Visitors´ Centres
Portillo de la Villa Visitors´ Centre
El Portillo de la Villa is a hamlet with several bars and restaurants that offers their services during the day. This is where thee Visitors´ Centre is, near the El Portillo crossroads, at Km 32.1 of the TF-21 road. If is open to the public everyday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Visitors´ Centre shows important aspects of the flora, fauna, geology and climate. The centre was the first of its kind to open in Spain. Here, they have recreated the interior of a volcanic pipe and it is also equipped with a range of interactive elements, back-lit photographic panels, video room, bookshop and assembly hall, where a video is screened. The video gives us a fascinating insight into how the grand caldera was formed, with the Teide – Pico Viejo strato-volcano rising up from it. Entrance to the Visitor´s Centre, the garden next door and the guided tour are all free of charge.
Botanic Garden (annex)
This garden covers a 4 hectare plot next to the visitors´ Centre and it has been created to exhibit, interpret, research and reproduce the native flora of the supra and oro-Mediterranean bio-climatic layers of this territory, representing 75% of the National Park´s superior species. Some species, like the Teide Violet, cannot acclimatize in this area because they need a higher altitude.
The garden is sign-posted and it is endowed with laboratories with germination chambers and germoplasm bank. It focuses on a programme to recover endangered species. It is currently convalidated internationally with a view to providing support for recovering endangered plant species.
Cañada Blanca Visitors´ Centre (National Parador Hotel)
This centre is housed in a wing of the Las Cañadas National Tourist “Parador”, at Km 46.5 of the TF-21 road, and it opens everyday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Tel.: 922 373 391).
It provides information on man´s relations with this environment, the different uses this land has been put to, how these uses and customs have evolved over the centuries and the National Park´s archaeological heritage. The long list of researchers that have studied in this outstanding site since the 16th century merely corroborates the scientific interest that this area of Tenerife has always aroused throughout the world. Topographic maps and books on the subjects dealt with by the centre are for sale in the bookshop.
Juan Évora Ethnographic Museum
Boca Tauce Crossing
Juan Évora was the last inhabitant of Las Cañadas who maintained the traditional way of life.
The house in which he lived, located at the junction of Boca Tauce (next to the fork of roads TF-21 and TF-38), in the south access of the Park, has been rehabilitated becoming an information point and small ethnographic museum that shows us an exhibition about the ancient lifestyle of the shepherds in Las Cañadas.
The visitor can, through panels and exhibits, know the most significant aspects related to this protected natural area.
This ethnographic museum and the annex parking are open to the public from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm, every day of the week
Important note: If you are going to make any of the routes that start from the Ethnographic Museum (Chavao or PR TF70 Guía de Isora - Tágara - Boca Tauce) and leave your vehicle in the parking lot, remember that the parking will be closed from 3:45 pm, you must remove your vehicle before that time.
The Telesforo Bravo Visitor Center (La Orotava)
The Telesforo Bravo Visitor Center of the Teide National Park is located in the urbanization El Mayorazgo de La Orotava (exit 34 of the TF-5), and in it we can discover the biological, geological and ethnographic treasures of the Teide National Park, following the steps of the German naturalist, traveler and geographer Alexander Von Humboldt in his exploration of the island in 1799. The Administrative Center of the National Park is located in the same complex. The Center has numerous panels, screens, locutions, simulation of volcanic tube, models, showcases and interactive displays, as well as an area for the auditorium, which offers a projection of about 8 minutes on the National Park. It contains an exhibition in which the Island of Tenerife is covered in a double way: altitudinal (from the coast to the summit) and historical (through the eyes of illustrious visitors). The entire center has been adapted and is accessible to an audience with motor, visual or auditory disabilities. The ramps facilitate access to the various levels and a signaling system facilitates the orientation of the visitor.
Access to the Visitor Center is free.
Adjacent to the Visitor Center is the ornamental garden of native flora of Tenerife "Juan Acosta Rodríguez", Councilman of the Hon. City Hall of La Villa de La Orotava, who promoted in 1917 the declaration of Teide as a National Park.
Interpretation Center of the Teide National Park "Telesforo Bravo"
Doctor Sixto Perera González Street, 25. El Mayorazgo
38300 La Orotava
Tel. 922 922 371
Email: pnteide@tenerife.es
Hours: from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday.
Guided tours
The National Park´s Interpretation Service offers free guided tours twice a day and leaving from the Cañada Blanca Visitors´ Centre and from the Portillo Alto Park Office.
For those interested in a tour, you need to book in advance, calling the National Park office: Phone 922 922 371 (Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.), or ask directly in the Visitors´ Centres.
