Los Gigantes, Tenerife, España, 2012-12-16, DD 05

Acantilados de Los Gigantes ("Cliffs of the Giants") are vertical cliffs along the western coast of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

. They are vertical walls reaching heights of 500 metres in some places. They are a

basaltic Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron ( mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than ...

geological feature. In times of the

Guanches The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa. It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only nativ ...

they were known as the "Wall of Hell" (Muralla del Infierno).

Tourism

The panoramic location and the weather has favored the development of a major

tourist resort A resort ( North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

in recent years. The town of

Los Gigantes Los Gigantes is a resort town in the Santiago del Teide municipality on the west coast of the Canary Island Tenerife. Its main feature are the giant rock formations, Acantilados de Los Gigantes, that rise from the sea to a height of 500-800 m ...

developed in the 1960s following British investment, with a black sand beach, a marina and a natural pool. Near the village are several tourist resorts such as

Playa de La Arena Playa de la Arena is a resort town located just south of the resorts of Los Gigantes and Puerto Santiago in the Santiago del Teide Santiago del Teide is a town and a municipality in the western part of the island Tenerife, Canary Islands, and ...

and

Puerto de Santiago Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places * El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines * Puerto Colombia, Colombia * Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela * Puerto Galera, Or ...

, etc. This area is 125 km from the island's capital,

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its ad ...

and 45 km from the international airport.

References

External links

Geography of Tenerife Geology of Spain Cliffs of Spain Landforms of the Canary Islands {{Tenerife-geo-stub