Testing my travel skills that day: Drove the rental car back to Las Palmas ( 45mins), took the ferry’s shuttle bus (50mins) from downtown to the harbor, took the ferry ( 90mins ) then from there took a city bus (10mins) to the bus terminal then a shuttle bus ( 50mins ) to the southern airport and finally a cab to my airbnb!

Day off the bike still include walking like 5km dragging that stupid 70lbs bike bag that always tipped over. Arm workout.

If you have to travel to/from ferry terminals and airports it's a good bet there's some of these long distance shuttle buses. Look into them before renting cars.

This terrible haircut starting to spread like cancer in Europe.

Raining upon arrival in Tenerife. Walked like 1km in the rain trying to get to a bus stop.

Pic of the airbnb. That was a nice nice one. Wish I could have shared these with people.

Had time to do a sketchy night ride 5km down to the beach town to pick up some TooGoodtoGo trash for my mouth.

Rain forecast all day on Teide so I just tried to make a loop out west to cover as much different roads as possible.

The south side of the Island is basically windy desert. It's definitely not where you want to live on Tenerife.

The road snakes along the ridge and goes through a few small towns with run-down buildings. Not touristy but nowhere to ride and not much to see.

Looking towards the ocean it's nice and sunny then you look back into the mountains and....yah. Don't go in there.

Almost every single town on these islands has at least one of these churches. Guess all people used to do here is eat bananas and pray.

When you ride around some of the towns you'll notice the brain surgeons who designed the roads put these drainage grates in random places.

Keep in mind, bicycles are not a new invention nobody ever conceived of before orienting their stupid grate in the perfect way to catch people's tires. Well done. Well done.

It’s unclear what counts and doesn’t count as a separate climb for these “world rankings” from Pjamm: https://pjammcycling.com/member
The final stretch of road is always the same but you can get up there like 5 different ways, only 2 of which they decided counts apparently.

My Airbnb was about 5km up the hill so first step is to get down to sea level. El Medano is a cute town with nice nightlife that's probably cheaper than staying in Los Christianos.

Los Christianos is the tourist epicenter of Tenerife. Here's a white egret to add to my bird collection.

Even if you check the weather forecast ( which you need to check daily ) you have to look at the mountain for yourself to judge if you're in the clear.

As you climb you start to see these signs and I have no idea what the hell they're trying to tell drivers.

The top of the climb. It had snowed on Teide while I was in Gran Canaria... The peak of the Teide climbs stops at the edge of the crater, you still have 14km from here to the Cable Car station...

More views of the south going down. Notice it's riddled with these small canyons.

New town new church.

Imagine you have to worship this or your community shuns you. Man.

Planned another Teide route but the rain wasn’t having it. I climbed as far as I could before the rain started then just went back to the airbnb. Made it about half way. No pictures of this day as it was basically the same as yesterday.

Just a pic of my favorite ad from Spain. He's just loving his overpriced fast food greaseball. Look at him.

Quick shoutout to Europe dogs who's hobby it was to sit outside all day barking at all moving targets.

This is where my lack of planning screwed me. If you look at the island it seems like you can go clockwise from Los Christianos to Puerto de La Cruz but the fastest route is back north to the ferry… I should have switched the airbnb order. This “forced” me to rent a car that day and blow 500$ because taking the buses between these two location is 3hours each time on 3 different buses…
Basically I wasted about 450$ to get to ride one extra day instead of spending it inside buses… WORTH IT? hmmmm

View of Teide as you turn west from the northern airport and make your way towards Puerto de la Cruz. Best view of it on the Island.

They have these cool half tunnels along the northern roads which let you see the ocean as you drive.

Look at this crazy view as you descend to sea level. Always big white hotel buildings near the beaches on these Islands.

Natural pool near the cliffs in Puerto de la Cruz, which is probably the most beautiful city on Tenerife.

Popping out of the tunnels right into the touristy resort section of the city.

hi

Surfing on some pretty crazy waves.

Black Sand beach with a nice view of Teide on a clear day. Now that's the life. Imagine not having to bike. So lucky.

Snowcapped Teide overlooking the lush valley. Life can't be so bad here can it?

When I left in the morning only the south was wrapped in clouds but they had made their way around just in time for me to descend in them yay.

A really nice Dragon Tree ( Dracaena draco ) sitting in a town square. These things are so cool.

