Punta del Hidalgo Lighthouse

Modern concrete lighthouse of stepped white columns rising 50 m from a triangular base on Tenerife's northeast coast

Punta del Hidalgo Lighthouse is an active lighthouse at Punta del Hidalgo, in the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna on the northeast coast of Tenerife. Completed in 1992 and lit in 1994 under a 1980s plan for new lights across the Canary Islands, it is a 50-metre reinforced-concrete tower of irregular columns that grow taller from a triangular base to a square pillar facing the sea. Its light stands 52 metres above sea level, shows two white flashes every seven seconds and reaches 16 nautical miles.

Lighthouse

Entrance: Free; there is no ticket.
Accessibility: No wheelchair-accessible parking or entrance; the last stretch is an unpaved track on foot.
Parking: Free car parks about 656 m and 853 m away in a straight line, plus free street parking; when full, a private car park behind Parque las Furnias.
Difficulty: A walk along an unpaved track closed to vehicles: a few hundred metres from the nearest parking, or about 1 km along the coast from the parking near the supermarket.
Transport: Bus stops Costa San Juanito, about 730 m away in a straight line, and San Mateo, about 909 m away.
Advance booking: Not needed.
Hours: Open at any time.
Address: 38294 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

What makes it special

The tower changes shape as you walk around it. White columns of unequal height climb from a triangular base, each one taller than the last, and end in a square pillar turned to the sea, with the lamp on a small post at its top. Stepped like organ pipes, the concrete reads as a sculpture from the coastal path long before it reads as a lighthouse.

It is one of seven lighthouses on Tenerife's coast, set between the modern lights of Puerto de la Cruz to the south-west and Punta de Anaga to the east. The white finish comes from gravel and coloured concrete brought in specially for the job, and sliding scaffolding raised all 50 metres within a few months in 1992. In 2007 Correos put it on a stamp, one of a set of six Spanish lighthouses.

Good to know

Keep out of the narrow lanes sat-nav suggests near the point: some are marked private and leave no room to turn round.
The unpaved track to the lighthouse is closed to vehicles, so the last few hundred metres are on foot.
Park only in marked spaces; police ticket cars left elsewhere.
There are no toilets or drinking water at the lighthouse or nearby. Bring water with you.
The information panels here and along the path have faded, and graffiti marks the concrete.

Getting there

Park before the lanes narrow. Car parks sit about 656 m and 853 m from the lighthouse in a straight line, there is street parking too, and when the spaces fill there is a private car park behind Parque las Furnias. Do not follow sat-nav into the narrow lanes near the point: some are marked private, and once in you cannot turn round.

From the parking near the supermarket the walk is about 1 km along the coast, with the sea beside you all the way. The final stretch is an unpaved track closed to vehicles, and the tower is in view well before you reach it.

By bus, the nearest stops are Costa San Juanito, about 730 m away in a straight line, and San Mateo, about 909 m.

Best time to visit

Best: late afternoon into sunset, when low light from the west rakes across the white columns and the tower throws long shadows.

Avoid: the middle of a hot day, when the coastal path has no shade and there is no drinking water nearby.

The lighthouse stands in the open at any hour, so the light and the heat decide the visit.

Sun & daylight

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