Tenerife

Tenerife is the largest and most diverse of the Canary Islands — and probably the most complete volcanic destination in Europe. The island divides into two worlds separated by the Teide (3,718 m): the green, humid north, covered in laurel forests and endemic Canarian pines; the dry, sun-drenched south, home to resorts and dark sand beaches.

The Teide is the central character. The third largest volcano on the planet measured from its oceanic base, it is visible from the entire island and, on clear days, from neighbouring islands. Its national park (UNESCO, 2007) is Spain's most visited natural site and one of the ten most visited in the world. The cable car climbs to 3,555 m in minutes, but it's the ascent on foot from Refugio Altavista — timing the summit for sunrise above a sea of clouds — that remains the most extraordinary experience Tenerife can offer.

The north of the island reveals a preserved and historic Tenerife. La Laguna (San Cristóbal de La Laguna), the former colonial capital listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a jewel of 15th-16th century Hispano-American architecture, with cobbled streets, convents and a university founded in 1792. The Anaga Rural Park, in the north-east, is a massif of thousand-year-old laurel forests — Tertiary-era relic vegetation listed as a biosphere reserve, crossed by vertiginous paths overlooking the Atlantic. The village of Masca, clinging to a cliff at 650 m in the Teno massif, is one of the most spectacular villages in the entire archipelago.

In the strait between Tenerife and La Gomera live resident pods of common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales and sperm whales — present all year round. It is one of the world's finest cetacean watching destinations.