Tejeda sits in the crater-like bowl at the centre of Gran Canaria, with the great rock needle of Roque Nublo standing a short way to the south-west and the ancient shrine of Roque Bentayga showing on the skyline to the west. It is a white village of just over two thousand people, hung on a steep hillside at roughly a thousand metres, and it is regularly named among the loveliest in Spain for good reason.
The geology is the headline. Gran Canaria is a volcano whose old summit collapsed and eroded into a maze of deep ravines, and Tejeda lies in the middle of that landscape, with the island's high ground, including the Pico de las Nieves at nearly two thousand metres, rising around it. The sky is often brilliant, and the clouds drift in from the trade winds and get snagged on the rim, so it is common to ride out of a cold grey mist and arrive in full sun.
The roads here are the point. Tight, steep, switchbacked and often narrow, they climb to the Cruz de Tejeda viewpoint and wind down through the pine forest and the almond terraces, with big drops at the edge and views across the caldera that make you want to stop every few hundred metres. The surface is mostly good, but the corners are tight and blind, and the many tour buses and rental cars make passing a matter of patience. Be extra careful on wet mornings, when the moss and the mist can make the tar slick.
Tejeda is famous for almonds. In January and February the slopes flower white and pink, and the village sells almond sweets, marzipan and a dessert called bienmesabe, a thick almond cream that is exactly as sweet as it sounds. There are bars and small restaurants around the church square, and good coffee is never hard to find.
For fuel, do not count on a pump in the village itself; the nearest sizeable town is Vega de San Mateo, a little way east, and you should plan to fill up there before climbing. Artenara, higher up the road, is worth a detour for its cave houses carved into the volcanic rock, a way of living the islanders have used for centuries.