DAY TWO HILLS & HISTORY

Morning

Just up the hill from Puerto de la Cruz is La Orotava, the highest town in Spain — it’ll also be a high point of any trip to Tenerife, its bell towers, leafy parks and narrow streets cascading down hair-raisingly steep slopes. Start your day wandering among the aristocratic mansions lining Calle San Francisco — the most notable of which is the 17thcentury Casa de los Balcones, where tours explore wondrously creaky balconies and a palm-studded central patio. The adjoining museum hosts demonstrations in traditional ceramics and sand art. Afterwards, set a course for homely Casa Egon: a cafe that spills out into a leafy, terraced garden with views out to the Atlantic and up to the summit of Mount Teide. From here, drive an hour eastwards to San Cristóbal de La Laguna and the Anaga Mountains. casa-balcones.com laorotava.es

Afternoon

The Anaga mountains form a long tapering ridge crowned by laurel forests. Arriving from busy resorts like Puerto de la Cruz, it might feel you’ve crossed a threshold into Middle-earth. Driving into this remote corner of the island is a workout for both the arms and the nerves — expect hairpin bends and lurching drops — but the rewards make it worthwhile, with tarmac roads terminating in villages of poetic isolation. The peaceful hamlet of Afur is a springboard for hikes through a verdant ravine to the remote beach of Playa del Tamadite. A little further east is historic Taganana, another hillside village lost in time, centred on the whitewashed church of Our Lady of the Snows. The last stop is Chamorga, where a smattering of farmhouses cluster in a valley, at whose base a lighthouse blinks out to sea.

Evening

Poised on the saddle between the Anaga range and Mount Teide, La Laguna was once the capital of the Canary Islands, before ceding its crown to busy Santa Cruz just down the hill. By day it’s a handsome university town with a few imposing churches and museums arranged around a grid of pastelhued streets, but it comes alive after dark, as tapas bars see tables, parasols and gaggles of students spilling onto the cobbles. It’s a great spot for some gastronomic roving. Hidden behind an unassuming red door, tiny Tasca 61 has a fine stock of artisanal cheeses and a slow food ethos, while La Bruma is a contemporary outfit with a tapas menu that delivers big on Canarian seafood. Casa Churro, meanwhile, is where many nights end with the sweet, sticky redemption of churros. tasca61.com

From left: El Peñon del Fraile, a cafe in the Old Town of Puerto de la Cruz; papas arrugadas, served with mojo rojo and mojo verde sauces