What to see in Santa Cruz de Tenerife: the city, and what lies under the square
If you arrive in Tenerife by ship, Santa Cruz is the first thing you see, with the Anaga mountains behind it. Many people just hurry through, yet the city is easy to explore on foot, and its most interesting piece is literally under your feet: beneath the lake of the main square lie the remains of a 16th-century castle and a legendary cannon.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife had 211,957 inhabitants on 1 January 2025, and it shares the status of capital of the Canary Islands with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: article 5 of the Statute of Autonomy splits the capital rank between the two cities. The story began in 1494, when the army of the conqueror Alonso Fernández de Lugo landed in the bay between the Santos and Tahodio ravines, and the city was founded here. Back then La Laguna was the island's capital; the port of Santa Cruz only really took off at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, by which time it was already the capital of the island.
We start from the sea and go through the centre and along the south coast, ending with three day trips. For the island as a whole, see our article What to see in Tenerife.
The gateway from the sea: Plaza de España
The Plaza de España is the square you see first from the port, and that is no accident: it was laid out so that travellers arriving at the port would be greeted by a spectacular entrance. To make room for it, the old San Cristóbal castle was demolished at the end of the 1920s; work began in January 1945 and the square was inaugurated on 26 March 1950.
Its present look comes from the Swiss practice Herzog & de Meuron, following an international design competition launched in 1998. In the middle of the square is a 2,500 cubic metre seawater lake, with a fountain at its centre that shoots water 30 metres into the air. Around it stand three pavilions, housing a restaurant, a craft shop and a tourist office, with vertical gardens covering their façades and roofs.
The square is framed by the Cabildo palace, the post office, the Real Casino and the Olimpo building. The monument's 25 metre cross-shaped tower represents the cross that gave the city its name. If you want a photo, stand in front of the big SANTA CRUZ letters: the Anaga mountains rise in the background. There is also an outdoor workout area on the square, here is its listing.
What lies under the lake: San Cristóbal castle and El Tigre
The Castillo de San Cristóbal was built between 1573 and 1575 and was the main fortress defending the city against pirate attacks. It was demolished to make way for the square, but it did not vanish completely: when the square was remodelled, in June 2006 according to Museos de Tenerife, its walls came to light, and an underground gallery was added to the Swiss architects' design so that they could be visited.
Today this is the Centro de Interpretación Castillo de San Cristóbal, directly beneath the Plaza de España: you go down and walk along the remains of the old castle wall. This is also where El Tigre stands, the city's most famous cannon. It is an 18th-century bronze cannon, cast in Seville, about 3 metres long and weighing around 2,000 kilograms. It has been here since 25 July 2009, moved from the Museo Histórico Militar de Canarias.
Popular tradition holds that it was a shot from El Tigre that cost Horatio Nelson his arm. The museum itself adds that this cannot be proven historically. In July 2026 a second cannon joined the exhibition, found in April on a building site next to the Cabildo. Before you go down, check the opening hours on the Museos de Tenerife website.
What happened in July 1797 has its own article: Nelson's lost arm. If you want to dig deeper, the Museo Histórico Militar de Canarias is housed in the Fuerte de Almeyda, a fort built between 1859 and 1884 in response to the lessons of the attack, and in its entrance hall a large scale model shows Nelson's defeat of 25 July 1797. Don't look for El Tigre there, though: it is under the square. Every July the city re-enacts the battle, an event called La Gesta.
Plaza de la Candelaria and calle del Castillo
The true main square of the centre is the Plaza de la Candelaria. Its centrepiece, the Triunfo de la Candelaria monument, was made in Genoa, carved by Pasquale Bocciardo, and set up in Santa Cruz around 1760.
The main axis of the centre is calle del Castillo. The street was laid out at the end of the 17th century and takes its name from the long-gone San Cristóbal castle, the very one whose walls you saw under the square. Today it is the city's main shopping street, a kind of open-air shopping centre. It is also home to the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Tenerife, the island's fine arts society, which was one of the centres of avant-garde art on Tenerife. If you get hungry along the way, the vegan fast-food spot Mel Vegan is on this street.
Another well-loved square in the centre is the Plaza del Príncipe. Its Indian laurel trees (laureles de Indias) were brought from Cuba in 1866 by a local sailor, Domingo Serís Granier. And the small Plaza del Chicharro recalls the capital's fishing past with a statue of a fish: people from Santa Cruz are still nicknamed chicharreros, after the fish called chicharro.
