Roque de Taborno
An easy trail leading from a Canarian village located in the Anaga Mountains to a rock called Taborno.
We were driving from the Tenerife south to Anaga on the highway, It's one and half hour of drive to our destination, Taborno. A tiny high altitude village tucked away in the forests of Anaga, where we were heading. We exited the highway towards La Laguna, where the weather was still okay, but our initial excitement for this trip gradually begun to decline as we saw the weather at the entrance to Anaga National Park. The Mirador de Jardina lookout, which normally offers a spectacular view of the surrounding area, was shrouded in clouds. The more deeper into the forest we went, the more drizzly the weather became. We wondered if we'll even be able to make today's hike if it's raining along the way.
Finally, we entered the village of Taborno, where we parked and took a look around. Luckily it was only raining on the road, but through the thick fog we couldn't see into the distance, only the road and the colourful village houses in sight. We came to a small church, behind which the trail is supposed to start. The cloudy weather with fog gave the whole place a mysterious atmosphere.
We told ourselves that despite the weather we will give it a chance and set off on the road behind the church, where we passed the last few dwellings of the village. Suddenly we went down the stairs into the woods where we passed the first lookout point, but unfortunately we couldn't see anything through the fog. So we continued further down and came across a rock bridge lined with railings. We couldn't even see how high we were. The path continued along the foot of the mountains, where we also encountered Mountain goats. The path leading to Taborno Rock was not so long on the map, but the rock wasn't visible enough through the fog until the last moment.
Fortunately, after a while the weather started to improve and finally we were able to see surrounding mountains & villages. Particularly, the view of Roque Taborno which was slowly appearing in front of us through clearing of fog. The closer we got, the more view of the ocean also appeared, which we headed towards on the left side of the aforementioned rock. We came across an interesting coloured cave and we could also see a bunker on the mountain below us. We had to be careful in some sections at the foot of the mountain.
We came to a point where we got as close to the shore as we could and the blue ocean stretches out in front of us with an interesting looking pointed rock jutting out of it, with waves breaking against it. Here we took a longer break for photos and a snack. As soon as we took out our food, hungry lizards gathered around us.
After a rest we headed back the same way. It was amazing to finally see all the views we couldn't see before through the fog on the way there. ♥
I have to say that the path to Roque Taborno is one of the best hiking trails I have done in Tenerife so far. What I liked the most was the altitude the trail is located at and with the gloomy weather we had at the beginning, it was even more interesting!
Length: just 3 km - from the village of Taborno to the Roque de Taborno rock (you can walk around the whole rock, but we just walked from the left to the viewpoint on the coast and back the same way
Tips for You
- The trip is easy - it took us less than 3 hours with breaks and taking pictures (it doesn't take the whole day)
- Don't forget a drink and some snacks (However, we did pass a couple of restaurants in the village of Taborno where you have a chance to sample some traditional Canarian dishes).
- I recommend using sunscreen (even if it's cloudy here, it tans :D) and of course headgear and trekking boots.