The ascent itself
1,200 metres in eight minutes over the lava fields.
Gabriel gironés — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0
**A cable car lifting you from 2,356 to 3,555 metres in eight minutes — to a hundred and sixty metres below the summit** — on Teide's flank. ⚠ **The distinction matters**: **the cable car **does not reach the summit**** — **it stops at 3,555 metres**; ✅ **and the summit (3,715 m) needs **a separate free permit booked months ahead****, **and about forty minutes' climb**. ✅ **From the upper station three short free routes need no permit**: **to viewpoints over the caldera and the neighbouring islands**. ⚠ **The ascent is very fast**: **1,200 metres in eight minutes** — ✅ **giving the body no time to acclimatise**; **which is why many feel dizzy at the top**. ⚠ **And it stops in strong wind** — **which is common**.
1,200 metres in eight minutes over the lava fields.
Three short permit-free routes over the caldera.
La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro on a clear day.
TF-21, km 43, 38300 La Orotava, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
**Free and online only — but it goes months ahead, and that is what catches people out.** ✅ **What it is**: **a permit for **the final path (no. 10, Telesforo Bravo)** from the upper cable-car station to the summit** — ⚠ **160 metres of ascent and about forty minutes**; **and without one you are turned back at a staffed gate**. ✅ **Why it is limited**: **to protect the fragile summit crater** — ⚠ **the daily quota is about **200 people****; **spread across time slots**. ✅ **How to book**: **on the Spanish national parks reservation site (reservasparquesnacionales)** — ⚠ **entirely free**, **with a name and passport/ID number for each person**; ✅ **printed or saved, and shown with the document itself at the gate**. ⚠ **⚠ When to book**: **slots open in advance and go very fast** — ✅ **book **two to four months ahead** if the date matters**; **and in season there may be nothing left**. ✅ **⚠ The right order**: **(1) book the permit first** for a set time; **(2) then book the cable car** so as to arrive in good time before it. ⚠ **⚠ And one alternative bypasses all of it**: **staying the night at the Altavista refuge** (3,270 m) — ✅ **anyone who sleeps there may climb to the summit at dawn without a permit**; **which is the finest thing available**, ⚠ **and also books months ahead**.
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