A few days ahead
Whale-watching trips and night-time excursions to Teide usually have limited places, especially in high season (July–August and Easter).
Plans and experiences
Excursions in Tenerife
Beyond the self-guided guides: guided outings to see what you can't see from the road — stars above Teide, whales off the coast, or a neighbouring island in a single day.
5Experiences
2By boat or ferry
1Starlight sky
Before you book
A self-guided guide can't cover this.
The rest of this website is designed for exploring on your own, without depending on excursion schedules. But some experiences — seeing stars without artificial light, spotting whales and dolphins in their habitat, crossing to another island — only work with a guide, a boat or a ferry.
These five are the ones really worth booking in advance. Below we compare real options for each — price, duration and verified reviews on GetYourGuide — so you don't have to open half a dozen different websites.
Five experiences
With a guide, boat, ferry or buggy.
Chosen for what they add compared with exploring on your own — each with real options to book in the section below.
01
Teide and stargazing
Drive up into Teide National Park after sunset, away from light pollution, for a night of telescope observation with a certified guide. The Canary Islands sky is Starlight-certified — one of the best in the world for seeing the Milky Way with the naked eye.
Night excursion · All year02
Wild whales and dolphins
Pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins live year-round off the southwest coast, between Los Gigantes and Costa Adeje — one of Europe's most stable resident cetacean populations. Catamaran trips of a few hours, without going far from port.
Boat trip · All year03
Day trip to La Gomera
Forty minutes by ferry from Los Cristianos separate Tenerife from a different world: Garajonay National Park, a World Heritage Site, and villages that seem frozen in time. It can be done in a day.
By ferry from Los Cristianos
Full day · By ferry04
Water activities
Kayaking between cliffs, diving over volcanic seabeds or surf and kitesurf lessons at El Médano: Tenerife's coast has water activities for every level, all year thanks to the mild temperatures.
Half a day · All year05
Buggy tour
If you'd rather explore by vehicle than on foot, there are guided buggy tours along dirt tracks around Teide and the north of the island — volcanic terrain and ravines far from the usual hiking routes.
Comparison of buggy tours in Tenerife
Guided excursion · All year06
Wine tasting and wineries
The north of the island preserves centuries-old vines free of phylloxera and five denominations of origin of its own. A one- or two-hour tasting at a family winery is easy to combine with any other excursion in the area.
Wine tasting and wineries guide
1–2 h · Booking requiredBook online
These same excursions, ready to book.
A selection with real GetYourGuide data — price, duration and verified reviews, not estimates.
The links in this section are affiliate links: if you book through them you pay nothing extra, and we may receive a small commission from GetYourGuide for the booking. Exact price, availability and cancellation terms are always confirmed on GetYourGuide before you pay.
Teide and stargazing
Wild whales and dolphins
Day trip to La Gomera
Water activities
★ 4.7 (11,812 reviews)Kayak and snorkelling in a marine reserve, with video
3 h · departs from Los Cristianos
From €25Check availability →
★ 4.9 (76 reviews)Beginner scuba dive in Adeje
3.5 h · no previous experience needed
From €85Check availability →
★ 5.0 (3 reviews)Private kitesurfing lesson at El Médano
2 h · private instructor · for 1 person
From €150Check availability →
Before you go
The practical side of each excursion.
Three things to sort out before booking.
Frequently asked questions
Before you book.
Do these excursions need to be booked in advance?
For whale watching and night-time Teide, yes — they have limited capacity, especially in high season. La Gomera and the water activities have more leeway.
Can you see Teide at night without a guided excursion?
Night access to the national park is restricted except with a permit or an authorised excursion; a guided outing takes care of the permit and adds the telescope.
Where do the whale-watching boats leave from?
Most trips leave from Los Gigantes, Puerto Colón (Costa Adeje) or Puerto de la Cruz, on the coast where the resident population of pilot whales and dolphins lives.
Can you visit La Gomera in a single day?
Yes — the fast ferry from Los Cristianos takes about 50 minutes, which leaves plenty of time to explore Garajonay or San Sebastián and return in the evening.
Prefer to explore on your own?
The rest of the island needs no booking.
Routes by area, beaches and guides to each place, designed for you to move at your own pace.
Photo of Teide at night: Simone Capodifoglia, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Photo of the pilot whale: Ron Knight, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) · Photo of La Gomera's laurel forest: H. Zell, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Photo of El Médano (kitesurfing): Pediant, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Photo of Teide by day: Bejan Neculai, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)