A rainbow in La Cumbrecita

One of the best places to admire the Caldera de Taburiente is La Cumbrecita, a notch in the south-east wall of the crater.

You get there by taking the main road between Santa Cruz and Los Llanos to the Caldera Visitors’ Centre (above El Paso). Because the car park at La Cumbrecita is small, you have to go into the visitors’ centre and book a place in the queue (tip, the queue is shorter first thing in the morning.) The have a nice exhibition about the Caldera’s geology, flora and fauna to entertain you while you’re waiting for your number to be called – also a bookshop, toilets and a snack machine. From the visitors’ centre, it’s a ten-minute drive up to the car park, which has a great view of the Caldera. You can get an even better view by following the almost-level footpath along to the Mirador del Lomo de las Chozas for ten minutes each way. (mirador is Spanish for viewpoint).

If it’s cloudy, don’t despair completely. Sometimes the clouds part dramatically. You might have a walk in the mist with no view, but you might get an unforgettable sight like the photo above.