Non UK Tenerife?

LongLensPhotography

LongLensPhotography

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I am thinking of going for around a week probably this December. I need some sun and warmth and also looking for some "unusual" but pretty nature. It is one of the very few places I can fly direct from Scotland, the other being Barcelona or Rome.

What should I be looking for and is there anything to be aware of? Any great photography spots, hike trails, etc?

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Please read my blog to find out all about the trip
http://www.longlensphotography.co.uk/blog/2014/12/tenerife
 
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Or better still, book a round Island Coach Tour early in your Visit, not only will you see most of the Island but also learn from the Guide about the History of the place. This will give you ideas of where you would like to visit longer when you hire that car.
Mount Tiede is a must if this is your 1st time, take Warm Clothing if going it gets quite cold up there!!. Also from Gulf De Sur you can take a Submarine trip out to Sea. The South of the Island is mainly Barren Volcano spill but warmer than the North which has Lush Vegetation growing. Loro Parque is in the North. If your into Sunrises and Sunset this is the place to get them.
 
I was in fuerteventura and loved walking down along the beaches, the wildlife is great and the light allows you to get some great shots you might not otherwise get.
also which side of the island are you staying? sunset/sunrise etc? the beaches are fairly quiet in the morning apart from the joggers and skin-dippers. careful with your exposure settings :p
 
DizMatt said:
I was in fuerteventura and loved walking down along the beaches, the wildlife is great and the light allows you to get some great shots you might not otherwise get.
also which side of the island are you staying? sunset/sunrise etc? the beaches are fairly quiet in the morning apart from the joggers and skin-dippers. careful with your exposure settings :p
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I haven't booked yet - which side do you recommend? Thanks.
 
I don't know tenerife, I flew from Newcastle. Trip advisor is where I'd look for good reviews.
but if you want to do sunrises....I'd head for the east side :p
 
I just got back from there yesterday. I stayed on the South side in Los Cristianos, which was alright. If you book Los Cristianos and don't plan on hiring a car, make sure you book somewhere near the sea or budget in taxis. The hill there is named Cardiac Hill for a reason.

Hire a car, and go up Tedie. If possible, take the cable car to the top, it costs 30 euros a person. But if you don't want to pay that, driving around that area is worthwhile. There are plenty of spots to pull over.
There are tons of lizards, I found loads up Tedie and a lot around Los Gigantes.

Zoo wise - Loro Parque, Jungle Park and Monkey Park are all worth doing. Expect Loro Parque to be crowded but Jungle Park and Monkey Park had no more than 200 people in them.

But just in case you or someone your going with is disabled - Loro Parque also has a lot of steep slopes and stairs for shows. Couldn't see much from the scooter we hired, and couldn't get into the Loro Show as they only had stair access. The Orca show has stairs to get into the disabled seats, and scooters are parked at the front which is an unadvertised splash zone. Jungle Park is more disabled friendly, but not perfect as the sea lion show only has stair access to seats, and places for wheelchairs/scooters so we had to sit in the restaurant area.

Monkey Park is the cheapest at 10euros a person, and while it is also the smallest, I enjoyed it the most. It was nice to be able to go into cages with some of the monkeys and get to hand feed them. Everything in monkey park is disabled friendly.
 
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My wife's dad has a house in El Medano which we stay at.

Decent place on the Southern tip. Not too busy but enough for a visit.

Las Aquilas (Jungle Park now) but actually 'Eagle Park' is worth a visit.

Certainly head up Teide though.

Great for astro up there if you can.
 
We were in Tenerife for 10 days this February and are going back at the start of January for another 10 days. We stayed in Los Cristianos but had a hire car and spent a good few days driving about. Some stunning scenery especially in the mountains on the north east end. I climbed Mount Teide, took almost 5 hours, started walking about 6am and was well up in time to see the sun rising above the clouds. I am hoping to start even earlier this time to be at the summit for sunrise and see the shadow the mountain casts across the west of the island but it will depend on the weather as at that time of the year there can be a lot of snow up there and the roads sometimes be closed.
Some of my shots from this year are here https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/sets/72157641083414533/
 
phil_b said:
We were in Tenerife for 10 days this February and are going back at the start of January for another 10 days. We stayed in Los Cristianos but had a hire car and spent a good few days driving about. Some stunning scenery especially in the mountains on the north east end. I climbed Mount Teide, took almost 5 hours, started walking about 6am and was well up in time to see the sun rising above the clouds. I am hoping to start even earlier this time to be at the summit for sunrise and see the shadow the mountain casts across the west of the island but it will depend on the weather as at that time of the year there can be a lot of snow up there and the roads sometimes be closed.
Some of my shots from this year are here https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/sets/72157641083414533/
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Your photos are awesome and make me realise I should revisit on my own or with other photographers. The ones of Masca make me annoyed that my family refused to go there. They saw some description of it on a leaflet as a 'cute little village' and an 'amazing drive', and then instantly went decided there was no chance in hell we would go there. They wouldn't listen to me when I said it would be awesome for photography and no internet access meant I had no proof. I was surprised I managed to get them up by Teide, it may of been in harsh sun light and we were restricted to pulling over for a few minutes now n in bad locations due to my father not listening to us, but at least I got em up there..
 
