Most tourists who arrive on Tenerife for their holidays spend most of their time in the bars, restaurants and on the beaches of the resorts in the south of the island in places such as Las Americas or Los Cristianos. It is admittedly usually hot and sunny in the south but the rest of the island offers all manner of unforgettable locations, Hire a personal chef in Sydney from the otherworldly rocky volcanic landscapes high on Mt Teide to the mysterious Pyramids of Güímar.

What people don’t realise is that for the price of under 5EUR they can jump on a bus that will take them on roads passing through mountain villages, pine forests, past sweeping valleys, and often with a view looking down to the coast below. The Titsa buses offer a 50% discount on all journeys over 20km if you buy a Bono card, which are available for 12EUR or 30EUR from bus stations and some shops, and which deduct your fare as you go along. You simply tell the driver where you are going and put the card in a machine that calculates how much to charge you and how much you have left. With a Bono card it is possible to travel right around chef at Home in Sydney and Newcastle the island at half the normal price.

There is a bus that goes all the way from Las Americas bus station all the way to Icod de los Vinos in the north and on the 90 minutes journey you will see the mountain villages of Tamaimo and Santiago del Teide as well as the northern ones of Erjos, with its freshwater pools, and El Tanque.

As the bus descends down towards Icod there en’s skateboarding shoes online are spectacular views over the coast and the town of Garachico, which was once buried in volcanic lava that formed natural swimming pools as it solidified as it hit the sea. You will also pass the country road to Tierra del Trigo (The Land of Wheat), which has a road that winds down the cliffs towards Los Silos and which is a favourite of cyclists who enjoy tackling extremes because it is regarded as one of the steepest routes in the world.

When you reach Icod de los Vinos you will be able to visit its incredible Drago Milenario, swimming pool northern beache an ancient Dragon Tree said to be between 1,000 and 3,000 years old. Also in Icod there is the Church of San Marcos, which stands in what is said to be one of the most beautiful squares in the Canary Islands. Inside is a museum of sacred art and an incredible silver cross that came from Mexico.

The north of Tenerife is completely different to the south and has many incredible forests and miles and miles of mountains covered in pine trees. Northern Tenerife is much cooler and greener than the hot semi-desert conditions of the south and feels and looks like you are on another island, or possibly as if you are back home in the UK, if that is where you are from. Brambles and gorse and bracken are commonly seen amongst the abundant greenery.

In the north too you will find the popular resort town of Puerto de la Cruz, which has black sand beaches, some very pretty squares, plenty of streets lined with shops, restaurants and bars, and it also boasts the large El Botanico botanic gardens with a collection of exotic plants, genee flowers and trees from all around the world’s tropics and semi-tropics. Just outside Puerto lies La Orotava, which is famous for the House of Balconies and many more historic buildings in colonial Spanish Canarian style.

Above La Orotava are the cloud forests and cliffs of Aguamansa and La Caldera, and if you keep going the road climbs all the way up Mt Teide. Again it is possible to get buses all the way up to the tourist centre high on the mountain and it really is like another planet there. The strange rock formations and volcanic plains looks more like the Moon or Mars even. It is not surprising they chose to film Barbarella and Planet of the Apes on Mt Teide.

If its shopping and culture you are looking for the University city of La Laguna is in the north of the island, as is the capital of Tenerife, Santa Cruz. The auditorium in Santa Cruz puts on all sorts of world class music acts and in February every year the city plays host to the carnival, which is said to rival the world famous one in Rio.

So my advice to anyone visiting the island is to get yourself a map or a cheap guide book and plan where you’d like to go. Buy yourself a Bono bus card, mba jump on a bus and explore the island. And don’t forget to take a camera because you are bound to see sights you will want photos of and memories you will want to treasure.