Beaches
How is the beach in Puerto de la Cruz? Well, there are more than just one. On one side, you will find the largest beach, the Playa del Castillo, a black sand touristy beach. On the other side, you will find the Playa Martianez, closer to town but otherwise pretty similar.
The Playa Martianez has some higher waves and often also some more wind and therefore is pretty popular with surfers. Most often, the one you will go to will be decided by your hotel’s location as they are pretty far from each other. There are many different swimming locations in Puerto de la Cruz, but these are pebble beaches or rocky structures to swim from.
Hotels
There are many great hotels in this area. The only thing you need to watch out for is the location, some are very hard to get to on foot, and it may take a lot of stairs or uphill walking. In a quick summary:
- For a family holiday, the H10 Tenerife Playa is a great choice.
- For luxurious holidays the hotel Botanico.
- On a budget the Casablanca apartments.
Restaurants and bars
Puerto de la Cruz has an extensive selection of restaurants. The great thing I find here is that Puerto de la Cruz is also a real town, so not everything is aimed at tourists. Many of the restaurants offer authentic Spanish traditional dishes and tapas. My advice would be to go where the local population eats as they most likely know where it is best. Prices are pretty fair in most places, and all the meals I had were well prepared and served.
If you are unsure if Puerto de la Cruz is right for you, look at my where to stay in Tenerife guide covering all the different holiday destinations.
Nightlife
Puerto de la Cruz has a pretty active nightlife, especially in the peak season. A lot of it is aimed at an older generation who like to come here to do some dancing and drink cocktails, but there are also some clubs for those younger. Keep in mind that these might only be open on the weekends or be closed for some weeks outside of the school and university holidays. However, the dancing for the older generation is an all year round thing with many live musicians playing to this audience.
How to get to Puerto de la Cruz
Puerto de la Cruz is 27 km away from the Tenerife North Airport:
- Public transport: 5 euro
- Shuttle bus: Not available if you don’t have a packaged holiday
- Taxi: 35 euro
Puerto de la Cruz is 88 km away from the Tenerife South Airport:
- Public transport: 14 euro
- Shuttle bus: 18 euro
- Taxi: 104 euro
Have a look here for some essential things you need to know about buses, shuttles
Shopping
There are plenty of shops spread through the resort but not a big shopping centre or shopping street like in some of the other more touristy holiday destinations in Tenerife. One quick word of advice would be to stay away from some of the more tacky electronics stores here. They seem to be selling cheap electronics, but the internet is full of stories from tourists getting ripped off when buying here or ending up with fake brands. If you want to do some intense shopping, the bus can easily take you to Santa Cruz, the capital with many shopping streets and centres.
Things to do near Puerto de la Cruz
When staying in Puerto de la Cruz, the main tourist attraction here is the Loro Parque, a great zoo with shows here in the area. There are even little yellow trains going around from the zoo that can take you there for free. This zoo is often visited by people from the other side of the island, about 60 km away, so if you are staying so close by, you should go and look.
If you are looking for something free to do in the resort, Taoro Park is a beautiful park with loads of flowers, waterfalls
Here you can find a complete list of things I advise you to see and do in Tenerife.
