Is the Masca Gorge trail open?
Yes: on 4 November 2026, the official ‘Masca today’ page listed both the trail and the jetty at the bottom of the gorge as open. Bookings run from Wednesday to Saturday, and the trail itself is open from 08:30 to 18:00.
Access is still described as a pilot trial, and in this phase the only option is the descent: you walk down from the hamlet and leave by boat. Bad weather, rough seas or maintenance can close the trail or the jetty at short notice; your ticket is then not valid, but you can change or cancel the booking at no cost.
How do you book the Masca Gorge, and what’s included?
You book a dated, timed slot on the official trail website, caminobarrancodemasca.com, which lists tickets from €40.66. The ticket includes a helmet on loan, information and monitoring down to the jetty, first aid and rescue assistance, and accident insurance.
Residents of Tenerife and members of a Canary Islands mountaineering or caving federation walk free: they pay and are refunded once the checkpoint verifies their status. Canary Islands residents and under-18s get reduced rates, children under 8 can’t take part, and under-18s need their guardian or someone the guardian has authorised.
Two things are not in the ticket: the bus from Santiago del Teide, and the boat out of the gorge, which you buy from one of the partner boat operators for no more than four hours after your slot. At the checkpoint, staff ask for four things.
| What the checkpoint asks for | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Your trail ticket and an ID document | Tickets are personal and can’t be transferred |
| Proof that you rode bus 355 from Santiago del Teide | Arriving any other way is not allowed |
| Your boat ticket from Masca Bay | Without it, you can’t start the trail |
| Closed mountain-hiking footwear | Without it, you’re refused entry and not refunded |
How do you get to the start of the trail without a car?
By bus, because there is no other way in: the descent can only be reached on TITSA’s line 355 from Santiago del Teide, and arriving at the trailhead in a private vehicle is not permitted. If you drive as far as Santiago del Teide, the official site sends you to the cemetery car park, about ten minutes on foot from the bus stop.
Get to Santiago del Teide
From the south, line 460 links the Costa Adeje bus station with Santiago del Teide every day: the departures at 05:15 and 07:10 pass through Santiago del Teide at 06:05 and 08:00.
Catch the 355 an hour before your slot
From Wednesday to Saturday, extra 355 buses leave Santiago del Teide for Masca from 07:30 to 13:40, and trail ticket holders board first. The ride takes about 20 min.
Check in at the Masca Visitors’ Centre
Be at the checkpoint 30 minutes before your slot: during the pilot, arriving later means losing both your access and your refund.
Walk down and take the boat
The trail runs about 5 km one way, from 750 metres down to sea level, and takes about 4 h on the way down. The boat lands you in Los Gigantes.
How hard is the Masca Gorge hike?
Hard: the official site rates the descent as high difficulty, with uneven ground, steps, slopes and places where you could slip and fall from a height. It also notes that the gorge has seen more rescues in recent years than anywhere else in the Canary Islands, so a good level of fitness is a requirement, not a suggestion.
If the sea turns and the boats stop, walkers have to climb back up to the Visitors’ Centre from wherever they are. Bathing in the stream or the natural pools is forbidden, and so are camping, fires, smoking and drones; Masca beach itself stays closed to the public.
What is there to see in Masca without the hike?
The hamlet itself, a Historic Site declared an Asset of Cultural Interest inside the Teno Rural Park, which is part of the Natura 2000 network. What people call Masca is really four clusters of houses along the ridges, La Bica, El Turrón, La Piedra (or Lomo del Medio) and Lomo de Masca, joined by old paths.
The main square is in La Piedra, with a huge Indian laurel and a small 18th-century hermitage, close to the Visitors’ Centre. On the way in, the official site points to the La Cruz de Hilda and Cherfe viewpoints for the view over the ravine walls.
The road in is narrow and winding, with steep stretches and very little parking, which is why shared transport is encouraged. Line 355 runs every day between Buenavista del Norte and Santiago del Teide through Masca, a 55 min ride from end to end.
Los Gigantes: where the Teno cliffs drop into the sea
Los Gigantes are the cliffs of the Teno Rural Park on the coast of Santiago del Teide, rising up to 600 m straight out of the Atlantic, according to Tenerife’s tourist board. It suggests seeing them from the sea on a boat trip, or from land at Puerto de Santiago.
From the south, line 473 runs from Los Cristianos through the Costa Adeje bus station to Los Gigantes in about 80 min, and on working days line 477 goes direct from the Costa Adeje bus station in 50 min. The harbour is also a departure point for whale watching: before you board, see how to spot a licensed whale-watching boat.
Both buses call at Playa San Juan on the way, one of the Blue Flag beaches in our guide to the beaches of Tenerife South.
Garachico and its lava pools
Garachico is the north-coast town that the 1706 eruption of the Trevejo volcano largely buried; where the lava reached the sea, it formed the natural pools of El Caletón. Tenerife’s tourist board says the water there is usually calm, but warns that the sea can get rough.
Line 363 links Puerto de la Cruz with Buenavista del Norte through Icod de los Vinos and Garachico in 90 min. Since the 355 ends in Buenavista, you can loop the west by bus: Masca, Buenavista, Garachico, then Icod, where the last 460 to the south leaves at 20:40.
Back in the south in time for the night
The 473 is the late bus home from the west: its last departure from Los Gigantes is at 01:25 on working days and at 23:50 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, through the Costa Adeje bus station and on to Los Cristianos. From Santiago del Teide, the last 460 towards the Costa Adeje bus station passes at 21:15.
That leaves time for a shower and the night out. Our clubs are in Tenerife South, between Costa Adeje and Los Cristianos, and every date on sale is in the calendar. Or trade the club for the sky: stargazing on the Teide is the island's other night out.