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Alisonfd said:
Your photos are awesome and make me realise I should revisit on my own or with other photographers. The ones of Masca make me annoyed that my family refused to go there. They saw some description of it on a leaflet as a 'cute little village' and an 'amazing drive', and then instantly went decided there was no chance in hell we would go there. They wouldn't listen to me when I said it would be awesome for photography and no internet access meant I had no proof. I was surprised I managed to get them up by Teide, it may of been in harsh sun light and we were restricted to pulling over for a few minutes now n in bad locations due to my father not listening to us, but at least I got em up there..
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Thanks Alison. I was there with my wife and 6 month old son so was a bit restricted too but did take that 1 day to myself to climb mount teide and got up early a few mornings to climb a few other hills close to los Cristianos for sunrise. It is a very photogenic island and I would love to have more time there. My wife is pregnant again so when we are back in January she might want to travel about less though we are going b month earlier this year so sunrise and sunset might suit me better.
 
That first one is basically what I did on my own. I parked in the car park a couple of km past the cable car station and hiked up past Montana Blanca and the Alta Vista refuge to the top cable car station and then up to the summit, got the cable car down and walked the road back to the car.
 
stryvya said:
http://volcanolife.com/eng/experiencias

Some of these looking interesting!!
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Some of them look a bit more expensive than what it costs once you're there. The cable car up to the top was 29 euros and they're charging 32.

I'd also recommend buying park tickets when you're there if you want to use the park buses as a lot of the ticket excursion places will knock the cost down. But if you're going to somewhere like Loro Parque and have your own car, then look online for some offers - some give vouchers to spend in the park (Loro Parque give a free basebal cap which otherwise costs 1euro)

I also suggest avoiding the quad biking, as the ones my friends went on was awful. They had 3 bikes, 2 had no breaks and one had dodgy ones. Plus car hire for 3 days is cheaper than an hour quad biking.
 
When my GF and I went to Portugal in Feb, we booked one to collect from the airport (just a little Citreon C1). The cost of the hire for the week was the same as the transfer to the hotel, so I figured may as well pay the same and have a car, then the only real extra cost is fuel to get around.
 
Thanks guys.

Do you have any idea how to avoid Teide summit reservation b*****ks? Like alternative route or any way round. I want my sunrise or sunset. I am sure they don't have the fence around the whole mountain as long as it is climbable.
 
daugirdas said:
Thanks guys.

Do you have any idea how to avoid Teide summit reservation b*****ks? Like alternative route or any way round. I want my sunrise or sunset. I am sure they don't have the fence around the whole mountain as long as it is climbable.
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Hi. There is only one way up starting at the top cable car station, the rangers will happily remove anyone straying off the official path and they are very strict about only letting people past the gate who have a booked pass and passport id. I booked my pass a week before I went for between 11am and 1pm thinking it would take me 5 hours to climb starting at 6am. I did it in 4 hours to the station arriving around 10am and had to wait. And there was dozens of people arriving up in the cable cars to find that they couldn't go to tge summit. The rangers station only opens at the time of the first cable car so all you could do is start walking early and allow a good 5 hours to get to the summit for sunrise. If you want a sunset you could get a pass for the last time possible and get the cable car up and tell them you are walking down but it is a long walk in the dark. The other option is book into the altavista refuge and walk up to it the afternoon before and stay overnight and walk the rest up in the morning for sunrise but you would still face a 2 hour walk. Shout if there is any other help I can give you.
 
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Few other things now when I remember. Anywhere up in the mountains is great fot star trails etc, I do a lot of hiking here at home but I have never walked anywhere as dark and under such an incredible sky full of stars before.
Where are you staying? We were in Los Cristianos and it only looks like 25 or 30 miles up to Teide but it takes an hour of hard driving around hairpin after hairpin even at 5am.
Watch the weather forecast, in late December and January this year the roads were all closed up there because of the snow. You can see in some of my shots from February this year that up near the summit a path has been cut through a 6ft wall of snow and therecwas some places well down the mountain between the refuge and the rangers station where I could easily have come unstuck crossing large slopes of ice and snow and where you could easily loose the path.
 
phil_b said:
Hi. There is only one way up starting at the top cable car station, the rangers will happily remove anyone straying off the official path and they are very strict about only letting people past the gate who have a booked pass and passport id. I booked my pass a week before I went for between 11am and 1pm thinking it would take me 5 hours to climb starting at 6am. I did it in 4 hours to the station arriving around 10am and had to wait. And there was dozens of people arriving up in the cable cars to find that they couldn't go to tge summit. The rangers station only opens at the time of the first cable car so all you could do is start walking early and allow a good 5 hours to get to the summit for sunrise. If you want a sunrise you could get a pass for the last time possible and get the cable car up and tell them you are walking down but it is a long walk in the dark. The other option is book into the altavista refuge and walk up to it the afternoon and stay overnight and walk the rest up in the morning for sunrise but you would still face a 2 hour walk. Shout if there is any other help I can give you.
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Thanks. The problem is I will never get the pass because there aren't any, bar some lucky coincidence or insider knowledge. By any chance, do they all leave the gates before sunset? I could climb down with a torch as I did in Scotland and France a fair few times.
Pre-sunrise climb is doable, but here I'd rather just climb without the refuge if it is not too dangerous and obscured path. I'll probably never sleep in the cold conditions (anything below 10C really) and just get more exhausted. We'll see. I hope there is a plan B for scenic mountain Sunrise/set down there.

Oh, by the way - are there any snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, malaria mosquitoes, etc?

Would you say the roads are "exciting" and would they warrant getting a little bit better car for the ultimate driving fun? I could go with cheapo Ibiza from your link or upgrade to Juke / A3 / Focus (hopefully a diesel or at least turbocharged), etc? If it's straight and slow I'd just save the cash.

Finally we come to lenses and gear.
I'm taking 5DIII with 16-35mm f/4 IS and then we have some options:
100mm macro OR 70-200mm f/4. Do I more likely need macro short tele or max reach? I think I only need one of them.
14mm - is astro realistic in December? It's no use of otherwise.
35mm 1.4 / 85mm 1.8 primes - are there portrait opportunities to shoot ethnic minorities, something really exotic?
24-70mm will potentially get picked if Canon service gets it right this week. 35-70 is a too big hole to have.
Flash - not too sure, unless I take the primes and some modifier like Flashbender and triggers.
Laptop / ipad. This will cause the most headache. I could buy 13" rMBP this week or take the half-useless iPad and fail to do some work I planned for the evenings.
 
phil_b said:
Few other things now when I remember. Anywhere up in the mountains is great fot star trails etc, I do a lot of hiking here at home but I have never walked anywhere as dark and under such an incredible sky full of stars before.
Where are you staying? We were in Los Cristianos and it only looks like 25 or 30 miles up to Teide but it takes an hour of hard driving around hairpin after hairpin even at 5am.
Watch the weather forecast, in late December and January this year the roads were all closed up there because of the snow. You can see in some of my shots from February this year that up near the summit a path has been cut through a 6ft wall of snow and therecwas some places well down the mountain between the refuge and the rangers station where I could easily have come unstuck crossing large slopes of ice and snow and where you could easily loose the path.
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Puerto de Santiago on the west coast. I wouldn't mind a little snow, at least Teide would look awesome from below :)
 
When are you going? There seems to be plenty of passes available from 12th december on.
Looking ar this http://www.telefericoteide.com/en/prices-and-opening-times the rangers may escort you down onnthe last cable car at 4.50pm.
If there is no rangers about outside opening hours there is only a small 4ft gate to step over to get on up to the summit. You will just face a long walk either up or down depending on sunset or sunrise.
As for the roads, they are fun especially early in the mornihg when no one is around. As I said I left our hotel at 5am and it took an hour up, a lot of it round hairpins in 2nd or 3rd gear pushing a citroen c3 hard. We had beennup that way abfew days before for a drive so I kind of knew the roads and where to park etc.
No dangerous animals, just the odd lizard.
Kit wise all I had was a 10-20, 17-70 and 70-300, all I carried up Teide was the 10-20, and the 70-300 was only used on a dolphin watching trip.
 
phil_b said:
When are you going? There seems to be plenty of passes available from 12th december on.
Looking ar this http://www.telefericoteide.com/en/prices-and-opening-times the rangers may escort you down onnthe last cable car at 4.50pm.
If there is no rangers about outside opening hours there is only a small 4ft gate to step over to get on up to the summit. You will just face a long walk either up or down depending on sunset or sunrise.
As for the roads, they are fun especially early in the mornihg when no one is around. As I said I left our hotel at 5am and it took an hour up, a lot of it round hairpins in 2nd or 3rd gear pushing a citroen c3 hard. We had beennup that way abfew days before for a drive so I kind of knew the roads and where to park etc.
No dangerous animals, just the odd lizard.
Kit wise all I had was a 10-20, 17-70 and 70-300, all I carried up Teide was the 10-20, and the 70-300 was only used on a dolphin watching trip.
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1-8th. These were the only workable days for me.

