Visiting Masca Village
By: Thomas - December 30, 2020When you are on Tenerife you can visit the famous Masca. It’s a small little village in the mountains that offers Wonderfull, breathtaking views and gives you an opportunity to enjoy a nice, local meal in some of the few restaurants to choose from.
How to get there?
You can get to Masca either using local bus, hiking on the 3+ hour hike from the sea shore up the hill or going by car. I went by car. The road to get there goes through Santiago El Teide. It’s a peaceful small town located in the valley. From there you can take a road to Masca which is about 5 km long but because it’s very very narrow, winey and steep it can take you up to an hour to get through.
The huge problem is with passing a car driving from opposite direction. For you to make the passing manoeuvre is only possible in some places when the road widens a bit. To add to this curves are so big you can not see if there is a car approaching or not. It can really get on your nerves when you are driving down with just a tin margin for error and a steep gap on the other side of your car you are watching not to fall in. Take you time, relax and plan some extra time for the challenge.
Tips: If you are hungry, go and eat in Santiago El Teide before going this “last mile”. There are quite a few nice restaurants there. I would personally recommend either El Patio where you can eat some local full dishes or Bar Arepera kilómetro 101 (there was a super nice waiter there, really made my day!) for some quick local bites as sandwiches. Both good choices. Also, on your way to Masca you can have a stop to enjoy the views. There are just one or two stops on your way so when the opportunity happens, take advantage of it and make a stop.
Picture: Road from Santiago El Teide to Masca
When you arrive to Masca you can park you car on the small parking place and go down to visit the village. The silver lining is to go down to the view point from which you can see a wonderful valley that is absolutely breath taking. You can also visit a small church that has another view point near it.
Picture: Parking place at the top of Masca
For eating options I wanted to visit Restaurante Blanky but it was unfortunately closed at the time. I ended up eating at La Fuente. The food was moderate at best but you can not go wrong with popular choices like Papas Arugadas and Chicken or Grilled Goat Cheese (I had this one and it was decent). The restaurant has a few tables with great view on the valley which makes up for the moderate food. There is also a souvenir shop so if you want to pick up fridge magnets or some local products you can do it up there.
Picture: View point from the La Fuerte Restaurant
Tips: Masca is quite a touristy place. For souvenir shopping I would recommend to go to Santiago El Teide. You can buy some local products in El Patio restaurant or pick up a custom, locally made lava jewellery in a shop next to it for quite reasonable prices. There is also a shop with organic local cosmetics that offers quite nice range of aloe vera based products.
Overall I enjoyed going to Masca a lot. It’s a “must see” if you are on Tererife and you want to do a bit more then beach & bar style. Enjoy when you’re there!
Recommendations:
La Fuente https://g.page/restauranteYArtesaniaLaFuente?share
Restaurante El Patio https://g.page/elpatiosantiagodelteide?share
Bar Arepera kilómetro 101 https://goo.gl/maps/p4eRWn8236civeER7
Restaurante Blanky https://goo.gl/maps/rZMHT2tGSeUGxRyv7
My YouTube Masca episode:
