Tenerife

Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, is a Spanish island off the northwest African coast with an extraordinary range of landscapes packed into a single island — from the volcanic moonscape around Mount Teide (at 3,715 metres, Spain's highest mountain and a UNESCO National Park) to the black volcanic beaches of the south coast, the lush Anaga rural park in the northeast and the cosmopolitan resort strip of the south. Mount Teide, accessed by a cable car from 2,356 to 3,555 metres (with a short hike to the summit requiring an additional permit), offers one of the most extraordinary views in Europe — an island above the clouds, with the shadow of the cone extending across the Atlantic at sunrise. The Teide National Park is the most visited in all of Spain. The Anaga Biosphere Reserve in the northeast, with its ancient laurisilva forest, dramatic ravines and deserted black-sand beaches, is the island's wildest and most beautiful area. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital, has excellent museums (Tenerife Espacio de las Artes is outstanding), the magnificent Auditorio Tenerife designed by Santiago Calatrava and one of Europe's most spectacular carnivals (February). La Orotava and La Laguna (UNESCO) are beautifully preserved colonial towns. The north coast villages of Garachico (destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1706 and rebuilt around natural rock pools) and Los Realejos are excellent. Year-round mild climate makes Tenerife outstanding in any month.