Tenerife Grand Tour

Seven nights around Tenerife, guided, in a Ford Mustang convertible, run through the winter as the operator’s warm-weather option.

Tenerife in January is the point. While the Alpine passes are shut, the island sits at twenty degrees with a volcanic road network that climbs from sea level to above two thousand metres inside an hour, which in an open car is a rare thing in European winter.

The island is better driving country than its reputation suggests. The TF-21 climbs through pine forest into Teide National Park, a caldera of lava fields and rock formations beneath Spain’s highest mountain at 3,715 metres, where the road runs across the crater floor. The Anaga massif in the north-east is the opposite: ancient laurel forest, cloud, and roads so narrow and twisted that distances mean nothing. The Masca gorge road in the west is the one everyone photographs, and the coast between Garachico and Buenavista is quieter than anything in the resorts.

The day-by-day itinerary was not available on the operator’s page, which gives only the length, the car, the price and the dates, so the route, the hotels and the inclusions all need confirming at booking; flights are not included. The Mustang convertible is supplied as part of the trip. Winter is the season by design, running when the operator’s Alpine tours cannot. Eight days is a long time on an island of that size, which suggests a relaxed pace with rest days rather than a continuous tour, and anyone booking should establish how many of the days actually involve driving. A convertible on Tenerife in February is a straightforward proposition and the island delivers it.