The Canary Islands, the summits above the beach.

For almost everyone, the Canary Islands mean beach and winter sun. This guide looks upwards. Gran Canaria and Tenerife are high volcanic islands, with summits above 1,900 and 3,700 metres, pine forests, calderas and mountain villages that are an hour by car or guagua (the local word for bus) from their capitals. If you live in Las Palmas or Santa Cruz, or fly in from the mainland and want something more than a sunlounger, here are day trips and one- or two-night escapes into the interior.

What does each island have?

Gran Canaria is round and rises towards the centre like a broken cone. The summit is in the municipality of Tejeda: a volcanic caldera with Roque Nublo and Bentayga in the middle, the Pico de las Nieves at 1,949 metres, pine forests and a village of white houses famous for its almond sweets. The ancient Canarians made these mountains a sacred place, and since 2019 their landscape has been a World Heritage Site. From Las Palmas you drive up in an hour along the GC-15, or in two guaguas. To the north-west, Agaete and the north come down from the mountains to the sea; in the south, the Maspalomas dunes are the island's other landscape, of sand instead of rock.

Tenerife is the island of Teide: at 3,715 metres, the highest peak in Spain, in the centre of a national park of lava flows and volcanic cones. You can't just walk up: the final path to the peak requires a permit, requested through the National Parks reservation system, with a daily quota. Around it, the island changes from one side to the other: the north is green and damp, the south dry and sunny, and the Teno and Masca massif, at the far west, hides deep ravines and hanging hamlets. In the north-east, the Anaga massif is a short hop from Santa Cruz, with laurel forest and paths along the ridges.

How do I get around?

By car, definitely, if you want to see a lot in a short time: the mountain roads have bends and slopes, but distances are short. On both islands you can rent a car at the airports and in the capitals.

By guagua, which is what the bus is called in the Canaries. In Gran Canaria, the Global network reaches almost every village: line 60 links the airport with Las Palmas, the 303 and 305 climb from Las Palmas to Tejeda via San Mateo, and the 18 runs from Tejeda to Roque Nublo. In the summits there are few services at weekends, so plan the day around the timetable.

Getting from one island to another requires a plane or boat: each island is experienced separately. Pick one per trip.

What do you need to book beforehand?

The most visited places in the highlands have regulated access. In Gran Canaria, the Roque Nublo trail via the Degollada de La Goleta requires a free reservation from 9:00 to 17:00, and you can no longer park there. In Tenerife, the climb to the summit of Teide by its final path needs a permit. Check before you leave, especially for weekends.

When to go?

All year, but the summits are best enjoyed from October to May, when the air is clear. In January and February the almond trees of Tejeda bloom. In winter it can freeze, and sometimes snow, on Teide and the Pico de las Nieves: check road conditions. In summer the coast is crowded, and in the highlands it is hotter than it looks, with calima (dusty haze) on some days. Always carry a jacket for the uplands: between the beach and the summit there can be a fifteen-degree difference.

How do I combine it?

Based in Las Palmas, a Sunday in Tejeda and Roque Nublo is the clearest plan: you leave at 8:00 and are home in time for dinner. With two nights, sleep in Tejeda or Cruz de Tejeda and add Bentayga, the Pico de las Nieves and a night under the stars. In Tenerife, Teide needs a whole day, and an early start.