The Concepción church, where the city got its name
The city's name comes from a cross. The first church was named Santa Cruz, Holy Cross, in honour of the wooden cross with which the Castilians held a mass of thanksgiving on Añazo beach on 3 May 1494. This Cruz Fundacional, the founding cross, is still kept in the Concepción church (Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción), and for the people of Santa Cruz it is the church's most treasured relic.
The present church was completed in 1782, with five naves, and has been a listed monument (Bien de Interés Cultural) since 1983. Its bell tower is one of the landmarks of the city's skyline: it was designed and built in 1786 by the military engineer Antonio Samper.
Inside, in the Santiago chapel, lies Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero, the commander general of the Canary Islands who defeated Nelson, and next to him Teobaldo Power, regarded as the greatest Canarian pianist and composer. The church also keeps the English flag captured during Nelson's failed attack. If you come here after seeing El Tigre, the two ends of the story meet in a single morning.
Museums: MUNA, TEA and the Fine Arts Museum
We wrote about these in more detail in our article Culture in the Canary Islands, island by island, so here is just why each one is worth a visit. All three make a good plan for a rainy day.
MUNA, Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueología. It occupies the former Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados civil hospital, dating from 1745, and thanks to its neoclassical façade the building has been a listed monument since 1983. Until November 2018 it was called Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre, which is the name you will find in older guidebooks. Its highlight is the collection of Guanche mummies. MUNA listing.
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes. A building by Herzog & de Meuron and Virgilio Gutiérrez. Its collection holds what is perhaps the most celebrated object by the Tenerife-born Óscar Domínguez, Ouverture o Paris (1936). TEA listing.
Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes. Founded in 1901, its present building was put up by Eladio Laredo in 1929, and the collection includes works by Joaquín Sorolla and Mariano Benlliure. Museum listing.
La Recova and the house of Carnival
The Mercado de Nuestra Señora de África, or La Recova, as locals call it, is the city's market. Construction began on 5 August 1942 to a design by Enrique Marrero Regalado, and it has been a listed monument since 2004. The stalls are arranged around three inner courtyards, along arcaded galleries, and there are several hundred of them. According to the official city chronicler, you can also eat local bites here: fried chicharro, papas arrugadas (small wrinkled potatoes boiled in their skins) with spicy mojo picón, a glass of local wine, and to finish a barraquito, the Canarian coffee speciality. Market listing. Tenerife's markets by day: Farmers' markets in Tenerife: which day each one opens.
In the Santos ravine, by the Galcerán bridge, stands the Casa del Carnaval, a 1,052 square metre exhibition space for Carnival costumes. The star piece is always the dress of the reigning Carnival Queen. If you are not here at Carnival time, this is the closest you will get to it. Casa del Carnaval listing. The Carnival is a festival of international tourist interest and has made it into the Guinness World Records; dates and programme: Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2027. For the rest of the year's festivals: Festivals and events in Tenerife.
For coffee or something sweet in the centre there is the We The North café and Churrería La Tradicional, for vegan food La Verdulería, and for gluten-free Minelis Safe Food. You will find the rest in our vegan and gluten-free round-ups.
Sculptures on the Rambla and García Sanabria park
In the middle of the 17th century the Rambla was the patrol road around the city, used by carts and carriages. Today it is an open-air sculpture park, showing works from the 1973 and 1994 international street sculpture exhibitions (Exposición Internacional de Escultura en la Calle). Among them are Henry Moore's Goslar Warrior (Guerrero de Goslar), Joan Miró's Femme Bouteille and Xavier Corberó's Executioners and Executed (Ejecutores y ejecutados).
Next to the Rambla is García Sanabria park, which was created through public donations. Mayor Santiago García Sanabria signed the deed of sale for the 67,320 square metre plot on 12 December 1923, and building work started that same month. On 5 December 2016 it was declared a historic garden (Jardín Histórico). A flower clock greets you at the main entrance, and the park holds thirteen of the forty works from the 1973 exhibition, including pieces by Pablo Serrano, Eduardo Paolozzi and Óscar Domínguez, the last of these being the Monumento al gato, the cat monument.
Another large city park is La Granja on Avenida de Madrid, with its own calisthenics park. More places to train: Outdoor workouts in Tenerife.
The south coast: Auditorio, Castillo Negro, Parque Marítimo and Palmetum
South of the centre, along the shore, four sights follow one after another.
