Mirador La Fortaleza
A lookout point inside Teide National Park, in the municipality of La Orotava, reached by a 0.4-kilometre surfaced path that starts at La Rambleta. The walk is linear, graded low difficulty, takes around twenty-five minutes and needs no permit. From the top you look out over the northern side of the National Park and much of the island, with the reddish crags of La Fortaleza standing in the foreground.
Trail number 11 of Teide National Park runs from La Rambleta to the La Fortaleza lookout point, between 3,539 and 3,559 metres of altitude. It covers 0.4 kilometres of surfaced path, linear in shape and graded low difficulty, with roughly 37 metres of accumulated ascent. It connects with the Montaña Blanca to Pico del Teide trail, with the Telesforo Bravo path up to the crater, and with the Pico Viejo lookout point.
What you see from the top is the reason to walk it: the crags of La Fortaleza, an imposing reddish rock mass built by a volcano in which very viscous phonolitic lava piled up over its own eruptive vent. A little further on, the panorama opens towards the east of the island. This is also an excellent place to watch the trade winds on the northern side of Tenerife, forming a sea of clouds whose ceiling is set by a layer of dry wind sitting on top of the humid one. The managing body is Teide National Park, which reports on the state of the trail after adverse weather, and it is worth checking before setting off.
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