Destination Information

Garachico

Garachico is a town in the northwest with only 4920 inhabitants (as of 22) and can be reached via the highway that connects to the northern motorway coming from Santa Cruz. After this town comes Los Silos and then Buenavista del Norte with its lighthouse, which is the westernmost part of the island. The town with its harbour was founded after the conquest of Tenerife in 1496 and its main source of income was sugar cane, which was widely grown and used at the time. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Garachico developed into the most important port on the island, and the port fortress, which is still intact today, was built to protect it. Fate struck for the first time in 1645, but a series of further disasters followed. The violent storm surge, which sank 40 ships, was followed by political unrest and finally, in 1697, a devastating conflagration raged and destroyed over a hundred houses. But the end of Garachico as a commercial centre came on 5 May 1706 with the eruption of the volcano above the town, whose lava masses buried most of Garachico's harbour. Only the church and the monastery were spared, as if by magic. In 2021, Garachico was included in the official list of the most beautiful villages in Spain.