The Auditorio de Tenerife is Santiago Calatrava's building, opened in 2003, clad in white trencadís with the ocean behind it. Its two main halls are the symphony hall, with 1,616 seats, and the chamber hall, with 421. Auditorio listing.
Between the Auditorio and the Parque Marítimo stands the Castillo de San Juan Bautista, better known as Castillo Negro, the black castle. It was built between 1641 and 1643 to defend this stretch of coast, and its name probably comes from the old name of the spot, Caleta de los Negros. Castle listing.
The Parque Marítimo César Manrique is a 22,000 square metre park with seawater pools along the shore. It opened in 1995 and is a posthumous work of the Lanzarote artist César Manrique. How many pools are open depends on the season, so check the park's official website before you go.
At the end of the line waits the Palmetum, a 12 hectare botanical garden specialising in palms, which grew on the site of a former rubbish dump. The landfill was closed in 1983, leaving behind a 40 metre high mountain of waste; construction began in 1996 and the garden opened to visitors in 2014. Today around 3,000 plant species grow here, including more than 600 species of palm, and in the garden's own words it is the best palm collection in Europe. It is hard to imagine that a mountain of rubbish lies beneath the palms.
Out of town: Las Teresitas, Anaga and La Laguna
Las Teresitas is the city's beach, in San Andrés, 7 kilometres from the centre. We cover it as a beach in our Best beaches in Tenerife article; what was left out there: there used to be three black sand beaches here, five million sacks of sand were shipped in from the Sahara for the new beach, and it was opened on 15 June 1973. It is 1,300 metres long and a one kilometre breakwater shields it from the waves, which makes it a good choice with children (What to do in Tenerife with kids). Nearby, towards Igueste, is a smaller beach, Playa de las Gaviotas, and in San Andrés Squatina Sub runs activities in the water.
The Anaga mountains, rising behind the city, have been a biosphere reserve since 9 June 2015, together with the strip of sea around them, covering 49,948 hectares. The laurel forest and the trails have their own guide: Anaga, Tenerife's laurel forest. For a short detour, good viewpoints are Cruz del Carmen, Pico del Inglés and, around Taganana, El Bailadero and Dos Playas. Among Anaga's beaches, besides Benijo and Almáciga, there is Antequera, which you can only reach on foot or by boat. Rural park listing. We have gathered Tenerife's viewpoints here: Best viewpoints in Tenerife.
La Laguna, the island's former capital, can be reached by tram from the centre. Its old town has its own article: What to see in La Laguna. If you came by cruise ship and only have one day, La Laguna and Anaga are the obvious choices: the port itself lists them among its excursions.
Getting around
On foot: the squares, streets and museums of the centre are all walkable, and the south coast makes for a longer stroll.
By tram: the Metrotenerife tram runs between Santa Cruz and La Laguna. You will find lines and timetables at metrotenerife.com.
By bus: the guagua (the local bus) also goes to Las Teresitas, and routes and timetables are on titsa.com. For travelling without a car: The Canary Islands without a car, and whether you need a car at all: Do I need a car in Tenerife?.
By ship: the port welcomes cruise ships both in transit and as a home port; which ship calls on which day is shown in the Puertos de Tenerife cruise calendar.
For the guachinches of the area, the rustic country wine houses, see: Guachinches of Tenerife by area.
Most people first see Santa Cruz from the ship's rail: a square, a fountain, the mountains behind. It is worth going ashore and finding out what lies under the lake.
Sources: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), population on 1 January 2025; Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands (BOE); Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council (santacruzdetenerife.es): history of the city, the official city chronicler's articles on the Plaza de España, the Concepción church, García Sanabria park, La Recova and Las Teresitas, and the municipal heritage guide; Museos de Tenerife (museosdetenerife.org): Centro de Interpretación Castillo de San Cristóbal, El Tigre, MUNA; Museo Histórico Militar de Canarias (Spanish Ministry of Defence); TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (teatenerife.es); Auditorio de Tenerife (auditoriodetenerife.com); Parque Marítimo César Manrique (parquemaritimosantacruz.es); Palmetum (palmetumtenerife.es); Casa del Carnaval (casacarnavalsantacruz.com); Anaga Biosphere Reserve (reservabiosfera.tenerife.es); Metrotenerife; TITSA; Puertos de Tenerife; Turismo de Tenerife (webtenerife.com).
Cover photo (cropped): Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Anaga mountains from the air. Werner Wilmes, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
