The new Teide plan foresees prohibiting free parking

While the actions necessary to implement shuttle buses and outdoor car parks, The PRUG provides for an initial transition stage during which road traffic will be free, although access to the runways and traffic “with scooters, skateboards and other similar means” are prohibited. Free public services such as information, surveillance or educational programs are maintained, but include “services that can be provided upon payment”, among which the main novelty is the “organized and guarded” parking in areas close to the parador, the Llano Ucanca, Los Roques de García, the San José Mines, the cable car or the Juan Évora museum. In addition to paying for parking, it is expected that tickets will be charged at the El Portillo, Cañada Blanca and Telesforo Bravo visitor centers, in the town of La Orotava.

The development of this plan, which is still pending with the objective of being definitively approved at the end of this year or early 2022, has had the participation of 116 representatives of public administrations, scientific entities, associations and citizen and business groups. or professionals. If the draft is approved without major changes, in the future it will be possible to circulate on the roads of the Teide National Park, but it will be forbidden to stop during a good part of the day and it is possible that, when it is allowed, you will have to pay to park in the most visited places.

The new PRUG also closes the door to large shootings, since it limits the maximum of the team to three people and prohibits sets and tents, and sports events with more than 50 participants (except cycling races). With this document in force, There will be no more Clash of the Titans or Bluetrail inside the park. In addition, the PRUG makes it very clear the prohibition to spend the night in vehicles, to drink alcohol “outside the places authorized for sale and consumption”, to fly kites or to introduce animals into the national park, unless they are guide dogs, hunting dogs authorized or rescue. So don’t walk the pet through Las Cañadas, get a fridge with beers to watch the sunset, spend the night looking at the stars lying in the van, or take out the chairs and the table to eat in front of the Teide. Some of the main contents of this new plan devised for “the conservation of the integrity of the natural values, processes and landscapes” of the park are detailed below.

Visits to the Teide National Park have increased from 2007 to 2018 by 1,188,576 people, reaching 4,330,994 visitors before the pandemic.

Forbidden activities.

Apart from the dumping of garbage, The making of inscriptions, signs, signs and drawings on natural, cultural, informative and interpretive elements is prohibited; the installation of symbolic elements, as well as the abandonment of commemorative objects, such as urns and other funerary elements, ashes or biological remains; the installation of any type of advertising or propaganda support; the use of the image of the national park in the dissemination of unauthorized activities or uses; hunting as a recreational-sport activity (only allowed for population control needs); the introduction of animals in the national park; camping (with exceptions); overnight stays in vehicles; the parking of any type of vehicle outside of authorized places; the fire in the open air; throwing stones or other objects; sports events and competitions (with exceptions); military maneuvers; street vending; the consumption of alcoholic beverages outside the spaces duly authorized for sale and consumption; the celebration of concerts and festive events; the overflight of the national park at an altitude of less than 3,000 meters; model airplanes, paragliding, hang gliding and use of kites, balloons, or any other type of device that flies over the territory of the national park, such as drones. The movement of rocks to make figures or stone mounds, and the collection of stones, rocks or minerals is also prohibited; the emission of light flashes, except for the occasional use of laser pointers in guided astronomical observation activities, or the installation of parasols, hammocks, chairs and picnic tables or any other device that serves to stay outdoors, and « any element that produces visual pollution or affects the harmony of the landscape.

Circulation.

Road circulation will be free for any vehicle in the national park, so the right of transit will be guaranteed for those citizens who wish to use the TF-21, TF-24 or TF-38 roads to move around the island.

Maximum capacities.

The maximum number of people that can be simultaneously on La Rambleta and its adjacent trails, on Teide, will be 150. The access path to the peak will have a maximum simultaneous capacity of 50 people. The ascent to the peak for clients of the Altavista Refuge, to see the sunrise, “can be done only accompanied by an accredited guide, in groups of a maximum of 25 people.”

The national park has an area of about 19,000 hectares, with about 200 kilometers of trails and is crossed by roads of approximately 40 kilometers.

Parking.

During the operating hours of the future sustainable mobility system, «the parking of any vehicle other than collective transport will be prohibited, with the exceptions of park staff, contracted companies, public administrations with sectoral powers or authorized activities, and staff of the cable car and parador. Users of the Parador Nacional del Teide will have parking. In the hours of operation of the sustainable mobility system, private buses will be able to park in the car parks of the service area from El Portillo Alto, La Ruleta, Cañada Blanca, Juan Évora, Minas de San José and in the special use area of the car park next to the TF-21 road, next to the cable car. These car parks must be reserved in advance. Outside these hours, all types of vehicles can be parked in any of the open car parks, except caravans and motorhomes, which can only stay in the designated places. Parking of all types of vehicles is prohibited on the access road to the Cableway.

Only by bus.

During the hours of operation of the sustainable mobility system, the park will have a bus system with which visitors will be guaranteed mobility from service areas located outside the park boundaries to all points of interest in the space. This service It will have a frequency that will be calculated based on the usual demand of the visit, but always subject to the reception capacity of the staging areas. The frequency will be adapted. Access to the cable car will be restricted to cars, and users of the service must use the buses.

Beekeeping reduction.

The PRUG provides that “in no case may more than 1,200 hives be authorized in the same season.” Just 44% of the 2,709 hives authorized in 2020.

Criticisms of the mountaineers.

The Tenerife, Canary Islands and Spanish mountaineering federations reject the PRUG draft understanding that it limits the practice of sports activities such as climbing, hiking, mountaineering or mountain running. With your approval, the escalation could only be done with a permit and at certain points, not as at present, which is not subject to authorization. The document supposes, in his opinion, “a de facto prohibition of mountain sports”. After these criticisms, the authorities have assured these groups that they are open to “making some changes to the document.”

The main problems

Surveillance. Personal foul

In the PRUG diagnosis it is recognized that “the effectiveness of the surveillance carried out in the national park is scarce, both during the day and at night, with an average of one guard for every 1,695 people who visit the park, more than 11,000 each day. The staff in charge of surveillance and control has remained constant in the last 10 years despite the increase in the number of visitors and disciplinary proceedings.

Night hours. Massive influx

Astronomical observation has increased notably in recent years, which is why there is often a massive influx of visitors to the Teide National Park at night, “with greater relevance in prominent events such as meteor showers, eclipses, and similar phenomena. ». It also manifests “an increase in parking and overnight stays for caravans in the national park car parks.”

Massification. Private vehicles

The current situation of the Teide National Park favors «a massive use of private vehicles due to the availability of parking lots, the existence of free access roads, the lack of frequency of collective public transport and the lack of an internal mobility system . Another reason for the overcrowding is the increase in active tourism and sporting events, being the Teide National Park one of the most attractive places on the island to carry out this type of activity. ”