Hiking in Out-of-this-World Landscapes (in the Canary Islands)
If you like hiking, the Canary Islands are the perfect place to put on your most comfortable clothes and venture into their diverse natural parks! The volcanic landscapes that characterise these islands will take you out of the routine and make you feel as if you were on Mars, the moon, or even flying through space. Take the chance to try one of the wonderful hikes organised in Gran Canaria, La Palma, Tenerife, Lanzarote or Fuerteventura and visit new and old volcanoes, as well as arid landscapes and others full of fauna and flora, the options are varied!
The Canary Islands are characterised by their immense and impressive volcanic landscapes. In Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma and Fuerteventura you can go hiking and visit places that seem to be taken from Mars or the moon!
La Palma
The 19th of September 2021 marked the island of La Palma, as it was the day the Tajogaite volcano erupted and lava flowed across the area for 85 days, destroying crops and houses in its path. However, literally out of the ashes, a new attraction has emerged for the island: the incredible and particular black sand landscape that foreigners and locals alike seek to visit, now safely, for its extraordinary beauty.
It is not advisable to visit this site alone, but there are many companies that specialise in taking visitors safely to this natural wonder. For example, on this guided hiking tour to the new volcano on La Palma, you'll first visit the Tacande volcano, the first historic volcano, with records dating back to 1480! Then, you will hike about 5 kilometres to the top of the new volcano (Tajogaite), where you will have beautiful views of the island, the Atlantic Ocean, and the effects that volcanic eruption can have, you will feel like you are on another planet!
Gran Canaria
Visit Mars with the rock formations, cliffs and even reddish archaeological sites of the Caldera del Territorio de Gran Canaria on this hiking tour. This is the cradle of the island's aboriginal civilisations and on this wonderful tour you can feel like an adventurer as you challenge your body to take a long hike that will take you to sites in the heart of Gran Canaria, such as La Fortaleza, a celestial observatory of the past, and the Caldera de Tirajana, all the while reaching almost to the top of the island itself and taking in the beautiful landscapes it has to offer.
Lanzarote
Feel like you're walking on the moon with this incredible hiking tour through the Natural Park of Los Volcanes in Lanzarote. Located between the municipalities of Yaiza, Tías and Tinajo, this park is the product of the last volcanic eruptions on Lanzarote, which took place between 1730 and 1824. A guide will take you at a leisurely pace through the park while telling you curious facts about the region. You'll be able to see wonders such as the lava tunnels, which will make you feel like you're in a wonderful open-air museum of volcanology!
Fuerteventura
The Escanfranga mountain is considered to be the highest volcanic cone on Fuerteventura, at 529 metres high. Located in the north of the island, in the village of Villaverde, this geological formation was once the best lookout point for the island's harbours, for spotting both pirates and innocent incoming ships, and is now open to visitors who want to spend a day exploring its beautiful landscapes, fauna and flora.
On this guided hiking tour to the top of the Escanfraga mountain volcano, you can have the world at your feet, as you ascend a 2.5km route that will take you to the highest point of Fuerteventura and see the flat, mountainous landscapes of the island, including the incredible dunes of the Corralejo Natural Park, some 20 old volcanoes, the Tindaya mountain, and much more! The last volcanic eruption on the Escanfraga mountain was a little over 1 million years ago, so you don't need to worry about anything and just lace up your shoes and follow your experienced guide to one of the best spots in the Canary Islands.
Tenerife
In Tenerife, the Teide National Park is the ideal place to see otherworldly landscapes. During the day, you can walk through landscapes of red sand, which will make you feel like you're on Mars, or with volcanic craters, which will make you feel like you're on the moon, plus you can take a trail that will take you to see the intense blue of the Atlantic Ocean collide with the dry yellow of the volcanic rock formations, created by the lava that came out of the impressive volcano of Teide, a giant of 3,718 metres high that you can observe from different points of view, climb through different trails, and even visit via a cable car that will save you the journey.
However, one of the best activities you can do in the Teide National Park is a stargazing excursion. At an altitude of 2,000 metres and escaping light pollution, from the Mirador de La Ruleta, also called La Catedral, it will be possible to see up to 4,000 stars with the naked eye!
The Starlight Foundation guides will take you to the perfect spot for stargazing and teach you about the constellations and planets you can see from this incredible location. And not only will you get a complete lesson on the astral landscape of the Canary Islands, but you will also be able to use a computerised telescope to observe phenomena such as nebulae, double stars, galaxies, the moon and some of the planets of the Solar System. In the intense darkness of the Teide Natural Park, you will feel as if you are exploring space on your own!
With this in mind, the Canary Islands are the ideal place to put on your most comfortable shoes and set off to explore landscapes that don't look like they belong on this planet. Don't forget to bring water, snacks and your camera, to immortalise the beautiful and impressive volcanoes, rock formations, coloured sands, mountains, fauna and flora of Las Palmas, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria.
And if you are interested in visiting this wonderful archipelago, but you don't want to go hiking, you can read our definitive guide to visit the Canary Islands, you won't regret it!