Tenerife · West Tenerife
Los Gigantes
600-metre cliffs and the boats to the whales
The Acantilados de Los Gigantes fall sheer into the sea beside the Barranco de Masca. The small harbour at their foot is one of three ports the authorised whale-watching boats sail from, and line 477 runs here along the west coast from Costa Adeje.
Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped
- Come for
- Cliff scenery, harbour time and marine excursions
- Make time for
- A full day
- By bus
- Reached by a published TITSA line
The journey is part of the day
Getting to Los Gigantes
Follow the Costa Adeje–Los Gigantes guide and compare lines 477 and 473 on its timetable. Line 477’s published coastal corridor runs through Playa San Juan, Alcalá and Puerto Santiago. Use the destination display and current stopping pattern to choose your journey; the bus route establishes access to Los Gigantes, not the location of a boat check-in desk.
Checked Sources: TITSA, GetYourGuide
Bus guides
Lines from this site’s guides. Times are in this page’s timetable.
Before you settle in
Keep the way home in mind.
Before leaving the station area, identify a current 477 or 473 journey back towards Costa Adeje or Los Cristianos. If taking a boat, allow a buffer after the advertised finish and verify where you disembark. A marina meeting point is not guaranteed to coincide with the bus stop, and sea conditions can affect the practical end of an excursion.
See the next busesA little introduction
Get to know Los Gigantes.
Los Gigantes sits at the foot of immense dark cliffs on Tenerife’s west coast. The rock walls belong to the Teno landscape and rise to around 600 metres in places, making the harbour feel unusually enclosed and dramatic. From land, the cliffs shape nearly every seaward view; from a boat, their height and folds become much clearer. This is a destination to pace around one main experience rather than a crowded checklist. Arrive from Costa Adeje, orient yourself around the harbour area and leave room for the slower coastal rhythm of Puerto Santiago and the nearby shore.
Why go
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The icon of the west coast
WebTenerife calls the cliff, 300 to 600 metres high, the icon of Santiago del Teide; the whale and dolphin boats leave from its marina every day for waters a few miles out.
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One of the mildest climates measured
A weather station set up here in 1960 recorded three years of sea and air data and concluded that this is one of the mildest climates in the world.
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A Blue Flag beach next door
Playa de La Arena, the popular black-sand beach of Puerto Santiago, holds a Blue Flag and is counted among the island’s most recommended.
Checked – 2026 Sources: WebTenerife, TITSA
Make a day of it
What to do in Los Gigantes
- Sight Don’t miss
Harbour-side cliff views
Start close to the harbour and watch how the cliffs change with the light. Even without an excursion, the relationship between marina, ocean and near-vertical rock gives Los Gigantes its distinctive scale.
- Activity Don’t miss
The cliffs from the water
A boat trip reveals ledges, ravines and the full height of the rock face that land viewpoints compress. Confirm the exact berth and check-in instructions with the operator rather than navigating by the bus route alone.
- Activity Don’t miss
Marine life below Teno
Whale and dolphin watching is a natural companion to the cliff landscape. WebTenerife names Los Gigantes as one of the island’s three departure ports for authorised whale-watching boats. Approach it as wildlife observation, with sightings and sea conditions left to nature, and choose an operator whose current meeting details suit your transport plan.
- Sight Don’t miss
Masca, above the cliffs
Masca is a hamlet at about 650 m in the Teno Rural Park. By bus it is two legs: line 325, the long Puerto de la Cruz–Icod–Los Gigantes line, passes Santiago del Teide on its way, and line 355 runs from Santiago del Teide through Masca to Buenavista del Norte, with different tables for Monday, Tuesday and Sunday than for Wednesday to Saturday.
Show all 6 Show fewer
- Beach
Playa de La Arena and the lava pools of Puerto Santiago
The black-sand Blue Flag beach lies along the coast from the harbour, and beside the square of Puerto Santiago the lava arms form a small bay sheltered from the waves, best at low tide.
- Walk
The PR-TF 65 down from Santiago del Teide
An 8 km trail of medium difficulty runs from beside the petrol station in Santiago del Teide down the ravine past Tamaimo to Puerto Santiago; it crosses an area of strong sun, so WebTenerife asks for plenty of water and protection.
Checked – 2026 Sources: WebTenerife, GetYourGuide, TITSA
A day here
How a day in Los Gigantes feels
A plan built on the buses this guide already names. The departure times are in the board on this page; choose your bus back before you set out.
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Morning
Line 477 along the coast
From Costa Adeje Station, line 477 runs through Playa San Juan, Alcalá and Puerto Santiago to Los Gigantes; line 473 from Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje reaches it inland through Adeje and Armeñime. Walk down to the harbour and let the cliffs set the scale.
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Middle of the day
A boat, or the beach
Book an authorised whale-watching boat from the harbour, or follow the coast to Playa de La Arena. Confirm the berth and check-in time with the operator rather than guessing from the bus stop.
