Sendero de los Sentidos at Cruz del Carmen

The first and easiest taste of the Anaga laurel forest leaves from the Cruz del Carmen Visitor Centre along a stretch of the old royal road that linked the Anaga villages with La Laguna, and along the way panels with a nose, a hand or an eye invite you to smell, touch or look at something in the forest. It is the walk designed for anyone who arrives with small children, with little time or with no wish to walk far.

Déjate sorprender or Lo que encierra el Monteverde

The Cabildo has marked out two versions, one inside the other:

• Sentidos 1, Déjate sorprender (Let yourself be surprised): circular, 0.96 km and 67 m of accumulated ascent. About 20 minutes. Very low difficulty by the MIDE method the Cabildo uses.
• Sentidos 2, Lo que encierra el Monteverde (What the Monteverde holds): 1.24 km and 91 m of ascent; about 35 minutes. It includes the first and goes down a little further, to the Llano de los Loros viewpoint, with views of Santa Cruz and the Tahodio dam and ravine.

The ground is earth with the odd wooden step. With a pushchair it is awkward; with a baby carrier there is no problem. If the day is clear, do the second: the Llano de los Loros viewpoint is the reward, and in total it is only 91 m of ascent.

What the panels ask of you

The fun lies in following the drawings: each panel marks with its symbol which sense to use at that point and what to look for in the forest. With children it works like a treasure hunt: let them find the next panel and read what to do. Allow a little more than the 20 or 35 minutes if you stop at all of them.

The visitor centre, before or after

The Cruz del Carmen Visitor Centre is open every day from 9:30 to 16:00, and from July to September until 15:00. There they give you the day's trail conditions, and you have toilets and, next door, the Cruz del Carmen viewpoint, looking out towards La Laguna. If you are left wanting more, the Bosque de los Enigmas passes through here and stretches the walk to an hour and a half.

Getting there and parking

Cruz del Carmen is on the TF-12, at km 22.5, between Las Mercedes and El Bailadero, about 25 minutes from Santa Cruz by car. The visitor centre has parking, which fills up early at weekends: arrive before ten or go on a weekday. Without a car, TITSA lines 076 and 275 leave the La Laguna interchange and stop at Cruz del Carmen (stop 2232).