The View from Montaña de los Frailes & Montaña de Guaza on Tenerife

The other week I did something that’s been on my ‘to do’ list for years, I traipsed to the top of the  Montaña de los Frailes in Los Realejos.

After a cava breakfast at the idyllic El Monasterio it seemed a good way to pay penance for overeating. It was a gloriously hot and sunny May day and the perfect opportunity to see just how good the views of La Orotava Valley were from the tiny ermita at the top of the volcanic cone.

The 360 degree vista didn’t disappoint. La Orotava valley still has the capacity to WOW. There’s a feeling of more space and less development on the Los Realejos side of the valley but I’d sort of expected that. What really interested me though were the views over Puerto de la Cruz.

Although I live half in Puerto (half in La Orotava) and love the place, I subscribe to the view that Puerto’s skyline has been spoiled by high-rises, one seriously ugly blot in particular. But my view from a hill showed me that this wasn’t really the case. Even though I wish the authorities hadn’t mutilated the charming town that had once welcomed the great and the good of Victorian society (as shown by the mural in the Taoro gardens), the biggest concrete culprits are confined only to the eastern and western edges of the town.

The old town between them remains relatively low-rise. additionally the town wasn’t actually as big as it had become in my head and it was good to see that there’s still plenty of greenery provided by banana plantations.

Standing on the cone overlooking north Tenerife’s main resort I was reminded of a corresponding scene in the south of Tenerife; the view from Montaña Guaza south west across Los Cristianos, Playa de las Américas and Costa Adeje. On that occasion I’d been surprised to see just how big and sprawling Tenerife’s main southern resorts had become, testament to their success in attracting sun-seeking visitors.

I thought it might be interesting to share the views of Tenerife’s very different resort areas so that anyone interested in Tenerife who stumbles across this post can compare and contrast.