Tenerife trails that need a permit: ten routes require one, the rest are free until 31 December 2026. Which ones, what they cost and when each quota opens.
The question usually arrives too late: you park on the verge, reach the trailhead sign and discover you needed a permit that sold out three weeks ago. It is worth ten minutes before you travel, because the list of trails with a booking requirement is short, closed and public. There are ten of them. Everything else is open.
Not every booking means the same thing
Here is the nuance almost no guide picks up, and it changes what your morning looks like. “Requires prior authorisation” means three different things depending on the trail.
Booking for everyone. Nobody walks in without a permit, not even one person alone. That is the case on the high Teide trails, El Pijaral and PRA 18 in Anaga.
Booking only for organised groups. Individual visitors just walk. That is Rambla de Castro: the 80-a-day cap is aimed at companies and institutions, not at you.
A paid ticket with a run site. Not an administrative permit but an entry fee: Masca and the Barranco del Infierno work as enclosures, with access control, helmets and opening hours.
The four in Teide National Park
They are PNT 07, PNT 09, PNT 23 and PNT 28, plus PNT 10 to the summit. All are issued through Tenerife ON and all share the same clock: places are released on Mondays at 07:00 Canary time, 56 days ahead. If your trip falls inside that window, Monday morning is the moment.
The other two, PNT 23 Los Regatones Negros and PNT 28 Chafarí, run on the same booking rules and the same compulsory kit. They see far less traffic, so the quota is rarely the problem.
The two in Anaga
Anaga is at the far end of the island — a good hour and a half from Icod — and its two capped trails run on a different calendar: 14 days ahead, also Mondays at 07:00. Half the window, so planning is tighter.
The one on the list that does not affect you
Rambla de Castro appears among the spaces requiring prior authorisation, and that scares people off for no reason. The official page is clear: authorisation is compulsory for routes organised by legal entities or tourism companies. If you go under your own steam, there is nothing to do. It is twenty minutes from the house and the most rewarding walk in the north.
The two that are really a ticket
Masca and the Barranco del Infierno are not handled through Tenerife ON but on their own sites, with a price, a time slot and a helmet. Treat them as a timed visit, not a walk you improvise.
How to book without losing your morning
Check the window first. 56 days for the Teide trails, 14 for the Anaga ones and for Rambla de Castro. You cannot book earlier, however hard you try.
Put Monday in the diary. Every place is released on Monday at 07:00 Canary time. In summer and at Easter, PNT 10 goes fast.
Have your ID or residence certificate handy. The fee depends on where you live and they do check.
One booking per person every 15 days on the summit trail: nobody can hoard places.
Bookings cannot be moved to another day or time. If the weather turns, you lose it.
Entering without a permit is a punishable offence, and PNT 07 has a validation point 4.6 km in: it is not a decorative sign.
Experiences and itineraries that share places with this page.
DayUp to Teide and back in a day1 dayOne hour seven minutes up the TF-21, what needs booking, what it costs and the order that keeps you from driving down in the dark.
PlanA day on Guayota's volcanoA whole day · 6–8 hThe volcano the Guanches linked to hell, the rocks on the 1,000-peseta note and the Eggs of Teide. A full day, on a clear day.
PlanBlack, blue and lavaA whole day · 6–8 hThe black sand of San Marcos, the rock pools of El Caletón and the badlands of Chinyero: the coast and the volcano that made it, on a dry day without a swell.
PlanFrom the volcano to the AtlanticA whole day · 7–9 hUp to Teide in the morning, the whole island from La Rambleta at 3,555 metres, and down to swim at San Marcos in the afternoon. Only possible from the north.
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