GARY CHAPPELL discovers a different side to the package-holiday Canary Isle where you can trek through dramatic scenery and sample delicious food

I'M AT a height of 12,198ft above sea level, looking down at glimpses of a vast lunar landscape of lava streams, ash beds and mineral-tinted rocks through the clouds.

I am on volcanic Mount Teide, Tenerife's highest peak.

To many, the largest island in the Canaries conjures up images of neon signs, bars, discos, full-English breakfasts and happy hour every hour.

However, I'm staying in Buenavista in northwest Tenerife, which has a whole different feel to the bustling southern resorts such as Playa De Las Americas.

I sit on a rock and catch my breath.

It has been quite an ascent.

I took the cable car from the roadside at 7,381ft above sea level and after a short journey I walked the remainder to the snow-capped peak, which last erupted in 1909.

I sidestepped blocks of ice, large rocks and steam holes, fought against a sharp wind and, with 25 per cent less oxygen, I was breathing heavily with a pounding heart.

No wonder the island's earliest inhabitants called this place Hell.

Today, it is heaven for filmmakers who have used its volcanic landscape for everything from Clash Of The Titans and Planet Of The Apes to One Million Years BC (who can forget Raquel Welch in that cave woman get-up?).

Teide's fiery past has moulded ravines that now offer some of the finest hiking in the world.

One of the best walks starts from Masca, often dubbed The Forgotten Village because of its isolated location in a gorge in north-west Tenerife.

Most walkers get dropped off by car or bus and tackle the two-and-a-half hour downhill scramble via mountain streams, waterfalls and wild flowers to picturesque Masca Bay where they are picked up by boat and taken back to Los Gigantes harbour on the west coast.

I bound over the boulders, intermingled with smaller rocks, brush past green, leathery-looking agave plants whose roots preserve the fragile path, and am shielded from the sun by the Canarian palm tree, the resin from which is used for the island's honey.

There are many different types of cacti here, an import from Mexico which the islanders have found a use for.

The wood lice which eat the cactus are used for colouring lipstick, clothes, food and alcohol, including Campari.

I feel like a modern-day Marco Polo, an adventurer searching for treasure in a tropical paradise with only the sound of running spring water as company, although 500,000 people take this walk every year.

FEELING peckish after my strenuous activity I stop at El Trasmallo, a fish restaurant which overlooks the sea in Garachico. I order octopus, mussels and prawns, the taste heightened by mojo rojo, which is a slightly spicy sauce mixed with paprika, oil, garlic, red pepper and coriander.

I am still savouring my delicious dinner as my head hits the pillow in my stylish hotel, the Vincci Buenavista Golf & Spa in Buenavista town, a 15-minute drive away.

The contemporary rooms are spacious, decked out in creams and beiges with terracotta floors.

There is a large bathroom and from my balcony I have wonderful views of the palm-tree dotted golf course and the sea.

A good night's sleep refreshes me and I awake feeling ready to resume my adventure, this time in the sea.

My friends and I hire kayaks from activity company Teno in Los Gigantes and explore the rugged coastline, sporadically diving in to cool off in the clear waters.

Later I don my snorkel and explore a beautiful underwater world of brightly coloured, inquisitive fish and deep caverns.

After drying off in the sun, we drive along small winding roads, past banana trees and into the quaint town of Garachico.

We pit-stop in the pastel-coloured La Quinta Rojo hotel and dine on tapas: potato with honey and mango marmalade, more mojo rojo on goat's cheese melted in the oven and cod with small papa bonitas (beautiful potatoes).

This is all washed down with white and red wine.

We finish our meal with Barraquito, a small coffee that is made with condensed milk and, most importantly, rum.

I sit back and gaze over the ocean to my left and up at the lush, green vegetation and the towering mountains.

I have discovered a different side to Tenerife, a gem whose unspoiled beauty has won my heart.

? GETTING THERE Vincci Buenavista Golf & Spa Hotel (dialling from the UK: 0034 902 454 585/ vinccihoteles.com) offers doubles from £140 per night (two sharing), B&B. Monarch Airlines (0871 940 5040/ monarch.co.uk) offers return flights from various UK airports to Tenerife from £116.

Tenerife Tourism Corporation: 00800 1001 0100/ webtenerifeuk.co.uk Spanish National Tourist Office: 00800 1010 5050/ spain.info