The Tinguaton walk is a fairly easy walk just an hour or so. It can be extended a little if you go exploring the hill top to the right and the two creator rims to the left. There are two coffee and cake options here, the Asador Grill Tinguatón or the Teleclub de Masdache.
Directions
Follow the LZ-30 from Teguise, straight over at the Casa-Museo del Campesino round a bout heading down through La Geria for Masdache. Once through the village take the next turning on the right for Tinajo, LZ-56. After about 5.5km you see a car park on the left, Parque Natural De Los Volcanes, just before the village of Tinguaton.
Click on the map image above to open a Google map of the area in a new tab.
The Walk
Cross the road from the car park to where a couple of dirt tracks intersect with the LZ-56. Take the track that runs 90° to the main road following around the base of Montaña Tabaiba on your left. After 5 minutes or so the track takes a turn to the right before looping back round to the base of the mountain.
Ahead you will see a path up to the shoulder of Montaña Tabaiba. This is also a popular Mountain Bike route so be prepared to step aside and let them pass.
Depending on the time of year you can see and smell the Figs trees at base of the path. Also lots of Juniper bushes all round the lower slopes.
Once on the top you can enjoy the views over the lava fields to the south and the farm land to the north.
From here can make a couple of mini excursions. East up on to the volcanic bluff (Green) or west to explore the crater rims (Red).
The path to the crater rims is short, but quite steep. Going up is fine, but care is needed coming back down.
Inside the craters you can see evidence of cultivation and/or the remains of stock corrals, which probably predate the Timanfaya eruptions of 1730.
Follow the blue dotted path on the maps to make your way off Montaña Tabaiba. Eventually you drop down on to a farm track on the north side of the mountain.
The paths twists and turns, but gradually brings you down until you reach a fork in the path. Take the left branch follow it all the way into the village of Tinguaton, passing crop fields on the right and grape plantations on the left.
At the end of the dirt track, turn left on to the the tarmac road and left again at the top of the street. This takes you out of the village and back to the car park.
The village of Tinguaton is very pretty with people taking an obvious pride in their gardens. As you come on to the main road, you are just across from the Asador Grill Tinguatón. Other walks in this area are:
Montana Tinguaton – History
To read a little history of the Tinguaton area, click here. For history articles on this site click here.