Roques de Garcia

Roque Cinchado is the shape everyone recognises: a pillar 27 metres tall, about the height of a nine-storey block, thinner at the base than at the top, with the cone of Teide standing behind it. The top holds because two sills of lava pushed into its upper layers and harden it against erosion, while the softer sediment below wears away.

Most people take the picture, look at the Cathedral (La Catedral) and drive on. The loop path around the group takes about an hour and a half and is easy going. It opens up views of Teide and the walls of the old crater, and the ground underfoot changes colour and texture as it crosses one kind of lava after another.

• The viewpoint is popular and gets very crowded, and car park spaces are hard to find at busy times.
• Drive slowly past the rocks: people stand in the road to take photos.
• There is no drinking water nearby. Bring your own, especially for the loop walk.
• The nearest toilets charge a fee.
• The loop has no shade, and in summer the heat on it is punishing.

Most visitors arrive by car. Two car parks lie close by: the asphalt Roques de García car park, about 235 m from the rocks in a straight line, and a second one about 390 m away. From either, it is a walk across open volcanic ground to the viewpoint in front of Roque Cinchado, where a map board sets out the area.

The nearest bus stop, Parador del Teide, is about 400 m away. Paid toilets stand around 450 m from the rocks. Coming in by road, slow down near the viewpoint: people step into the carriageway for photos.

Best: early morning, or late afternoon into sunset.

Avoid: the middle of the day, and midday in summer above all.

The bare ground holds no shade and the summer heat on the loop path is hard going, while low sun brings out the layers in the rock and the crowds are thinner at the edges of the day. Sunset draws photographers, though the sun drops behind the surrounding peaks; on the drive down afterwards, gaps in the ridges can show the sea of clouds lit red.

Roques de García lies inside Teide National Park, a protected World Heritage Site. Keep to the paths, leave rocks, lava fragments and plants where they are, and do not climb the formations: Roque Cinchado is made mostly of sedimentary rock layers, and every foothold wears it down.