Garachico old town and San Miguel castle

What it is

Garachico was the busiest trading port in Tenerife until 1706, when the Trevejo eruption flowed down the cliff and in eleven days blocked the port and swept away almost the whole town. What you see today is the village rebuilt on that lava: cobbled streets, houses with wooden balconies, convents and a black-rock coast where the flow cooled on reaching the sea.

The walk

It begins in Plaza de la Libertad, with the church of Santa Ana, the town hall and the 1689 palace house of the Marquises of La Quinta Roja, now a hotel. Opposite is the former convent of San Francisco. Then go down to the sea through the centre's streets to Avenida Tomé Cano and the San Miguel castle, a small volcanic-stone fortress ordered built in 1575 to defend the coast; it has been an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1999 and today works as a heritage information centre, with its own opening hours. Next to the castle are the El Caletón natural pools. It can all be covered on foot in one or two hours. The streets are flat in the centre and gently sloping towards the sea: you can go with a pushchair.

Getting there and parking

From Santa Cruz, about 60 km along the TF-5 to Icod de los Vinos and then the TF-42, under an hour without traffic. There is free public parking beside the old football pitch, at the entrance to the old town. Without a car, TITSA line 108 runs from Santa Cruz to Icod de los Vinos in 1 h 15, with a departure every hour, Sundays too, and there the 363 continues to Garachico and Buenavista.

For eating and sleeping

In the old town itself you have Silogía, also open at midday on Sundays, and El Rebojo, next to the castle. For sleeping, La Quinta Roja on the square and the Hotel San Roque two streets away.