Montaña Pelada trail: enjoy hiking in El Médano

“I welcome you to the Montaña Pelada, a volcano with an impressive crater of about 2,500 meters in circumference, originated by very violent eruptions.

Thousands of years ago, under your feet, magma rose and collided abruptly with sea water. The temperature difference between the two fluids caused a wave of strong explosions that deposited several layers of material giving rise to this unique flattened cone.

If you look at the southern edge of the mountain you can see a fossil dune that rests on the slope of the volcano. Enjoy and protect this special enclave, a refuge for plants and animals adapted to the harsh climatic conditions”.

Welcome sign of the Montaña Pelada

If you are a lover of hiking and wild nature you have to do the route of the Montaña Pelada.

It is an easy path for adults. So if you come to El Médano, you should put on your sneakers and put on lotion, because it’s worth it.

Hiking in Montaña Pelada

The route starts at Playa Pelada, which is under the mountain and is the first thing you come across:

Once you leave the beach on your right and start climbing the mountain, you will have views like these:

Then begins the route through the crater of Montaña Pelada, where you just have to follow the path and enjoy the views and the scenery.

This is a map with the walking route around the crater:

Click to enlarge

You will see natural caves of volcanic rock, a desert landscape with views to the horizon, canary lizards among rocks and small coves when the tide goes out.

Information and curiosities of Montaña Pelada

• It is a natural landscape that over the centuries has been subjected to the pounding of the sea waves, where a series of small white sandy coves have formed.
• The stepped or stratified escarpments that characterise Montaña Pelada are of great geological and tourist interest.
• The volcanoes of the Canary Islands, such as Montaña Pelada, are not violent like those of Hawaii, but rather calm, which is why the lava that falls slowly creates these “tongues” that form the mountain.
• “Pelada” owes its name to the fact that the substratum offers hardly any soil for plants.
• The Montaña Pelada Natural Monument measures 1.5 square kilometres.
• It is home to plants adapted to the sandy and volcanic soil of the area: psamophilous plants, tabaibales and cardonales.

Montaña Pelada: how to get there from El Médano

You can walk from El Médano and do this route to Montaña Pelada:

👉 Salt from the Cabezo beach

👉 Then walk along the Jaquita promenade until you pass the beach bar.

👉 Keep walking and you will pass by colorful houses in the purest Canarian style.

👉 You can walk along the coast until you reach the beach.

👉 At the end of the road we reach the beach under the mountain.

👉 We finally arrived at the Montaña Pelada! Now we can climb up and do the crater route to enjoy the views and the unique landscape.

👉 You can walk up the sandy beach or along it. There are several paths to climb the first few meters, so you can explore all the nooks and crannies of the mountain.

👉 The local people know how to do things on their own land. El Médano is in an area where the wind blows and the sun shines a lot. It is common to find stones piled up to protect you from the wind. When combined with the hollows in the mountain the result is a shady place, sheltered from the gusts of wind.

👉 Keep climbing, skirt the famous crater and enjoy the views and the fresh air.

Map of the Montaña Pelada hiking route

This is a map with the walking route around the crater:

Click to enlarge

Enjoy the south of Tenerife and make the most of El Médano! Have a good breakfast and take a route of the Montaña Pelada in the morning, you will see how the day starts in a different way.

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