New regulations for Tenerife's Teide, a natural gem, will ban private vehicles and permit access by bus only.

An update to the rules for Europe's most visited national park, to be approved this coming Monday, the 29th, rules out an entrance fee but will introduce charges for bus rides and other services.

Private vehicles will be banned from entering Teide National Park. Access will be granted exclusively by bus (*guagua*), with services operating from various points in the metropolitan area, as well as from the north and south of Tenerife. This is a cornerstone measure of the new Plan for the Regulation of Use and Management (PRUG) for Europe's most popular nature reserve. The plan is slated for approval this coming Monday, September 29th, at a meeting of the Teide National Park Board of Trustees, the body responsible for preserving this natural jewel, in which the Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo) is a key participant.

The plan also rejects the implementation of an entrance fee—a measure prohibited by law for areas with the highest environmental protection status in Spain—though visitors will be required to pay for bus transportation and other services.

A Landmark Document

The Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Canary Islands Government has spent five years developing this update. The document contains the complete regulatory framework for the management and protection of Spain's highest mountain (3,715 meters, according to the latest official measurements from the National Geographic Institute) and its surroundings.

The current management plan was adopted 23 years ago, in 2002, and required updating to address new challenges facing this area of extremely fragile biodiversity—primarily climate change and pressure from excessive tourist numbers.

In 2002, when the current plan took effect, Teide National Park received 3.4 million visitors. In 2024, according to official data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, this number exceeded five million for the first time in its history (5,242,653).

This trend, which has turned the island's peak into one of the planet's most captivating natural attractions, along with the threats it poses to ecosystems highly sensitive to any change, form the foundation of the new document's key provisions. Its approval by the Board of Trustees is scheduled for the 29th.

▎The Previous Project

The previous government of the Canary Islands, led by the Socialist Party (PSOE), drafted a Use and Management Plan that already proposed limiting access to Teide to buses only, thereby closing the park to private vehicles. This plan also included the creation of three major shuttle bus interchanges at El Portillo, Vilaflor, and Chío, where visitors could leave their cars in parking lots and transfer to public transport.

The current regional government [coalition] of the Canary Islands Coalition (CC) and the Popular Party (PP) does not endorse the construction of these interchange terminals at the three entrances to the national park. Instead, it has tasked the Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo de Tenerife) with developing a separate plan to organize transportation as its solution to the issue.

The island government also rejects the possibility of building these three large infrastructures in the proposed locations, arguing that even situating them on the boundaries of Teide National Park would have a significant impact on the landscape.

▎The Proposed Transportation Model

The proposed solution is to establish direct bus routes (*guaguas*) departing from the visitors' points of origin—both residents and tourists—utilizing existing bus stations in the metropolitan area, as well as in the northern and southern parts of the island. Consequently, only vehicles with special permits, in addition to security and public emergency service vehicles, would be allowed to travel on the TF-21 road that runs through the protected area. Priority for these permits will be given to people working within the park: staff of the National Park, the Parador de las Cañadas hotel, restaurants, and other service providers. This model is similar to those already implemented at the Masca Gorge and Teno Cape.

▎Agreement Between the Canary Islands Government and the Tenerife Island Council

The Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Canary Islands Government submitted the new Use and Management Plan to the Island Council in October of last year. Since then, the two administrations have held a series of meetings to introduce various modifications to the document, as the Island Council believed the plan required further refinement. After 11 months, a consensus was reached, with each side making partial concessions from their initial demands.

Once the Teide National Park Board of Trustees gives its expected approval to the document on the 29th, it will then require final endorsement from the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition to come into force and be implemented.

▎Meeting of the Board of Trustees

Chaired by Rosa Dávila, the Board of Trustees includes representatives from the following institutions and associations: the Government of Spain, the Government of the Canary Islands, the Tenerife Island Council, six municipalities (La Orotava, Guía de Isora, Icod de los Vinos, Fasnia, Granadilla de Abona, La Guancha), the University of La Laguna, scientific institutions, law enforcement agencies, as well as business and community associations.

Concurrently, the Island Council is developing a mobility plan based on a core principle: the prohibition of private vehicle access, permitting entry only to designated shuttle buses.

This model is recognized as the most suitable for preventing the chaos that threatens the National Park and has already drawn sharp criticism from numerous public groups. This plan does not rule out the future construction of intercepting car parks; however, they will in no case be situated as close to Teide as the three car parks proposed in the initial draft.

▎Bringing Order to the Volcano

The adoption of this regulatory framework will provide the Island Council with a key instrument for bringing order to Teide. One issue remains unresolved: the final transfer of all management powers for the National Park from the Government of the Canary Islands.

▎Strengthening Control

The Island Council hopes to resolve this matter in the near future (the process is at an advanced stage) in order to bolster the staff of the protected area and enhance its control mechanisms. The Council is already in the process of hiring at least ten additional environmental protection inspectors.

The Canary Islands Association of Forest and Environmental Inspectors has repeatedly stated over the past two years that the National Park operates with a mere five rangers, a number they deem utterly insufficient given its area of 189 square kilometers and an annual visitor count exceeding five million people. In July, the Island Council initiated a public tender to fill positions precisely to create a personnel reserve, primarily to reinforce the protection of the volcano.

▎World Heritage

Teide was designated a National Park on January 22, 1954, and in 2007 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Management powers for the four national parks in the Canary Islands were transferred from the Spanish state to the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands in 2010.

Subsequently, in 2011, the regional government approved the creation of the Canary Islands Network of National Parks, which enabled the transfer of management powers for the parks to their respective Island Councils. The Tenerife Island Council expects to assume full management powers for Teide National Park in the near future.

Source

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