Guide to official hiking trails in the Anaga Rural Park
While our family lived in Tenerife for the 2022/2023 school year, I undertook a personal quest to do all official Anaga Rural Park trails (along with a few in Teide and Teno National Parks). This and other articles on the topic of 'hiking in Tenerife' are based on my personal experience.
After we arrived in Tenerife, as an avid hiker and runner I wanted to do some trails, but quickly discovered what many visitors also find out – there is a lot of information on the interent, but really hard to make sense of it.
While every other article about hiking in Tenerife has the title “X best hikes in Tenerife”, very often it appears that these were the only trails the blogger went to.
There are 12 official trails in the Anaga Rural Park in the north of Tenerife. These trails are numbered from TF-1 to TF-12 and some have additional sections like TF-6.3 to add variety to your hikes or connect between trails or to villages with parking and bus stops.
Because of this, between 2022 and 2023 I not only explored Anaga extensively by myself, with my kids and other hikers, but also undertook a personal project of hiking and running all of the official trails and documenting the experience in this blog and on our YouTube channel Smart Travel Family. The information in this article is based on what I personally experienced while going around the northern tip of the island.
This article will provide overview of the official trails based on various characteristics like length, “circularity“, difficulty, but also the scenery, suitability for kids, etc. As soon as I’ll write up a detailed review of each trail, I’ll also link to that article so that if you are considering of doing a particular trail you very clearly know what to expect and whether its worth prioritizing this over other trails in Anaga, Teide or Teno national parks.
List of official trails in Anaga
While the official hiking trails in Anaga are numbered from TF-1 to TF-12, there are only 11 official trails. For some reason, the TF-7 trail is nowhere to be found. If you know the story behind the trail’s disappearance, please share it in the comments. I’ll inquire about this next time I’ll visit the excellent Anaga Rural Park Tourist Information Office, or the similarly helpful “Tenerife Hiking Community” on Facebook.
Some of trails have additional forks or segments, which are also listed below as variants of the main trail.
- TF-1 | Las Mercedes – Cruz del Carmen
- TF-2 | Taborno village – Cruz de Taborno – Camino Viejo Pico del Ingles – Pico del Ingles – La Fortaleza – Valle Seco
- TF-3 | Cruz de Taganana – Valle Brosque
- TF-4 | El Bailladero – Amogoje – Taganana village
- TF-4.1 | Amogoje – Almaciga
- TF-5 | Chamorga village – La Cumbrilla – Lomo de las Bodegas – Igueste de san Andres town
- TF-5.1 | Igueste de San Andres – El Semaforo
- TF-6 | Chamorga village – Roque Bermejo – Faro de Anaga – Las Palmas village – El Draguillo village – Chamorga village
- TF-6.1 | Chamorga village – Faro de Anaga
- TF-6.2 | El Draguillo village – Playa de Benijo – Playa de Almaciga
- TF-6.3 | Playa de Benijo – Cabezo de Tejo
- TF-7 | Trail does not exist
- TF-8 | Afur village – Cruz de Taganana – Las Vueltas – Taganana village – Playa Tamadiste – Afur village
- TF-9 | Afur village – El Fronton – Taborno village – Las Carboneras village
- TF-10 | Cruz del Carmen – Chinamada village – Chinamada caves – Punta del Hidalgo town
- TF-10 | Las Carboneras village – Chinamada village
- TF-11 | Cruz del Carmen – El Batan village – Bejia village – Punta del Hidalgo town
- TF-12 | Cruz del Carmen – Bajamar town
- TF-12.1 | El Moquinal – Tegueste
- TF-12.2 | La Quebrada – Pedro Alvarez village
Trails by length
| TRAIL | Length km | Length miles |
| TF-1 | Las Mercedes – Cruz del Carmen | ||
| TF-2 | Taborno village – Cruz de Taborno – Camino Viejo Pico del Ingles – Pico del Ingles – La Fortaleza – Valle Seco | ||
| TF-3 | Cruz de Taganana – Valle Brosque | ||
| TF-4 | El Bailladero – Amogoje – Taganana village | ||
| TF-5 | Chamorga village – La Cumbrilla – Lomo de las Bodegas – Igueste de san Andres town | ||
| TF-6 | Chamorga village – Roque Bermejo – Faro de Anaga – Las Palmas village – El Draguillo village – Chamorga village | ||
| TF-7 | Trail does not exist | ||
| TF-8 | Afur village – Cruz de Taganana – Las Vueltas – Taganana village – Playa Tamadiste – Afur village | ||
| TF-9 | Afur village – El Fronton – Taborno village – Las Carboneras village | ||
| TF-10 | Cruz del Carmen – Chinamada village – Chinamada caves – Punta del Hidalgo town | ||
| TF-11 | Cruz del Carmen – El Batan village – Bejia village – Punta del Hidalgo town | ||
| TF-12 | Cruz del Carmen – Bajamar town |
Trails by difficulty
This is a subjective ranking of the trails by difficulty. This means both the total vertical ascent against of the length of the trail, plus subjective experience. For example, some trails might have slightly more vertical ascent than others, but if this is concentrated in one section of the trail, most people experience this trail as much harder compared to a trail where the ascent is mixed with descent and often one hardly notices the changes in terrain.
N.B. When evaluating trail difficulty, for one-way trails I’ve written these with the assumption that you will start the trail at the highest end in Anaga Rural Park and then descend towards the ocean. If you are a seasoned hiker and plan to go the other way – from ocean to the Anaga mountains, you’ll have to do additional research.
