Stargazing at Teide National Park

Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Calculated 24 October 2026 with Astronomy Engine 2.1.19 (MIT licence).

The high crater floor of Las Cañadas around Mount Teide, an hour or so by road from the coastal resorts of Tenerife.

Circular star trails over the dark peak of Mount Teide and the rocks of the Cañadas crater — Star trails over Mount Teide, from the Cañadas crater at about 2,000 m. Photo: Benedikt Markus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The darkest weeks ahead

Runs of nights when the Moon is down for almost all of the dark hours. Plan your stay inside one of these.

5 Nov to 13 Nov 2026 (9 nights)
4 Dec to 12 Dec 2026 (9 nights)
3 Jan to 11 Jan 2027 (9 nights)
1 Feb to 9 Feb 2027 (9 nights)
2 Mar to 11 Mar 2027 (10 nights)
1 Apr to 9 Apr 2027 (9 nights)
1 May to 8 May 2027 (8 nights)
31 May to 7 Jun 2027 (8 nights)

Month by month

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A night in the middle of each month. Full darkness: Sun at least 18° below the horizon.
Month	Full darkness	Milky Way centre up
October 2026	9.8 h	0.7 h
November 2026	10.3 h	not in the dark hours
December 2026	10.7 h	not in the dark hours
January 2027	10.5 h	not in the dark hours
February 2027	10 h	0.7 h
March 2027	9.3 h	2 h
April 2027	8.3 h	3.3 h
May 2027	7.3 h	4.8 h
June 2027	6.8 h	6.7 h
July 2027	7 h	5 h
August 2027	8 h	3.5 h
September 2027	9 h	2.2 h

The bright centre of the Milky Way is best here in June. From November to January it is up only in daylight, but the rest of the sky is still worth the trip.

What to know

Teide National Park holds Starlight certification both as a tourist destination and as a reserve.
The Teide Observatory, run by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, sits at about 2,390 m in the park.
Canary Islands law has protected the sky over the observatories from light pollution since 1988.
Low clouds usually form below a temperature inversion that sits well under the peaks, so the park can be clear when the coast is cloudy.

It is cold at night up here even in summer. Bring warm layers, and check the road and weather before you drive up.

Other dark-sky places: La Palma, Atacama Desert, NamibRand Nature Reserve, Aoraki Mackenzie. Compare all five.

Sources

Darkness, Moon and Milky Way: our calculation, Astronomy Engine 2.1.19 (MIT licence). How we worked it out.
Tenerife Tourism, astronomy.
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, observatories leaflet.