A trail designed to close your eyes. The Sendero de los Sentidos winds through the laurisilva forest of the Anaga massif — this laurel forest that once covered all of Mediterranean Europe 20 million years ago and now survives only here and in Madeira. A 1.5 km loop with almost no elevation gain, and sensory stations along the way: touch the wet bark of a til tree, listen to the silence between giant ferns, smell the humus after the rain. Children love it. Adults rediscover something they had forgotten.
Starting from Cruz del Carmen, at 920 meters altitude and a 20-minute drive from La Laguna. The trail is wide, marked with wooden signs, and accessible with an all-terrain stroller. It passes through dense forest where light barely filters through — even at midday, you walk in green twilight. Numbered stations invite you to stop: here a hollow trunk to press your ear against, there a platform to observe the canopy. After the rain, the forest drips — this is the best time. Mist clings to the branches of tree heather and ferns gleam.
The Path of the Senses is the perfect warm-up for a full day in Anaga. Follow it with the Sendero del Pijaral (mandatory reservation on the Cabildo platform, 3 hours round-trip, even denser primary forest) or the descent to Taganana via PR-TF 8 (2 hours, -500m elevation, spectacular sea views halfway). For a full day: trail in the morning, lunch in Taganana at a beachside chiringuito (grilled fish of the day, papas arrugadas, green mojo — expect €12-15), then return via the scenic TF-12 road, stopping at Mirador Pico del Inglés.