Above the clouds, looking down at the island

Tenerife's main photographic feature is Teide, a 3,715-meter stratovolcano that is the highest peak in Spain and the highest volcano in the Atlantic. The cable car reaches 3,555 meters — above the cloud layer that typically wraps the island at 1,500 to 2,000 meters. At sunrise, Teide's shadow projects westward across the Atlantic in a cone visible for 150 kilometers on clear days. The cable car opens at 9am (book ahead, capacity is strictly limited), which misses golden hour, but the Parador Nacional at 2,150 meters and the viewpoints on the TF-21 road provide access to sunrise. The south coast at Los Gigantes, where 600-meter basalt cliffs drop straight into the sea, faces west — the cliffs turn orange at sunset. Las Cañadas caldera floor (2,100 meters) gives volcanic rock photography unlike anything on the mainland.