Tenerife

A volcanic island above the clouds — Teide's black rock, laurisilva forest, and the strange botany of altitude.

You climb through four climates in an afternoon. At the coast it is subtropical; by Teide's flank you are on Mars, black lava to the horizon; and in between, wrapped in cloud, a laurel forest that has survived since the Tertiary. The island is a lesson in how much room verticality makes for life.