its a must that you drive up into the mountains and down towards the north part of the island, just to drive above the clouds and through them is breath taking, thats where you see tenerife at its best, and for a beach to die for is also in the north hidden away from us tourist called playa de la teresitas. if you have google earth just copy and paste and you will find it

just came back - would recommend Taedi national park - breathtaking.........and Masca (if you don't mind a hair-raising drive)

kev

I agree with a previous post - drive from Los Gigantes (via Tamaimo) up to Teide on the TF-38 and then TF-21. Park up and take the cable car to near the top. Then when you have seen enough (and maybe had a coffee) carry on north on the TF-21 and then branch right on the TF-24 (just after Las Canadas del Teide)- this road takes you down the northern "spine" of Teide through pine forests to Pico de las Flores and then on to the north airport. From there return south to Los Gigantes via the eastern motorway.

Another good drive is from Los Gigantes up the west coast to Puerto de la Cruz and back with stops in Masca, Garachico and Icod de los Vinos (for the huge dragon tree).

These two are both full day trips, the beauty being you can stop for coffee/lunch whenever you see somewhere you like or take a picnic and stop at one of the many viewpoints (Teide trip) or beaches (Puerto trip) en-route.

A good map is a must - I particularly like the AA Island Map Tenerife (ISL11) which shows a good level of detail and helps find those out-of-the-way places.

One warning, I do not know where you are staying in Los Gigantes, but parking can be problematic, particularly near the marina and especially during carnival (March 5th-9th this year).

Cheers,
Jet

if you have got a western europe updated tomtom, i would also take that aswell as maps, but watch the roads in the towns they seem to change the one way driving steerts on a weelky rota