The hamlet of Masca, via the TF-436

What it is

Masca is a hamlet of houses of volcanic stone, wood and tile hanging over the head of the ravine of the same name, in the Teno Rural Park and in the municipality of Buenavista del Norte. It is a historic site declared an Asset of Cultural Interest. The main nucleus, La Piedra, has the square with a large Indian laurel, the chapel of the Inmaculada Concepción and the Visitor Centre, in an old stone house. Around it are terraced fields and palm trees on narrow ridges, with the ravine's rock stacks behind.

Seeing the hamlet takes less than an hour: a walk through the cobbled streets, the square and the viewpoint. If you want to go down to the sea through the ravine, that is something else: the Masca Gorge trail needs booking and a compulsory bus.

The road and parking

You arrive by the TF-436, a narrow mountain road full of bends between Santiago del Teide and Buenavista del Norte. From Santa Cruz, the most direct is to go to Santiago del Teide and take the TF-436 there, which passes the Cherfe viewpoint: about 80 km, between an hour and a quarter and an hour and a half. From the north, from Buenavista, the journey is slower.

Parking in the hamlet is very scarce because of the shape of the village and the narrowness of the road, and fills up at weekends and public holidays. Turismo de Tenerife says you cannot leave the car for more than two hours. In civil-protection risk situations, such as fire alerts, the Cabildo activates regulated access from 9:00 to 16:00, in which only tourist vehicles with a booking may enter. Without a car, TITSA line 355 links Buenavista, Masca and Santiago del Teide several times a day.

What to see

Three stops: the square and the chapel; the hamlet's own viewpoint, with the view of the houses on the ridge and the rock stacks; and, on the road, the La Cruz de Hilda viewpoint or the Cherfe one, on the climb from Santiago del Teide. In the hamlet there are several restaurants with terraces over the ravine.