Bunch of goats mowing the grass. Oh goats, if only your cheese and milk didn't taste like your poo smells.

Pretty sure goats are like 10% insect btw. Wasn't sure if they'd get mad and ram me so I didn't get too close.

Just a very chill loop around the area to rest a bit. I had planned to go to the Zoo that day. They advertize that zoo on the entire Island like it’s the second coming of Christ and it’s part of the reason I even rented the car. After a 45 minute hellish dumb drive in the traffic and garbage road network, I arrived to a “parking full” sign at like 10am.
Just drove back to the Airbnb.
Estimate time by bus: 45 mins
Real time by car + finding parking: 60+ minutes

Don’t rent a car. You’ll spend more on gas + parking than it costs to take a bus and when you factor in looking for parking, the bus is faster anyway.

My suggestion: Eat some of the animals to make space for more parking.

There's a nice cactus garden in town. Again why drive? There's stuff to see and visit as you walk anyway.

More epic views of the black volcanic sand beaches.

For all your Instagram needs.

The cactu... cacti? Cactuses? were exploding with fruits on the north side. Isn't this just a goofy-looking plant?

The town itself has all the typical tourist stuff. Old forts, churches and narrow pedestrian-only streets with endless restaurants.

Just such a nice city. In California that church would be surrounded with tents and meth labs.

Quite possibly the most beautiful route on the entire island.

The entire road next to the ocean looks like this. Beaches, cliffs and lush tropical plants.

I think those old rock walls are... something. I should have paid attention at the museum. And learned Spanish. Or I could google it now. But will not.

When you get a clear day Teide is just an absolutely crazy thing to witness from the North side. The snow still hadn't melted. How does it even snow there? The clouds don't reach.

This is some kind of special Dragon Tree in a small town about 20km from Puerto de La Cruz.

Protip: Bike your loops in the direction where you're on the side of the road closest to the good views!

Again: Don't rent a car. People were literally backed up on the highway trying to make their way to various seaside tourist town. Worse: They slowed ME down. Straight to jail.

About 50km from Puerto de la Cruz now, almost at the end of the road.

Once you get near the western tip, the road is closed to traffic for this last little stretch along these crazy cliffs. You need to take a bus anyway, losers.

My one regret was not going to the very end. The tunnels have zero light and are long. About 100m into it, it's literally pitch black, like you're floating in space. Bring lights...

Looping back I climbed "the sea snake" which is this crazy 500m switchback climb on the cliffs. Look at that view!

Sadly from there it's another 600m inland with not much views. On that peak you can turn back to Puerto de la Cruz or cross the mountains to the south.

Another nice view coming back down. Notice the boreal forest layer that starts to appear at around 1000m elevation around Teide.

Back to town and the goat team had moved! This one was nibbling near some delicious trash to add refined aromas to its expensive artisan cheese.

Shoutout to the Airbnb owner's awesome Lab/Salami mixed breed.

Another day where having the car at least saved me 2 hours of bus. Just a small loop to visit the northern edge of the coastline since I missed it on my first go around.
That night I had to take the ferry to La Palma, new Island!

These guys are called "Tenerife Lizards". They are "the world's largest wall lizard". So like 8 inches....

You will hear them skittering away all day long if you walk/bike near any rock walls or rock formation where they hide in the cracks.

There's some nice hiking/lookouts in the Anaga rural park. This is just 500m up in the town of Jardina. Then you descend 1000m all the way down to the water.

Lots of natural pools in the small town of Punta Del Hidalgo. Essentially the end of the road to the Northeast.

End of the road! Climbed 500m back up to Tacoronte to change in the car and pack up my gear before heading all the way around the Island to the ferry in Los Christianos.

Next part is the final week of the trip, including a visit to two new Islands!

More travel stuff:
Arizona/California: Drive to Tucson • Tucson • California Climbing • Bay Area / Washington
Canada Coast to Coast: Victoria •Vancouver Island • Vancouver • Southern Rockies • Prairies • Ontario • Niagara • Quebec • Gaspesie / PEI • Maritimes • Newfoundland • Maritimes2 • Bay of Fundy • Quebec2 • Montreal • Ontario2 • Prairies Statues • Jasper/Banff • Northern Rockies • Washington State Bonus

Car Conversion / Purchase: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3
Life on the road: Part 1 • Part 2

Back in Tenerife