Situated in the beautiful Orotava Valley, on the Atlantic Ocean coast in the north of Tenerife Island (Canary Islands), 37 km. away from Santa Cruz de Tenerife city, Puerto de la Cruz is a lively town with lovely gardens and a population of about 30,000. To add, the town is at the bottom of foothill of the Teide Mountain (3,718 meters high).

The annual average temperature between 15 degrees in winter and 27 degrees in summer, its mild climate and its nature beauty of its surroundings have really played an important role in the quality of life in Puerto de la Cruz, which is regarded as one of the main towns in tourist attraction in Canary Islands. Moreover, the volcanic sand beaches and the fresh mountain air make Puerto de la Cruz one of the best towns to have a lifestyle healthy, spend an enjoyable holiday or do all sort of sport. In fact, in this town visitors can stroll, play, rest, eat, drink, dance, have fun and enjoy its nightlife in a friendly, relaxed and pleasant atmosphere among other many things.

In the heart of the historical neighborhood in the north of the town visitors can find the Plaza de la Iglesia (Church Square) and Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia (Our Lady of the Rock of France Church), the square is a quiet and clean area to rest and enjoy its traditional buildings . It will take two minutes on foot from Church Square to get the remarkable Charco Square the main meeting point for citizens and tourists where people can find shops, cafés, restaurants, open air terraces. This square is immensely popular with the local people and the perfect place to spend the free time. Moreover, the old pier is nearby too. Tourists should not miss on out this area.

The Castle of San Felipe was built in the middle of the 17th century in order to keep safe the place. However, if you like music you will listen concerts in this Castle currently.

Puerto de la Cruz: Visiting the beaches of the Port

Puerto de la Cruz has four black sand beaches:

– Martianez Beach, is an ideal beach to go surfing, swimming, walking and enjoy water sports.

– San Telmo Beach is near the Iglesia Square in the heart of the historical Town remaining as a typical beach for bathing. This beach is especially popular among the citizens.

– The Jardin Beach, which is near the San Felipe Castle, is the largest beach in Puerto de la Cruz covering more than 16,000 square metres. It has plenty of gardens with paths to stroll, play or rest and a range of facilities. This beach – garden was designed by the world renowned artist and sculptor Cesar Manrique Cabrera ( 1919-1992) who expressed through his designs a love of nature.

– Lago Martianez Complex, (Complex Martianez Lake) which is the most emblematic place in Puerto de la Cruz, has several seawater lakes or swimming spools, gardens, terraces, bars, excellent facilities. Its surface area is about 50,000 square meters and was designed by the artist canary Cesar Manrique Cabrera (1919-1992) who built the Complex like a natural environment space. By the way, the Complex becomes a bustling and lively place during the evening and the night. This beach is between San Telmo and Martianez beaches.

The Botanic Garden, Taoro Park and Loro Park (Tenerife)

The Botanic Garden (Jardin de Aclimatacion de la Orotava) dates from 18th century creating with astonishing variety of plants is a beautiful landscaped garden. It might have more than 4,000 different plants.

It will take about 25 minutes on foot from Church Square to arrive at Botanic Garden. Its nature beauty makes it a must-see place

The Taoro Park is also worthy of mention, it takes about 18 minutes on foot from Church Square to get this park, covering an area of about 100,000 square meters.

Loro Park is one of the most interesting zoo in the world where people can see plenty of animals and spend all day strolling and enjoy the zoo. It will be a unique and unforgettable experience for children if they can see the intelligent dolphins acting as if the dolphins were in the sea.

If you want to know more about Puerto de la Cruz , it goes back to the 16th century like Orotava’s seaport until the first years of the 19th century that it was renamed like Puerto de la Cruz. In fact, the seaport probably had quite importance between the 16th and 18th centuries when the pier was used for international trade of sugar and wine. Besides, Puerto de la Cruz was a fishing village and parts of the old seaport are still visible. By the way, the town has followed with its fishing seaport for several centuries.

Strolling around the streets of this town tourists will come across of architecturally interesting buildings, museums, and so on.

More about Tenerife and The Canary Islands

– Canary Islands: Read here all about the Canary Islands, Spain (Islas Canarias, España).

– Tenerife island: The beaches and places to go when visiting Tenerife.

– Santa Cruz de Tenerife: The main city of Tenerife Island.