The attractive pueblo of Tejeda has pretty white-washed houses and is set high in the mountains at the heart of the UNESCO World Biosphere. It sits amidst some of the most dramatic scenery on the island at the head of a huge rust-red ravine that plunges westwards towards the coast. Around the town, the terraced hillsides are planted with thousands of almond trees which blossom spectacularly in February. At the centre of town is the Church of La Virgen del Socorro, and there is also a range of shops, a library with internet access, a number of restaurants and bars, some with terraces overlooking the ravine, and a famous artisan bakery which makes delicious almond-based specialities.
Tejeda will be your base if you choose an Original Car-Free Escape, whilst if you book any other Escape you may choose to stay either in Tejeda or in a stylish cave-house in or around the nearby village of Artenara.
Artenara curls around the western end of Gran Canaria's great central ridge - the "Cumbre". At 1270m, the village is the highest on the island. The pale façades of its deceptively simple houses look out across the vast bowl of the Tejeda valley. Behind the whitewashed walls and wooden shutters, the majority of Artenara's inhabitants still live, as their ancestors did 5000 years ago, in caves. All mod-cons are of course the norm, but the locals have learned that it is still impossible to improve on a bedroom hewn from the lava. Cool in the heat, warm when the cold wind blows, these carefully shaped and sculpted dwellings are home to a scattering of small-holders who tend ancient terraces of potatoes and maize, apple and almond trees, and herd their sheep and goats across the hillsides. At the end of the day, the village elders dispense wisdom in the plaza in front of the church of San Matias, watching the sun set behind the distant ridge-top, before returning to the Casa del Correo bar for a shot of local rum. The village boasts several bar-restaurants and two shops.
