Masca Village and Gorge

Masca is a small village in the Teno massif in northwestern Tenerife, perched on a narrow ridge at 650 metres with ravines dropping away on both sides. The approach road from Buenavista del Norte is genuinely spectacular — a sequence of tight hairpin bends cut into vertical cliffs, with views of the Atlantic and the island of La Gomera. The village itself has a small museum, a few houses, and several restaurants.

Below Masca, the Barranco de Masca is one of the most dramatic gorge walks in the Canaries: a two-to-three hour descent through a narrow volcanic ravine to a small beach where a boat picks up walkers and takes them back to Los Gigantes. The walk requires good footwear, a head for heights, and a reservation for the boat. The gorge is periodically closed after heavy rain due to rockfall. The Los Gigantes cliffs visible from the coast — dark basalt walls dropping 600 metres to the sea — are best seen from the boat returning from the gorge.

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A story
Masca was almost inaccessible until the 1960s, when a road was finally cut into the cliffs. Before that, the villagers descended and ascended the gorge by foot or mule. The village appears suddenly when you round a bend on the mountain road, balanced on a narrow ridge between two ravines — you can see why it survived centuries of pirate raids from the coast. The gorge below was the pirates' approach route; the villagers watched it from above.