Teide National Park only allows visitors to stay at the upper station for one hour.
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This sounds worrying. I really do not enjoy such spanish jokes. Does that imply just the immediate cable car area / for cable car users or something more substantial? They are clearly pushing the few lucky visitors to the midday hours when light is awful so I want to avoid that. It sounds like the only way up is climbing from 3AM and getting there for the sunrise and then cable car down followed by a nap in the afternoon :)

Or maybe I just won't bother and spend time on the beaches.
 
daugirdas said:
It sounds like the only way up is climbing from 3AM and getting there for the sunrise and then cable car down followed by a nap in the afternoon :)
.
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This is what I am hoping to do. We are over 6th to 16th January so it all depends on what snow if any there is.
 
phil_b said:
This is what I am hoping to do. We are over 6th to 16th January so it all depends on what snow if any there is.
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Yes. At least this allows picking a suitable morning rather than being tied to a rainy or cloudy day and risking the all the gear in the refuge (p.s. I had my walking shoes stolen from well underneath the car at the Old Man of Storr!!! So I know s*** like that can happen.)

Have you looked at going via route 23 or 28 instead of 7 (via refuge)? https://www.reservasparquesnacional...cumentos/Red de Senderos del PN del Teide.pdf
Maybe 7 has better light in the morning, but the other 2 have shorter indicated climbing times and closer to my hotel.
 
http://www.fell-walker.co.uk/page66.htm


Looking to that map you linked to, i think routes 23 and 28 only count the time until they connect with route 9 near the summit of Pieco Viejo. Looking at the name of route 9 it is the only one to mention finishing at Teide and has a time of 6 hours.

Just to mention, anywhere up on the TF21 road near Teide will be above the clouds for sunrise. I might take a run up to the Teide observatory or the Roques de Garcia http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...Roques_de_Garcia-Tenerife_Canary_Islands.html
 
From your list of kit I'd say it's got to be the 16-35/24-70/70-200 combo if you're mostly going to be doing landscapes?
 
Buttker said:
Tenerife is the home of one of the Worlds great dark skys.. it is ranked in the top 10 in the World at the top of Teide
your 14mm would get some staggering results hooked upto your 5d3

this time lapse always blows me away
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I have been looking at this for when I am over in january. It is a full moon for the day after I arrive:(? Wont help much for seeing the milky way.
 
Full moon for my dates too, so 14mm is staying home or maybe even going for sale. To be fair I am not that impressed with ISO 6400 on 5DIII, too much noise all over. 3200 is the last usable setting, which kind of needs faster lens than f/2.8.
 
stumeech said:
From your list of kit I'd say it's got to be the 16-35/24-70/70-200 combo if you're mostly going to be doing landscapes?
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I expect landscapes unless there are treasures of macro or ethnocultural subjects to explore.
 
daugirdas said:
Just looking for last minute advice - what clothes to pack in? Do I need a warmer jacket?
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On my early mornings out and the day i climbed Teide i had the jacket with me that i am wearing in my profile picture. It is a wind proof and waterproof Craghoppers jacket but it isnt lined or particularly heavy. I just wore a sports tee-shirt, a fleece sweater and this. That was in february. Daytime temps were mid 20's but it was cool first thing in the morning and at higher altitudes.
 
daugirdas said:
1-8th. These were the only workable days for me.



This sounds worrying. I really do not enjoy such spanish jokes. Does that imply just the immediate cable car area / for cable car users or something more substantial? They are clearly pushing the few lucky visitors to the midday hours when light is awful so I want to avoid that. It sounds like the only way up is climbing from 3AM and getting there for the sunrise and then cable car down followed by a nap in the afternoon :)

Or maybe I just won't bother and spend time on the beaches.
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The hour staying up there is possibly due to the air being thin as your high up. I have hired a car and the driving is fine as long as you stay out of the capital Santa Cruz?? it was a bit like wacky races when I went there and the worst of all Canary Islands.

If hiring a car going to Mount Teide you can go the pine forest route (east side we went) and the views are spectacular, I don't believe the coach tours go this way. Also the cable car is for just the summit, you can still drive up there at your own leasure I believe.

Another area is the Muscan (spl) mountain area on the west side we went of the beaten track and we were driving up the hill and the car was in 1st gear and was stalling as the hill was so steep, I had to turn off the AC to get more power back into the car, a little Hyundai and four of us in it. It was a hairy experience.
 
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