Roques de García trail

This is the most trodden route in the park and the one that best explains the caldera: a 3.6 km loop around the Roques de García, towers of volcanic rock that were left standing in the middle of Las Cañadas, with the Teide always behind. The Park numbers it PNT 03 and rates it of medium difficulty, two hours and 202 m of accumulated ascent. It is free access, with no booking, and costs nothing.

From the La Ruleta viewpoint

It starts and ends at the La Ruleta viewpoint, at km 46.5 of the TF-21, opposite the Parador and the Cañada Blanca visitor centre. The Park lists it as the most visited viewpoint in the whole park. The first metres of the trail coincide with a stretch adapted for people with reduced mobility, running from La Ruleta to the Tagorores; if you are with a wheelchair or pushchair, you can do that part.

Plain, lava flow and La Catedral

You set off leaving the rocks on your left: Roque Cinchado, Roque El Oso and the Torrotito. The path descends to the edge of the Llano de Ucanca, where you walk on the flat for quite a while. Then it drops a little with views of La Cascada, a very fluid lava flow, and goes round La Catedral, which rises about 144 m above the plain. At its foot trail 26 starts, which in an hour and with almost no gradient crosses to the Llano de Ucanca viewpoint: if someone is picking you up on the road, you can finish there.

The climb at the end

The stretch that makes this a medium-difficulty route is the last: a steep zigzag climb of about 200 m that takes you back to La Ruleta. It has no technical sections, but it does have loose stone and a sustained gradient, and at over 2,000 m you feel it in your legs and your breathing. Wear mountain footwear, not smooth-soled trainers. With small children, the sensible option is to do the first part to the plain and return the same way, without the climb.

When to go and what is there at the end

First thing or from 15:00 there are fewer people and the low light gives relief to the rocks. In the caldera there is almost no shade: water, cap and sun cream. At the end, the Cañada Blanca centre, open from 9:00 to 16:00, explains how people have lived in Las Cañadas since prehistory and what is being researched in the park today, and has a terrace with a model of the landscape. For lunch, the Parador restaurant serves from 13:30 to 15:00, and its Los Roques café from 10:00 to 18:00.