What to see in Puerto de la Cruz
Puerto de la Cruz looks nothing like the south of Tenerife, and that is exactly the reason to come. It is a town, not a resort: it has an old centre, a square where people actually sit, a working fishing harbour and streets you cover on foot. It also has the roughest sea and the most changeable sky on the island.
The town that invented tourism in the Canaries
This is not marketing, it is chronology. While the south of the island was dry and thinly populated, visitors were already arriving here in the nineteenth century, mostly British, drawn by the climate of the Orotava valley and the area's reputation as a place to convalesce.
That history shows. There are grand old buildings, hotels with decades behind them, and a way of dealing with visitors that was not invented yesterday. It also explains why the centre is not designed around a beach: it was built before the beach was the reason for the trip.
The centre: the square and the old harbour
The heart of the town is Plaza del Charco, with its Indian laurel trees, and from there everything is walkable.
To one side is the fishing harbour, still small and still real, with boats hauled up and old buildings around it, among them the former customs house, one of the oldest structures left standing here.
It is a short stretch but a dense one: ten minutes of walking takes you from the square to the quay, and from the quay to the lookouts over the rocks where the sea breaks. On a rough day that show is free and it does not disappoint.
The Martiánez sea pools
This is the town's postcard, and a smart piece of town planning: since the sea here breaks hard and swimming off the coast is not always sensible, a complex of seawater pools was built facing the ocean, designed by César Manrique.
It is worth seeing even if you do not swim, because it is the same idea Manrique applied on Lanzarote: work with the landscape rather than cover it, using volcanic rock, white paint and water.
If what you want is genuine natural pools with no concrete, the island has plenty and we collected them in the best natural pools in Tenerife.
The beaches: black sand and wind
The town beach is Playa Jardín, black volcanic sand with palms and gardens behind it, another Manrique intervention in the town.
A short distance away, down a path, is El Bollullo, far wilder, wedged between red earth cliffs. It is one of the most photographed beaches in the north and also one of the most treacherous when there is a swell running.
That is the serious warning for this area: the north is not the south. The surf here can be strong, and you always check the flag. The rest of the island's beach catalogue is in the best beaches in Tenerife.
The botanical garden
In the upper part of town is the Jardín de Aclimatación de La Orotava, founded in the eighteenth century by royal order with a very specific purpose: to acclimatise plants brought from the Americas and Asia here before taking them to the Spanish mainland.
It is not simply a pretty park, it is a scientific experiment from more than two hundred years ago that is still running. You can see it in under an hour, and it is one of the most rewarding visits in town, especially on a cloudy day.
When to come, and the weather question
Here we should be honest. Puerto de la Cruz is on the northern side, and that means more cloud and more humidity than the south, especially mid morning. Plenty of people who stay here are caught out by it.
What you have to understand is that this same climate is what makes the valley green, what sustains the botanical garden and what keeps the town mild when the south is baking. It is not worse weather, it is different weather, and it is explained in the microclimates guide.
On the calendar: the town has fiestas spread across the year, including some very busy summer ones and autumn celebrations that draw big crowds. We collect the programmes in the events calendar.
Getting around
Good news: this is one of the few towns on the island where a car is more hindrance than help. Much of the centre is pedestrian, parking is awkward, and everything important is within walking distance.
It is also well connected by bus to La Orotava, La Laguna and Santa Cruz, which makes it a sensible base if you would rather not drive. How that works in practice is in the Canaries without a car.
And if you want to fit the town into a wider island plan, what to see in Tenerife covers the rest, and the specific places keep going into the guide.
Cover photo: Clemenspool, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
