This is the walk we recommend first, because it requires nothing: no car, no trailhead, no permit. It leaves Playa de San Marcos, runs about an hour along the coast through banana terraces and past El Guincho, and arrives in Garachico in time for lunch.
What you actually walk through
The banana terraces are the thing to notice. They cover most of the cultivable land on this coast, stacked in stone-walled platforms between the cliffs and the sea, and they are the reason the north looks the way it does. Bananas need water and shelter; the north has both, because the trade winds pile cloud against these slopes. The south of the island, which is drier and sunnier, grew resorts instead.
Part of the route follows a bike path, which makes the walking easy and the surface reliable. There is a tunnel under the road to pass through — bring a phone with a torch if the light is going.
Why walk it rather than drive
The drive to Garachico takes ten minutes and you see almost nothing. On foot you get the terraces, the coastline, El Guincho, and the gradual arrival into a town that was buried by lava three hundred years ago — which is a much better introduction to Garachico than a car park.
An hour each way is comfortable for most people. The honest alternative is to walk one way and take the bus back, which is what we often do.
Timing it
Go in the morning, eat in Garachico, and come back in the afternoon. That is the natural shape of the day, and it fits how restaurants here work: lunch is the main meal and the kitchens close for the afternoon.
Do not plan to walk back after dark. There is no lighting on parts of the route.