Santiago del Teide

Santiago del Teide is a town of 11,000 people (2019) on the west coast of Tenerife.

Understand
The town is right in the middle among all hiking and tourist destinations in the area, even though Los Gigantes is the more convenient hub with numerous accommodation options.

By car
The municipality is well-connected to the south by the TF-1, which in the future will continue northwards from here through a tunnel under the Teno massif. As of early 2024, however, crossing the mountains still means curvy mountain roads. From Icod de los Vinos, you can take the nice and straight TF-5 to El Tanque from where the very curvy TF-82 will take you over the mountains. The TF-373 is a more quiet and less windy alternative, but it takes you further away from civilization before merging into the TF-82 a bit north of Santiago del Teide. Other access roads are the TF-436 from Buenavista del Norte via Masca and the TF-454 and TF-82 from Los Gigantes via Tamaimo.

By bus

 * Línea 325 – Puerto de la Cruz <-> Icod de los Vinos <-> Santiago del Teide <-> Los Gigantes
 * Línea 355 – Buenavista del Norte <-> Masca <-> Santiago del Teide
 * Línea 460 – Icod de los Vinos <-> Santiago del Teide <-> Tamaimo <-> Chio <-> Guía de Isora <-> Costa Adeje
 * Línea 462 – Los Gigantes <-> Tamaimo <-> Santiago del Teide <-> Arguayo <-> Chio <-> Guía de Isora

Get around
Taxis are abundant in case you miss the bus to Masca.

Otherwise, the town is very walkable.

Do

 * Virgen del Carmen festival – July 16
 * Santiago Apóstol day – July 25

Hiking
Besides the opportunities below, also check out Los Gigantes and Teno Rural Park, which are just around the corner, and with Los Gigantes probably being you prefered place of stay overnight anyway.


 * Almond Flowers Trail (Ruta del Almendro en Flor) – Best done in the middle of February when the trees are fully flowering. An easy to medium hike from Santiago del Teide to Arguayo. About 13 km and 4 hours of hiking. Trail coordinates: GPX, KML.Fiesta del Almendro en Flor 2.jpg
 *  – The last volcanic eruption on the island occurred here in 1909 and left a surreal landscape with pitch-black lava rocks and glowing green pine trees in between. There is an easy circle around the volcano of about 5.5 km, but you have to get there first. Either you go by car and take the road towards Teide, that will bring you closest, but you can also hike from Santiago del Teide (GPX, KML), Los Partidos (GPX, KML), San José de Los Llanos (GPX, KML), or even Garachico (GPX, KML).El Chinyero2 - El Tanque.jpg

Basically there are so many hiking trails northeast of Santiago that you don't really need to bother about which one you take, as long as you have a destination. The whole area is also called, where you can roam around as you please.

Buy
The town is overly touristy, you will thus probably find enough to spend your money on.

Sleep
You will find most accommodation options in Los Gigantes, Puerto de Santiago, or Playa de la Arena. Otherwise, check out San José de los LLanos:

Camping
The closest official camp grounds nearby are:

Go next

 * Teno Rural Park including Masca – Great hiking, gorges and forests
 * Los Gigantes – Convenient hub for trips in this region and to the nearby Los Gigantes cliffs
 * Teide National Park – The obvious choice next from here