Parking
Start at Mirador de La Crucita on TF-24 at km 30.1. Parking is very scarce and there is no public transport at the start. The walk ends in upper Arafo, so arrange a pickup or return ride before leaving your car.
Overview
About Camino a Candelaria: La Crucita–Arafo
Why go
- Historic pilgrimage route across the 1705 Las Arenas lava flow
- Changes from steep volcanic slope to old pine forest and Arafo
Heads up
- One-way logistics with a very long downhill
- The route’s published endpoint and distance details conflict
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Teide alerts
- CautionActive wildfire risk and preventive measuresTenerife ON currently lists wildfire risk and preventive wildfire measures; check the live restrictions before visiting Teide National Park.Official details
- CautionNo smoking in Teide National ParkSmoking is prohibited throughout Teide National Park as a preventive measure against forest fires.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Teide Tour Guide
Your drive to Camino a Candelaria: La Crucita–Arafo, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Teide National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
La Crucita and the Pilgrimage Trail0:00 / 0:26
“You're coming up on La Crucita, where a historic pilgrimage trail descends toward Arafo.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Teide Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- La Tarta and El Valle Viewpoints
- Igueque Viewpoint and the Sea of Clouds
- Igueque Trail to La Crucita
- Montaña Limón Viewpoint
- 39 audio storiesacross Teide’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Short-finned Pilot Whale, Tenerife Lizard, West Canary Skink, and 10 more
- Works offlinemaps, 62 trails, 49 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Camino a Candelaria: La Crucita–Arafo
The one-way walkCamino a Candelaria’s La Crucita–Arafo section is a 7.
Camino a Candelaria’s La Crucita–Arafo section is a 7.17 km point-to-point descent from Mirador de La Crucita to upper Arafo. It drops about 1,485 m; allow roughly 3½ to 4 hours because the rough opening is steep and can be slippery. This is a walk through the landscape rather than a climb: you cross Caldera de Pedro Gil, leave the lava slope for pine forest, and finish on pavement above town.
From lava to pinesStart on the right side of the viewpoint and follow the rough tread across the Las Arenas lava…
Start on the right side of the viewpoint and follow the rough tread across the Las Arenas lava flow, crossing the forest track more than once. The route reaches a small stone building called El Refugio; the directions then turn left twice toward chestnut plantings. White Camino panels show its symbol and trail number, with directions, connections and distances. Watch for them at the turns.
Below the chestnuts, a gentler stretch under old pines takes about 35 minutes. Near a small rise, a dry water channel lies below the path; the route uses the lower crossing and continues beside another conduit. It then follows a path without forks to pavement in upper Arafo and on toward town.
A path across the 1705 lavaThe trail cuts across the Las Arenas flow, created by an eruption that Arafo dates from…
The trail cuts across the Las Arenas flow, created by an eruption that Arafo dates from February 2 to March 27, 1705. The lava ran as far as 12 km, filled the Arafo ravine, and covered springs and farmland. You only cross part of the flow, but the dark volcanic ground above cultivated land makes the scale of that change easy to picture. The Camino links these uplands with Arafo, Güímar and Candelaria; this segment is the downhill walk to Arafo.
Plan the finish firstParking at Mirador de La Crucita on TF-24 km 30.
Parking at Mirador de La Crucita on TF-24 km 30.1 is very scarce, and there is no public transport at the start. This is a one-way walk, so arrange a pickup or return ride from Arafo before leaving your car.
The route details disagree about the endpoint: the named La Crucita–Arafo segment is listed as 7.17 km, but the same technical page’s end-access field names the Basilica in Candelaria; another description gives 14.5 km for a La Crucita–Arafo walk. This version follows the connected 7.3 km descent to upper Arafo. Check the current route map and your pickup point before you go; do not assume the 7.17 km segment continues all the way to Candelaria.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Teide
15 sightingsShort-finned Pilot WhaleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
829 sightingsTenerife LizardMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
11 sightingsWest Canary SkinkMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
98 sightingsTenerife Blue ChaffinchMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
45 sightingsKestrelMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
10 sightingsBarbary PartridgeMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Teide. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
