Teide in Spain: A camper's paradise or a victim of tourism?
Despite criticism for tourist overcrowding and environmental concerns, the CamperDays platform has included the Chipeque viewpoint on Teide in its list of the most beautiful places in Spain for road trips.
CamperDays, a platform for renting campervans, has compiled a list of the six most beautiful places in Spain for road trips. Interestingly, the Chipeque viewpoint on Teide (Tenerife) made it onto the list, despite recent criticism due to overcrowding.
It is said that modern travelers (especially Generations Y and Z) are increasingly choosing travel destinations inspired by social media. According to research, 40% of young people travel to places they saw on Instagram or TikTok. And for 58%, experiences are more important than buying something material.
So, CamperDays recommends the following places:
The company advises planning everything in advance, catching the beautiful light at sunrise and sunset, and using apps to book parking.
However, the inclusion of Chipeque in this list seems a bit strange, considering what is currently happening there. Authorities are sounding the alarm about tourist overcrowding and their dangerous behavior in the Corona Forestal forest.
For example, on August 9, more than 50 people were evicted from there, even though there is a ban on visits due to the high level of fire danger and heat.
Social media constantly features photos showing the critical situation on Teide. For example, the @meteolamatanza account recently showed how the Ayosa area was completely paralyzed due to improperly parked cars.
Photographer Diego Manrique also complains about the crowds of tourists and their behavior: smoking in pine forests during fire alerts, littering, and illegal drone flights.
The Telesforo Bravo-Juan Coello Foundation even speaks of a "perfect storm of tourist overcrowding" on Teide and accuses local authorities of caring more about tourism than nature conservation.
In response, the authorities have sent patrols to Teide, along with police and environmentalists, to control the flow of people in places like Chipeque, Ayosa, and Chimague, and warn of fines and sanctions.
It is worth knowing that there are certain restrictions for campervans in the Teide National Park and the Corona Forestal forest:
In the first half of this year, Tenerife considered about 700 complaints of environmental violations, many of which are related to the misuse of natural areas.