Tenerife: Breathtaking Teide & Masca Valley Adventure

You really can't visit Tenerife without getting a tour inland to the amazing Teide Volcanoe that dominates the whole island. It is stunning ! The third highest Volcano on the planet! There are loads of tours running but make sure to get a tour that includes tickets for the cable car up so that you can see the stunning views from over 3,000 metres up! Most tours include stops in the beautiful valleys below too (protected national parks) and the forests that surround it. The cable car takes you about 170 metres below the summit crater but be aware that if you wish to go right to the top, you HAVE to apply for a permit to do so and this can take a number of weeks to come through so you must do this in good time before going on holiday there. They will stop you if you try without one. Also be aware that the cable cars are sometimes cancelled due to high winds, normally your tour rep will give you a refund for your cable car tickets if that is the case. Now a word of caution, our tour guide mentioned that people with asham, heart conditions or pregnant should not go up the cable car. However that was the only brief info we got, but when we got there, we discovered that it is very common indeed for healthy people without these conditions to faint and get very sick once at the top cable car station. We were a little annoyed actually that this has not been better explained to us but makes perfect sense when you consider just how high you are! So it really doesn't matter if your fit or not, some folk seem to be more sensitive to altitude sickness then others and I was one of those who got pretty ill, so after taking photos we had to get back on the cable car really quickly. I was close to blacking out and vomited too and my lips were blue! A bit scary actually.... They did seem to have first aiders around but it's important to note most people will experience breathlessness and a rapid heart rate within two minutes of arriving at the top cable car station, so I would recommend seeing the view, then coming straight back down! Rapid onset Altitude sickness can only be resolved by dropping altitude so by the time we got back to the base cable car station, I felt totally fine and lips were normal colour. It takes 8 minutes on cable car which is no time at all and what they don't explain is that, it's that sudden quick ascent which can cause folk to get sick due to not taking enough time for your body to adjust to lower oxygen levels. I am a trained mountain leader in UK and know that ideally if you give enough time to adjust and walk slowly then you'll be okay but as most tours there are rushed, there is NO adjustment time to be had which means it can be a real shock to your system. I felt I had to explain that well in a review for anyone considering going as no where near enough warning about this. There did appear to be a ambulance stationed at the base cable car station for this reason I believe. So it's well worth the day and the views are insane but if you start feeling unwell, get back down on that cable car as quickly as possible to avoid something more serious occuring! Low blood pressure can also be a trigger for rapid onset sickness it seems to be careful!

Poor experience, if you want to actually see anything choose something else. 30min at Teide mountain and valey, 25min at Gerrachico and 30min at Masca. But over 2 hours in their promoted place for lunch and souvenir shop at Icod where there is nothing to see. Always on the run at the nicest places struggling to see anything or take a picture. If need a toilet breake you miss everything cause simply no time left for anything. Will have to buy another tour, likely, with my holiday provider to actually see the mountain.

A well paced day with lots of interesting information. The guide was very knowledgeable and the drive was beautiful. I would have liked more time at masca as this was the best part of the trip and we only had time for a quick look around. We got lots of breaks and weren't in the coach for too long. We did this on the final day of our trip and it was a great way to end it, well worth the money 😁

Great tour to just sit, relax and see amazing spots in Tenerife. There's plenty time on each stop. Guide was funny and chill.

Very well organized excursion everything was carefully planned and each of the participants was taken care. Guide Enrique was wonderful witty, attentive, provided interesting information about places to visit and the driver Hulio very skilled

It was wonderful to see the beautiful national park and the Masca valley. The guides were so lovely. You‘ll spend most of the time in the bus but have some stops at the most famous places - time management was super. Definitely worth it.

The trip itself was very good and well paced. Unfortunately what let it down was the commentary. Although the majority of people where non Spanish speakers I felt as though more information was given in soanish than English. And I could not hear most of the English commentary. Twice when we came off the bus I did ask the guide to explain what he had said as I did not hear it. Which is a shame because the scenery was stunning but I did not learn anything about mt Teide

A lot of time is spent on the coach rather than leisure time. Would have liked to have had the opportunity of being higher up the volcano. Saying that the tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and good at his job

It was such a cool excursion! The guide and driver were great, especially the way he handled the sharp roads in Masca! Really beautiful views. Thank you, guys!

A fantastic 9 hour excursion of up and around Mt Teide. So much to see with some amazing views of the beautiful island. A few more stop points to take it all in, take pictures, and stretch your legs, would have been appreciated though. As 9 hours is a long time to be sitting on a coach. Unfortunately we couldn’t understand much of what our guide was talking about, as he’s English wasn’t that good, and he spoke quite quick. But he was very nice. We have to give a huge THANK YOU to The driver of that coach, as he was absolutely brilliant. We came across some scary moments driving up those mountains, as they are very steep and windy, but he handled them with such ease. WELL DONE to that driver. 100% for the whole of that Mt Teidi excursion it was brilliant. We are definitely going to recommend it to people and do it again.