Canary Islands

The Teide National Park is the largest of all the Canary Islands and a must-see if you travel to Tenerife. It was founded in 1954 to preserve the volcanic and biological environment of Teide. With an extension of almost 19,000 hectares, this park has an impressive landscape full of craters, rivers of fossilized lava, chimneys, lava flows and volcanoes from which you will get the best panoramic view and from where you will see the imposing silhouette of the Teide volcano with an altitude of 3,718 meters, is the highest peak in Spain. This impressive environment declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, has easy access and different services among which are two visitor centers where you can learn some of the curiosities of Teide and volcanoes, a restaurant area, numerous viewpoints, and hiking trails and even accommodation. The added value that we find in the Teide National Park, is the caldera and the stratovolcano Teide-Pico Viejo, unique in the world from the geomorphological point of view, and its fauna and flora as there are many endemic Canarian species exclusive to the park. Within the park, you can also see Las Cañadas del Teide, a gigantic caldera of about 17 km in diameter over which rises the Pico del Teide, if you travel in spring, the red tajinaste will amaze you with its thousands of small bright red flowers and it's almost 3 meters high.To visit the Teide National Park, one of the best ways is by cable car. In 8 minutes you will have reached the top station where there is a viewpoint with amazing views. If you want to get to the top, you will have to ask for a special permit to go up a path on foot. Of course, the difficulty is high and it takes about 40 minutes walking. If you are one of the lucky few who reach the top and the sky is clear, from there you will be able to see four islands: Gran Canaria, La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera. If you are a fan of astronomy, the Teide is one of the best places in the world to observe the sky because it is free of pollution and its altitude makes it an ideal place to contemplate the stars, planets and galaxies. In addition, the whole island of Tenerife is certified as a Starlight destination precisely because of its clean sky, a stellar wonder not to be missed!

The Teide Observatory, also known as the Izaña Observatory, is located at an altitude of 2,390 meters, in the Izaña massif, on the island of Tenerife, in Spain. This observatory was founded in 1959, installing the first telescope in 1964. The Teide Observatory belongs to the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and is considered by the International Scientific Community as one of the most important observatories in the world. Although initially it was linked exclusively to the University of La Laguna, in 1979 it became international with the signing of cooperation treaties between various countries. The quality of the sky in the Canary Islands and especially in Tenerife, an island certified as a Starlight destination, makes the Teide Observatory one of the three best places in the world for astronomical observation and study of the Universe which, together with the fantastic weather conditions and altitude of the observatory, make it possible for neither light pollution nor clouds to cover the sky. In fact, it is the largest solar observatory in the world. Among its facilities, the Tenerife observatory has a visitor center for scientific dissemination and a residence area for scientific and technical staff. Among the telescopes to his credit are solar telescopes and night telescopes. Solar Vacuum Tower Telescopes (VTT), THEMIS and Gregor that allow studying the characteristics of the solar atmosphere, magnetism and solar instabilities; and night telescopes such as the IAC-80, the TCS infrared telescope, the Mons reflecting telescope, the OGS, the STARE or the robotic Bradford telescopes, STELLA I and STELLA II.