Viera y Clavijo Canary Botanical Garden

Paths work their way across the wall of the Guiniguada ravine, a slope with a waterfall and shallow caves in the cliff face, and almost everything growing beside them comes from the Canary Islands.

The laurel forest (Bosque de Laurisilva) shows the dense, damp woodland that covered much of Macaronesia before Spanish settlement. Out on open ground, the cactus and succulent garden holds around 10,000 cultivars. Between them lie the Garden of the Islands, a pine grove, the Hidden Garden (El Jardín Escondido) with its greenhouse, and the Fountain of the Wisemen (Fuente de los Sabios), dedicated to the botanists who described the islands' flora.

It is a quiet place. Water runs through it, and butterflies are everywhere: Canary Red Admiral, Monarch and Southern Speckled Wood among them.

• There is no café inside the garden. A bar further along the road serves food and drinks; bring water and something to eat.
• Parts of the upper garden, including the upper entrance, can be closed for works or after rain, so not every path may be open.
• The garden spreads over a steep ravine side. Wear proper walking shoes for the paths that climb the slope.
• Free toilets are inside the garden, in a block towards the aqueduct end.

By car, head for the lower entrance on the Dragonal road. It has its own free car park, a second one lies about 280 m away, and there is free parking along the street.

Buses run out from Las Palmas. The nearest stop, Casa del Gallo, is about 340 m away in a straight line, but on foot the approach follows the road. One line leaves you about 12 minutes' walk from the garden; from the others it is more than 20 minutes. Much of that walk is on a road with little room for pedestrians and blind bends, so walk single file and keep your attention on the traffic.

Best: a weekday morning, soon after the early opening. Avoid: the day after heavy rain, and the middle of a hot day in the cactus garden. The paths up the slope can be closed after rain, and the succulent garden is open ground with little shade when the sun is high.