Doctor Who has returned with a crackling series and the Tardis landed in Tenerfie earlier this year while filming for episodes 1 and 2 of series nine. The volcanic landscapes of Teide National Park and the colonial-style town of Garachico played host to the wily Doctor and the crew.
Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Teide National Park, where the good doctor was filmed on the moon-like Mount Teide – Spain’s tallest mountain – as well as the picturesque town of Garachico in the north, known for its stately homes, convents and churches.
Garachico
Mt Teide National Park offers one of the most spectacular examples of vulcanism in the world and represents the best example of alpine volcanic ecosystem in the Canary Islands. Mount Teide rises out of an enormous volcanic crater 30 miles (48 km) in circumference, at 12,200 feet (3,718 metres).
Teide National Park’s unique landscape
The structure of the caldera and the Teide-Pico Viejo strato-volcano are among the most spectacular geological monuments in the world, apart from the wide variety of volcanic cones and domes, lava flows, tors and caves that form a range of colours and forms. Conservation and its unique volcanic landscape earned it a place in the list of World Heritage sites in 2007.
The Teide National Park, at an altitude of 3,718 metres above sea level, is the highest mountain in Spain and in all of the Atlantic archipelagos
Sunny Tenerife is hugely popular for its diverse landscapes, beaches and charming villages – a great escape from the chilly European temperatures. You could go whale watching, stargazing on Spain’s tallest peak, caving adventures inside Europe’s largest lava tubes, snorkelling and diving. In Garachico, the pretty little harbour town with cobbled streets and colourful fishermen’s cottages, try a spot of bathing in the lava rock pools at the foot of the fortress of Castillo San Miguel.
Lava rock pools in Garachico
In addition to Doctor Who, Tenerife has been used as a set for Fast & Furious 6; Clash of the Titans and its sequel Wrath of the Titans; and, more recently, Ma Ma, a movie starring Penélope Cruz.