Alto de Guajara

Reach the summit on foot via PNT-15 from La Degollada de Guajara. The park-linked route is graded high difficulty, with steep exposed slopes, loose rocks and uneven ground; it is not accessible for visitors with reduced mobility. The route has little shade, so plan water and sun protection before you leave the caldera road. Winter can bring snow or ice, and PNT-15 may close temporarily for mouflon-control work, so check current trail notices before setting out.

Face Teide and Pico Viejo, then pick out the other volcanic cones around the basin. The broad lava plain below makes the height of the caldera wall easy to read. Turn toward the sea as well: on a clear day, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Palma and Gran Canaria may show beyond Tenerife. For a photo, keep some rocky summit edge in the foreground with Teide across the plain; it gives the wide view a sense of scale.

Near the summit are remains of a cabin used by French astronomer Jean Mascart in 1910 while he observed Halley’s comet. After the expedition, Mascart proposed an international observatory on Guajara. Astronomers had already tested Tenerife’s high-altitude conditions: in 1856 Charles Piazzi Smyth observed from several elevations, including Guajara, and demonstrated the advantages of mountain observing.