What is it?
Montaña Pelada Natural Monument is a volcanic cone that was created by the process of hydrovolcanism (the interaction of magma from a volcano with a body of water), which created a caldera almost 1kilometre in diameter. The area also features a fossil dune, which is evidence of previous fluctuations in sea level, along with some well-preserved remnants of Canary Island spurge, splendid examples of coastal Euphorbia balsamifera and other plants that are typically found on ravine floors.
Getting there
Montaña Pelada Natural Monument can be accessed from the TF-1 via the exit for San Isidro, taking the TF-64 towards Médano. Stay on this road until you reach San Isidro, where the TF-64 becomes Avda. José Miguel Galván Bello and ends at the pier. Here you turn left and continue towards the area known as La Jaquita or El Cabezo via Avda. Juan Carlos I. At the end of this road you must park your car and enter the protected areas on foot, crossing La Barca ravine as you do so.
The Natural Monument may also be accessed from the other side. To do so, take the exit for the Granadilla industrial estate (Acceso B) and continue towards the ITER (Instituto Tecnológico de Energías Renovables, or Technological Institute for Renewable Energies). There are a number of dirt tracks leading off from this road that go to the Natural Monument, although they are in a poor state of repair and it is not recommended that you attempt to drive on them in a standard saloon-type car.
Total area
152,7 ha
Municipality
Granadilla.
Governing legislation
Montaña Pelada was declared a Natural Monument and area of environmental sensitivity by Autonomous Region Act 12/94, which was later integrated into the Organisation of the Canary Islands Territory Act via Legislative Decree 1/2000.
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