TF-11 | Cruz del Carmen – El Batan village – Bejia village – Punta del Hidalgo town
I consider this trail the hardest because it croses at least three mountain ridges, descending after each into a valley after which you have to ascend again to the next ridge. Also – there is a mistake in some official information sources as the total vertical ascent is clearly not 40 meters, but much more
TF-8 | Afur village – Cruz de Taganana – Las Vueltas – Taganana village – Playa Tamadiste – Afur
The trail is very pleasant and would be even considered easy/intermediate if not for the very steep ascent from Afur village to Cruz de Taganana. I suggest that you tackle this ascent first, so that you can enjoy the rest of the trail and don’t have to struggle at the very end.
TF-3 | Cruz de Taganana – Valle Brosque
In this circular and relatively short trail you will have to descend and ascend the same amount of vertical meters/yards. I suggest you start this trail not from the Cruz de Taganana in Anaga mountains, but from Valle Brosque. This way you’ll have the ascent at the start of the ascent, followed by an nice descent on a different route.
TF-6 | Chamorga village – Roque Bermejo – Faro de Anaga – Las Palmas village – El Draguillo village – Chamorga villa
Like the TF8 trail, this trail would also be easy/intermediate, if not for the challenging ascent from El Draguillo village to the ridge before Chamorga village. The ascent to Faro de Anaga will also be a challenge to some hikers, particularly, if you decide to visit/descend to the Playa de Roque Bermejo.
Most (and least) picturesque trails
Most picuresque Anaga trails in priority order
- TF-11 | Cruz del Carmen – El Batan village – Bejia village – Punta del Hidalgo to
- TF-6 | Chamorga village – Roque Bermejo – Faro de Anaga – Las Palmas village – El Draguillo village – Chamorga villa
- TF-8 | Afur village – Cruz de Taganana – Las Vueltas – Taganana village – Playa Tamadiste – Afur villa
Least picturesque Anaga trails from worst to least worst
- TF-12 | Cruz del Carmen – Bajamar
- TF-1 | Las Mercedes – Cruz del Carmen
Circular trails
- TF-3 | Cruz de Taganana – Valle Brosque
- TF-6 | Chamorga village – Roque Bermejo – Faro de Anaga – Las Palmas village – El Draguillo village – Chamorga village
- TF-8 | Afur village – Cruz de Taganana – Las Vueltas – Taganana village – Playa Tamadiste – Afur vilage
Trails suitable for kids
The following trails are suitable for kids and hikers who are not willing or able to undergo strenuous exercise.
TF-8 | Afur village – Playa Tamadiste
While the whole trail is too long and challenging for kids, with some sketchy bits, parents and kids should absolutely enjoy the section between Afur village and Playa Tamadiste, returning the same way. The scenery is superb in this section, probably best on the whole trail. Kids will be rewarded with a small beach at the end (although not suitable for swimming), and there’s a lovely tavern with an 80 year old very kind bartender in Afur where kids can get a fizzy drink, and there’s local home vine for the non-driving parent.
Sendero de los Sentidos
If if you want to let your kids experience the Anaga Rural Park without much physical strain and worry very little about their safety, also consider the very short 1 km – 2.5 km circular trail that starts and ends in the parking lot of Cruz del Carmen.
TF-1 | Las Mercedes – Cruz del Carmen
A short 2.5 km route from the Las Mercedes town to Cruz del Carmen (or down the reverse way). Quite many hikers take this route in order to move or to return from other Anaga trails, particularly, Sendero del los Sentidos, TF-10, TF-11 and TF-12.
While not particularly interesting, it will be a nice introduction to Anaga for the smaller hikers, has a rest area for barbeque mid-way, and overlaps with Sender de los Sentidos in the trails last kilometer before Cruz del Carmen.
TF-3 | Cruz de Taganana – Valle Brosque
This trail will be suited for kids and teenagers that are a bit more experienced hikers or are comfortable with physical exercise. While the trail is phyisically challenging on the ascent, it had almost no spots where parents would really have to watch out for their kids, which is not the case for many other trails that have quite a number of sketchy or outright dangerous sections, at least from a parent’s perspective.
I suggest that you always use a navigation app (Maps.me, Wikiloc, AllTrails or other) when hiking in Anaga. While the trails are superbly marked, each trail has 1-3 forks where for some reason the trail markers are not clearly visible and it’s easy to make a shorter or longer detour.
My personal approach is to download the full set of GPS pointers for a trail from Wikiloc (an annual subscription of around 10 EUR is necessary), and then share/upload them to Maps.me. I personally do not use Wikiloc for navigation as it drains the phone battery relatively faster than navigation by Maps.me.
Public transport availability
If you want to explore the Anaga Rural Park by bus, you will have to be very organized and hope that the buses run on time and are not cancelled. Having patience is also recommended as some locations in Anaga can take as much as 2 hours to reach by ‘gua gua’ as the busses are called in Tenerife if you depart from La Laguna or Santa Cruz.
To give an example, if you want to head on a Saturday morning towards the furthest parts of the park in the morning, like the Taganana village (TF-4 trail) or Chamorga and Anaga Lighthouse (TF-6 trail), there is a direct and faster bus at 10:15 or routes with 2 or three connections that will take 1,5 hours and more to reach your destination. The next direct bus only goes in the evening at 6PM.
For the above reason, it is usually advised to rent a car and start with circular routes so that you depart and return from your vehicle. However, buses or a driver are the only solutions if you plan to take the one-way trails like TF-5, TF-10, TF-11, or TF-12.
