Guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint: which option to choose

A friend tipped you off, you read it somewhere or you’ve seen photos on social media: you know that choosing a tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint on Mount Teide is well worth it.

Fortunately, there’s no need to request a permit because the trail has open access, so join a guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint or walk the path independently, and when you get there, you’ll enjoy the stunning views you’ve seen in the photos. Just one of the many reasons to join a Pico Viejo viewpoint guided tour.

If you’re visiting Mount Teide in the near future and want to enjoy one of its best attractions, a guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint should definitely be included in your plans and that’s why we’ve written this blog post. We’re going to tell you all about our 2 guided options and 2 independent options—but first let’s talk about the trail itself.

The trail to the viewpoint

When you join a guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint, you’ll follow a 751-m trail (round trip) that ascends 55 m. It’s not particularly demanding and therefore can be enjoyed by practically anyone provided they don’t have mobility problems, injuries or a severe cardiovascular illness.

This Pico Viejo viewpoint guided tour starts on La Rambleta and leads to the viewpoint, passing fascinating points of interest along the way such as the famous Las Cañadas caldera and its different layers of magma, the famous Corbata del Teide (“Tie of Mount Teide”), arms of lava and finally the viewpoint with views of El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera in the distance. Several stretches of the trail are flanked by fumaroles; gases produced by the volcano use these channels to reach the Earth’s surface. Get ready to experience hot, sulphurous air!

Pico Viejo viewpoint trail: this is what it looks like

A viewpoint that looks over the Pico Viejo crater is located at the end of the trail; the Pico Viejo volcano is now dormant but once contained a lava lake.

Today its crater has a mixture of impressive colours: those Instagram photos you’ve seen are completely true! Now you just have to come and see it for yourself.

Your 2 options for enjoying a guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint + 2 independent options

Now you’ve seen the trail, it’s time to take a look at the experiences:

Option 1: Day guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint

The guided tour to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint is definitely one of the most popular experiences with travellers. This Pico Viejo guided tour is the perfect way to discover the secrets of Mount Teide: the tour includes the cable car and a guide.

Book your cable car ticket + guided tour now

During this Pico Viejo viewpoint guided tour an official guide will be waiting for you at the cable car base station and join you for the enjoyable 8-minute ride up the sides of the volcano, which you’ll see from on high. It’s totally spectacular!

Once you’ve reached La Rambleta at an altitude of 3,555 m, you’ll set off for the viewpoint. Along the way you’ll be able to ask your guide any questions you might have about the curious sights you see along the trail. After reaching the viewpoint you’ll have another chance to enjoy the trail as you follow it in the opposite direction back to the cable car base station.

Here’s a video of the guided tour to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint to pique your curiosity:

Intrigued? Click the button below and book your guided tour to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint during the day.

How do I book the day guided tour?

Option 2: Tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint at sunset

If you enjoyed the guided tour to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint by day, just wait till you explore it independently by night with the cable car at sunset, or if you’d prefer to hike the trail with a guide and then go stargazing, jump to option 3.

Book now your cable car at sunset

This time you’ll take the cable car in the afternoon, outside of its normal opening hours, and reach the top station shortly before sunset to enjoy an exclusive experience.

There will be far fewer people than normal (maximum 90 people) and as the light dwindles the image of the National Park will be something you treasure forever.

The icing on the cake is accessing the spectacular trail to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint after watching Mount Teide cast its shadow across the horizon with Gran Canaria in the background and admiring the sunset with views of the three islands and the Pico Viejo crater.

And it’s quite some sunset. Can you imagine a better place than at an altitude of around 3,555 m?

Take a look here:

Afterwards you’ll set off on the journey back and the Pico Viejo viewpoint guided tour will draw to a close at the same place you started, back at the base station.

If you would like all the details about everything that is included in this sunset tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint, click here:

Take me to book the sunset on Mount Teide with cable car!

Option 3: Guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint at sunset and astronomical observation

Exploring the National Park at dusk is amazing, just in case that wasn’t made clear by the description of the experience above. You can take our word for it—we’ve done it dozens of times and are still taken by surprise each time we do it again.

How would you like to do the guided tour to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint, watch an amazing sunset from Teide and then round off this exclusive experience with an astronomic observation with long-range telescopes and Starlight guides?

Take me to book the sunset and stars experience on Teide!

That’s right, after returning to the cable car base station Starlight guides will be waiting for you with long-range telescopes to view the firmament.

How much do you know about the skies?

And the sky above Mount Teide?

Did you know that from here you can see 83 of the 88 known constellations?

Your stargazing experience to watch the stars from Mount Teide will tell you everything you need to know: history, mythology, curious facts about the islands’ skies... And if you’re the sort of person who loves to ask questions (of course you are!) our guides will be delighted to help.

Here’s a sample of this action-packed excursion that includes a guided tour along the trail to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint and stargazing in one unique experience:

Here are all the details:

Take me to book the sunset and stars experience on Teide!

Option 4: Walk the trail on your own with an audio guide

This is the day option that we’ve been saving for last.

If you would prefer to follow the trail by day on your own and hear all the information from a fantastic audio guide available in several languages for both Android and Apple devices, all you have to do is book your cable car tickets and choose this option.

Find out more about how to do a self-guided tour to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint:

I want to book my Teide Cable Car ticket + audio guide

Mount Teide has even more to offer

The guided tour to the Pico Viejo viewpoint (or self-guided, if you prefer) is a compulsory experience for anyone with the slightest interest in knowing what makes this National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so special.

But of course, Mount Teide has more than these excursions: a lot more, in fact.

Here is a summary of all the activities that we run in the National Park, so you can see when they take place each week:

And if you’re looking for a table that summarises all the cable car information (prices, timetable, etc.) so that you can compare the cable car activities and see which suits you best, we can help with that too:

That’s it from us for today.

So what do you think? Are you ready to explore the trail to the Pico Viejo Viewpoint on a guided tour or independently? We’ll say it again: you don’t want to miss it.

We’re waiting for you!