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High above the coast and nestled near the very top of the mountain towns of southern Tenerife, lies the handicraft centre and one-time spa town of VILAFLOR , Tenerife's highest parish. With incredible views from the base of the grand forest of Canarian pines that all but encircles the Parque Nacional del Teide , pure upland air and local springs, it's easy to see how the town's charming old brick-and-tile houses once attracted those looking to improve their health. And though it is rather short on facilities today, the town still makes for a tranquil and practical upland base for hikers exploring local pine forests and the nearby national park - all this at less than an hour's drive from the glut of facilities on the coast. The town's main street, Calle Santo Domingo heads up to a large plaza centred on the plain but imposing seventeenth-century Iglesia de San Pedro . A number of handicraft shops around here make it a good place to look for gifts, particularly woodcarvings and lace. If you're serious about buying lacework, you should also look in the tiny shop, Artesania Delfina, on C/Santo Domingo itself, where you can often watch the painstaking process of lace being made. From the plaza it's a short, steep, but worthwhile walk up a road to the viewpoint, Mirador San Roque above town (just west of the road to Teide), which provides a spectacular view over the slopes of southern Tenerife. Beside the viewpoint a cluster of buildings makes up the Parque San Roque (July-Sept daily 9am-6pm; 3), which includes a museum of Guanche life. The museum is rather short on exhibits, however, relying on wall charts, and occasional, corny live re-enactments, to give an insight into the lives of the native islanders.
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