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Afternoon
Back up to the station
The return bus leaves from the top of the town: read the board for your day type, allow time for the climb from the marina, and keep a margin after a boat trip.
Checked Sources: TITSA, WebTenerife
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about Los Gigantes
How do I get to Los Gigantes from Costa Adeje by bus?
Take TITSA line 477, the direct coastal line from Costa Adeje Station via Playa San Juan, Alcalá and Puerto Santiago, or line 473, which starts in Los Cristianos and reaches Los Gigantes through Adeje and Armeñime. Both have working-day and weekend tables; the departures are in the board on this page.
Can you see whales from Los Gigantes without a tour?
The whales and dolphins live a few miles offshore, so a boat is the way to see them. WebTenerife names Los Gigantes among the three ports the authorised boats leave from and links the list of authorised vessels; the cliffs themselves are the land-based spectacle.
Is Masca reachable from Los Gigantes by bus?
Not directly. Masca is on line 355 between Santiago del Teide and Buenavista del Norte; from Los Gigantes you first need a bus to Santiago del Teide. Treat it as two separately timed legs, and read the Masca page before you plan the gorge.
Checked Sources: TITSA, WebTenerife
Good to know
Small details. Better days.
Show 3 local tips Show fewer
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Choose one major activity
A boat trip plus an unhurried harbour walk makes a satisfying day. Adding a long coastal detour can erode the return buffer that the west-coast bus journey needs.
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Check the sea forecast
Wind and swell change the comfort and operation of marine excursions. Reconfirm with the provider and keep a land-based cliff-view plan for days when a sailing does not proceed.
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The Masca gorge is not a bus-stop walk
The Barranco de Masca is a booked, descent-only walk on the operator’s terms: start at the visitor centre, reached by line 355 from Santiago del Teide, and leave the bottom by the boat you booked for Los Gigantes; the beach is closed to the public. Its one exception: if the sea closes the landing, you walk back up to the visitor centre, so good fitness is required. For a lighter visit, the short paths from the hamlet lead to valley viewpoints.
Checked – 2026 Sources: WebTenerife, Gobierno de Canarias, Servicio Canario de la Salud, Gobierno de Canarias, 1-1-2 Canarias +3
Photos and film
Los Gigantes in pictures
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Watch before you go
Ross Angell Plays through YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play. -
Line 477 from Costa Adeje runs along the Puerto Santiago seafront before ending at Los Gigantes; the black-sand Playa de La Arena is on this stretch. Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons -
The cliffs are what you come for; the boats that sail beneath them leave from the harbour below the line 477 and 473 terminus, a climb back up for the bus home. Photo: Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons
Make room for something memorable
Book something around Los Gigantes
Affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. Selected activity links open GetYourGuide; destination photos are illustrative. Check the date, current price, meeting point and what is included before booking.
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Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 Los Gigantes
Los Gigantes dolphin and whale watching pirate-boat tour
A boat excursion beneath the west-coast cliffs, combining the marine landscape with wildlife watching.
Why consider it The cliffs are most dramatic from the water, and the trip adds a marine-life focus to a harbour visit.
View experience: Los Gigantes dolphin and whale watching pirate-boat tour on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)Meeting point & getting there: Los Gigantes dolphin and whale watching pirate-boat tour
Confirm the selected date’s meeting point and allow time to reach it from the bus arrival. Lines 477 and 473 do not establish the boat’s berth.
Current experiences on GetYourGuide
Tours and activities on Tenerife as GetYourGuide lists them today, with current prices and reviews.
There’s more around the corner
Where next?
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Marc Ryckaert / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 -
Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 Isla Baja, north-west Tenerife
Garachico
Volcanic coast, historic squares and an unhurried small-town day
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Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Guide checked · How we check · Suggest a correction
Sources for this page
The sources this page cites, each with the date we checked it. Two dates mean the facts that cite it were checked on different days.
TITSA
- Line 477 timetable Checked – 2026
- Line 473 timetable Checked – 2026
- Line 325 timetable Checked
- Line 355: Buenavista–Masca–Santiago del Teide Checked – Oct 2026
GetYourGuide
- Los Gigantes dolphin and whale watching pirate-boat tour Checked – 2026
WebTenerife
- Los Gigantes cliffs Checked – 2026
- Santiago del Teide municipality Checked
- Buenavista del Norte municipality Checked
- Whale and dolphin watching in Tenerife Checked – Oct 2026
- Masca Checked – Oct 2026
- El Caletón natural pools Checked
Gobierno de Canarias, Servicio Canario de la Salud
Gobierno de Canarias, 1-1-2 Canarias
Gobierno de Canarias, Dirección General de Emergencias
Camino del Barranco de Masca (Cabildo de Tenerife)
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