Walking to Vilaflor from Los Cristianos, Tenerife?

[John]

[LEFT]We want to walk from sea level, Los Cristianos, to the top of Teide. We are familiar with the walk from Vilaflor to Parador and then on to Teide but would be interested to know if anyone has some tips about the walking options up to Vilaflor from Los Cristianos. Is it a case of following the road most of the time or are there any marked footpaths? We did the route to Parador on bicycles last year and want to try something different.[/LEFT

[Harmonicaman]

[LEFT]We want to walk from sea level, Los Cristianos, to the top of Teide. We are familiar with the walk from Vilaflor to Parador and then on to Teide but would be interested to know if anyone has some tips about the walking options up to Vilaflor from Los Cristianos. Is it a case of following the road most of the time or are there any marked footpaths? We did the route to Parador on bicycles last year and want to try something different.[/LEFT

Have a look at this lot (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=tenerife+walks)... you might find something in here.:)

Edit: The 5th hit down "Cyberhiker", this guy knows the Island backwards.

[Greg]

If you have Goolge Earth and enable all the tracks/roads options you can make out the routes through the mountains and pine forests. I travel these tracks alot on my motocross bike and they cover some beautiful terrain. BUT I would be very careful about travelling on foot, especially at this time of year as i don't think you could carry enough water to remain healthy on your trek. You can go off road from just above Arona town, via Ifonche (a bar there) then on to Vilaflor. The same route can be followed fro Vilaflor to Las Lajas (BBQ area) Me and the significant other walked DOWN from Las Lajas to Ifonche in the winter which was enough for us! I really don't think you could achieve this in one day so you would have to carry camping gear and food too. There is also a route from Adeje to Las Lajas. I would really be very wary about walking either of these routes. The Adeje to Las Lajas route took me months of exploring to find so you will need a good GPS with way points programmed if you are going to attempt it. There are also vast areas where there is no mobile phone signal which is something to worry about as if one of your party is injured it may be many hours before you can call 112 for help. I've spent many hours up there over the last few years and I NEVER ride alone or without GPS. If you PM me your email address I will mail you back with some G.E. way points. Good luck with your travels, let us on the forum know how you get on.

[Mastiff]

I did this walk 2 years ago for Live Arico.
It took me and a friend three days and that was walking roughly six hours a day, Uphill thats enough.
You have to be careful on the roads past Arona as theres not much pavement and some of the cars think its a race track.
If you need any more info pm me cheers.

[Jackie]

All I can say to the OP is you must be very very fit. I am by no means unfit and the walk up the hills from the bus stop to my house in the hills kills me :) Vilaflor is just 600 mtrs above me and I could never imagine walking there or further even from my house. Good Luck

[John]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the information. My email is john.fellows9@btinternet.com.

Please could you give us some advice on the best GPS to use for walking in Tenerife and elsewhere.

Many thanks

John

[Greg]

I'll mail you the Google Earth points tomorrow. I use a range of GPS stuff depending on what I'm doing. (I fly planes too) but a good, easy, cheap tool is the motionX app for the Iphone. If you don't use an Iphone I'm sure there is the equivalent available for Android etc. You will need Google Earth on your laptop to visualise your route and print it off, you can then transfer the co-ordinates to whatever GPS device you decide to use on your travels.

[John]

We are delighted to say that we managed to walk from Los Cristianos all the way to the summit of Teide last week. We set off early Monday morning and finally made the top at 7.00 am on Thursday in time for the sunset. We managed to find a route using side roads via the Monkey Park, La Camella, Arona, La Escallona to Vilaflor. This was more appropriate as we started in the dark and it would be easier to follow the roads rather than tracks. It was great to see the way the rural communities live.

We stayed at hotel El Sombrerito in Vilaflor, where Hector and his wife gave us a very warm welcome. We set off early on Tuesday with replenished stocks of water and a picnic supplied by Hector to follow the GR131 towards Parador. We decided to leave the 131 and follow the short cut which led us up the Valle de Ucanca which was fine for about an hour but then we lost the path and struggled for about an hour before we finally got back on track and reached a height of 2400 metres close to Montana de Guajara, before gratefully descending to the Parador Hotel, our stop for the night. Early Wednesday we set off in the dark along the TF21 for the long walk to the turnoff for Montana Blanca and started our ascent to the Altavista Refuge which we reached at 12.00 midday. There were about 40 staying the night, a mix of English, Spanish, Dutch, German and French and the atmosphere was very friendly. We set off about 4.45 am on Thursday morning with about 20 others all determined to reach the top of Teide by sunrise and made it after a very strenuous climb, with the altitude affecting our breathing, at 7.00 am. It was freezing up there and we needed all the warm clothing we had to to stop the body shivering uncontrollably. We took the pictures we needed and sat there just so proud that we had succeeded and taking in the amazing view and gradually being warmed by the early rays from the sun.

Our route down was quick, we took the Telerifico, as we were now both fairly exhausted after four days and 26 hours of walking with one of friendly co-walkers providing a lift back to Los Cristianos in their car. It was heaven when were at last able to take our boots, socks and rucksacks off and relax in a shower.

We did the walk, other than to satisfy our adventurous spirits, to raise money for Cancer Research UK and have exceeded £500 so far which we are very pleased with.

[KirstyJay]

My OH Will be very interested in this. Maybe you should set up an walking GROUP (http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/group.php) so that you can organise other walks :)

[balcon]

What a fantastic achievement, I've driven to Teide many times, but could never imagine walking it ......... well done, and congratulations on the amount you raised for a very worthy charity

[nicki]

waaw John, congratulations , very well done

[nath]

Very impressive achievement!!!! :bowdown:

[John]

Monika arranged most of the walk and would like someone to say 'well done Monika' as she is feeling left out!!

[nath]

Well done Monika and John!!! :sorry:

[balcon]

Well done Monika, it must have taken a lot of organising, ........ and I'm sure the charity will be very grateful for you contribution ........ very well done