What does the closure mean for visitors and residents?

Only the old coast road is shut, not the whole link to the west. The Cabildo has closed the stretch of the GC-200 that skirts Roque de Faneque, between Agaete and La Aldea de San Nicolás.

Drivers can use the tunnels on this route instead, according to the Cabildo. It says traffic should therefore not suffer.

Day-trippers from the south who planned the scenic Andén Verde drive cannot get through on the old road for now. The closed part is exactly the one with the famous views over the cliffs.

The Cabildo announced the closure in a tweet on its official profile. We found no confirmed channel for diversions and no signage on site, so anyone heading west should check the Cabildo’s channels before setting off.

How bad was the situation on the road?

Heavy rain overnight from Monday to Tuesday set off rockfalls and run-off water in the west of the island. The damage covered almost the whole road between the tunnels near La Aldea and the Barranco de Guayedra, not just the closed stretch.

Drivers out early on Tuesday called the road virtually impassable. In places they had to swerve into the oncoming lane on the sea side to avoid obstacles.

They also complain that the Cabildo did not warn them in advance, as it usually does. The Cabildo’s roads department (Obras Públicas) admits there were stones and earth on the carriageway.

Its technicians, however, do not think the incident was serious enough to justify closing the road. The Cabildo nonetheless calls the closure a precaution.

It says maintenance crews from the operating company have been clearing the road since early morning. It adds that traffic stops briefly where needed.

Why does the old road still exist, and why is it vulnerable?

The two Faneque tunnels have been open to traffic since 9 February 2024. The sea-side tube from Agaete to La Aldea is 2,044 metres long, the inland tube in the opposite direction 2,129 metres.

According to the opening reports, the tunnels bypass about 3 kilometres of winding old GC-200 around the Faneque massif. The drive through takes less than a minute and a half, and the El Risco–Agaete construction phase cost 165 million euros.

The old road nonetheless stays open to traffic and remains exposed to rockfalls. Stones fall most often in the wet months, so the Cabildo closes the road in bad weather.

The Cabildo is the road authority and has so far announced closures and reopenings itself. The Canary Islands government’s public works department built the tunnels, and we found no BOC (the Canary Islands official gazette) decision on the current closure.

How often do rockfalls close this road?

In November 2021, rockfalls closed the GC-200 at the northern tunnel entrance on a Saturday at about 13:00. Gusts of more than 65 kilometres per hour halted repairs on the Monday.

The road reopened on Tuesday 30 November 2021 at 16:00. Miguel Ángel Pérez del Pino, the Cabildo’s councillor for Obras Públicas, announced the reopening.

In December 2025, Storm Emilia left three roads closed, as Cabildo president Antonio Morales said on 16 December 2025. They were the GC-400 at kilometre 3 in Aríñez, the GC-200 at the access to Tirma and the GC-231 towards Sao.

According to the reports available, closures at Faneque recur every few years, usually after heavy rain. We found no official count of these closures.

What is still unclear and what happens next?

By Tuesday midday the Cabildo had given neither a length for the closure nor a date for reopening. The exact kilometre points of the closed stretch have not been published either.

We could not confirm whether other roads are closed on 3 November. The information available does not mention any injuries or damaged vehicles.

It is also unclear whether the state weather service AEMET issued a rain warning for the day, or how much rain fell. Drivers in the west should therefore expect further clearing work and short stops.

The Cabildo usually announces the reopening itself once cleaning is finished, as it did in 2021. Further phases are planned for the Agaete–El Risco link.

They include a viaduct at La Palma, a 571-metre viaduct at El Risco and a 624-metre tunnel to the Güigüi junction. The project figures say they will cut journey times by about 75%.