, just outside Puerto de la Cruz, lead through banana plantations and past delightful old haciendas to a tropical coastline dotted with palm groves, hidden coves and a solitary fort. Absolutely exquisite.

Place to unlace the boots: The restaurant at the San Pedro Mirador. Great views of the coast, perfect for a sundowner.

Difficulty: Some steep parts, but overall within the reach of most people.

Beautifully developed and maintained path near Tenerife’s western tip. Fantastic natural rock pools along the route make it ideal for walking and wading. The dramatic Teno mountain backdrop and turquoise waters add up to a feast for the eyes. It won’t take anyone long to figure out why the place was named ‘Buenavista’.

Place to unlace the boots: El Burgado’s fishing net covered terrace overlooking the coast is a wonderful spot to have desert island dreams.

Difficulty: Easy peasy.

Malpaís means badlands; however, this area is anything but. Fascinating trails lead through a landscape fashioned by volcanic activity and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. There’s a surprising variety of fauna and flora as well as some interesting curios such as ramshackle fishing communities in abandoned World War II bunkers and volcanic cones and tubes, one of which was used as a dumping ground for old donkeys which had outlived their usefulness.

Place to unlace the boots: La Charcada at El Puertito is an inviting seafood restaurant right next to the town harbour’s equally inviting aquamarine waters.

Difficulty: These badlands are a pussycat for walkers.

Tenerife boasts an extensive network of trails and paths which link villages in remote areas. Many of these are a legacy of the indigenous Guanche people who used them to move their goat herds between mountain and coastal areas. The post conquest settlers also used these as merchant trails, creating ‘Camino Reals’ – Royal Highways which criss-crossed the island. These paths were still used until relatively recent times; some rural villages were only connected to the rest of Tenerife by road as late as the 1970s. The south of the island might now attract millions of visitors each year but before tourism, things were very different; there wasn’t even a road connecting the important centres of the north with the tiny communities in the south until the 1930s.
Subsequently many of these old cobbled bridle paths are still in good condition and are wonderful ways to get to know Tenerife on foot.

If you’re hiring a car and are quite happy to drive anything up to 2 hours at the start and finish of your walks, then you can choose to stay anywhere you like on Tenerife and will still be able to access all the island’s hiking trails. But if you want to cut down on the time it takes you to get to and from hiking routes, here are a few pointers:

Walking in the Anaga Mountains and La Orotava Valley:
Consider Puerto de la Cruz in which to base yourself. La Orotava is just behind the resort in the valley of the same name and the Anagas are a forty minute drive away.
If you want to spend your entire holiday hiking the Anagas, consider staying in the former capital city of La Laguna, or the fishing village of San Andrés just outside the capital of Santa Cruz. You’ll have doorstep access to the mountains and the beautiful Las Teresitas beach.
Alternatively, choose Santa Cruz itself and combine a city break with your mountain air to give you a real holiday of contrasts; cosmopolitan shopping, museums, parks and a mountain range by day and great restaurants and bars by night.

Walking in the Teno mountains and Masca.
Consider basing yourself in any of the sunny south west resorts of Los Gigantes, Puerto Santiago, Playa de la Arena or Playa San Juan. The bus services from these resorts are less frequent than in the south and the north so a car becomes even more of a necessity if you want to explore the island from here. Resorts are less busy and generally the sunniest on Tenerife and you have the added bonus of beautiful sunsets over the neighbouring island of La Gomera.

Walking in Teide NationalPark.
No matter where you stay on Tenerife it’s an hour’s drive up to the crater, unless you stay in the Parador in the crater itself.

Walking in the South and East
Choose to base yourself in any of the southern resorts of Los Cristianos, Playa de las Américas or Costa Adeje. If you prefer somewhere with more of a Canarian feel to it, consider the bohemian surf dude’s resort of El Médano where you can combine hiking with windsurfing and avail yourself of some of the best tapas bars in the south of Tenerife.