Puerto de la Cruz Holidays

Puerto de la Cruz is the other Tenerife: a historic colonial port town on the north coast where black volcanic beaches sit under banana plantations. Holidays here offer a little less sand and a bit more civilization, cobbled plazas, Cesar Manrique's seawater pools and bars and restuarants that aren't just full of tourists.

Puerto de la Cruz Holiday Highlights 2026 / 2027

• Woa-ooh Black Beaches (bam-ba-lam) - Playa Jardin is volcanic black sand laid out by Cesar Manrique, backed by palm gardens with the Orotava valley climbing behind it. Nothing in the south of the island looks like this.

• Lago Martianez - Manrique's seawater pool complex on the seafront, an outdoor artwork you can swim in, with lagoons, sculptures and tropical planting. Reopened in 2024 after a full refurbishment.

• A botanical garden older than most countries' capitals - Founded in 1788 by royal order, and still growing tropical species brought back from across the Spanish empire. Two hours disappear in it.

• The cradle of Canary tourism - Visitors have been coming here since 1886, when the islands' first hotel opened in the valley above town. The cobbled streets, the plazas and the grand old hotels are what a century and a half of practice looks like.

• Banana country - The town sits in a working agricultural valley, and the green terraces you can see from almost anywhere are commercial banana plantations. It is why the north is green and the south is not.

Good to Know for your Puerto de la Cruz Holiday

• ☀️ Weather - Mild the whole year: average highs of 21 to 22°C through winter and 25 to 27°C from June to October, warmest in August and September. The north is greener than the south because it catches more cloud, so expect a brighter afternoon after a soft morning rather than wall-to-wall glare.

• 💶 Money - Excellent value and no tourist tax anywhere in the Canaries. A beer is €2 to €3, a menu del dia lunch €7.50 to €11, and a three-course dinner for two with wine around €40 to €60.

• 🏛 Fun fact - This is where Canary tourism began. The archipelago's first hotel opened in the valley above town in 1886, and the Gran Hotel Taoro followed in 1890 and has just reopened after a long restoration. People have been coming here for a hundred and forty years, which is why it feels like a town rather than a resort.

Puerto de la Cruz is perfect for you if...

• You want the Canaries with a town attached, where people live and shop and sit out in the square rather than clocking off at the end of the season

• You would rather look at Mount Teide over breakfast than at another hotel block

• You like the idea of a beach made of black volcanic sand, it's like a normal beach, but gothic and interesting

• You want winter sun that is just four hours away, in the same time zone

• You are travelling with people who want different things, and a town with a zoo, a botanical garden, an art-designed lido and a carnival can keep all of them happy

• You have done the south of Tenerife and want to find out what the rest of the island is actually like

🏨 What are the best hotels in Puerto de la Cruz?

The hotels here are unlike the south: a lot of them are long-established, several properties are family-owned, and the ones on the hillside come with a view over the valley that no beachfront in Tenerife can match. See the full set on the Puerto de la Cruz hotels page or browse our top picks below..

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 What are the best family hotels in Puerto de la Cruz?

• BLUESEA Costa Jardin & Spa is the big family option next to Playa Jardin and Loro Parque, with a spa, an ice cave, evening entertainment and all-inclusive board.

• BLUESEA Puerto Resort has two outdoor pools, a mini club and sports for all ages, and sits within walking distance of the seafront.

• Fergus Puerto de la Cruz has modern rooms in subtropical gardens, two pools with one heated through winter, sea-view rooms and a buffet with show-cooking stations.

💑 Where should couples stay in Puerto de la Cruz?

• Atlantic Mirage Suites & Spa is adults only, all suites, with king beds, sea-view balconies, kitchenettes and a pool terrace looking at Teide.

• AluaSoul Orotava Valley is adults only at 16 and over, all-inclusive, and set up the hill where the valley view is the whole point.

• Be Live Adults Only Tenerife has two heated pools, a wellness centre with sauna, jacuzzi and squash, and a full entertainment programme.

✨ What are the best hotels in Puerto de la Cruz for a view?

• Hotel Las Aguilas Tenerife Affiliated by Melia sits on a hilltop with uninterrupted ocean views, two pools, a children's club for ages four to twelve and hydromassage baths in the rooms.

• Tigaiga is family-owned, in Taoro Park, with a glass-walled pool area and panoramic restaurant windows looking over the town, the ocean and Teide. People come back to it for decades.

• TRH Taoro Garden Hotel is up in the same gardens, all-inclusive, and a short walk down through the park into the old town.

💰 What are the best value hotels in Puerto de la Cruz?

• Coral Teide Mar has Canarian wooden balconies in four thousand square metres of subtropical garden in La Paz, with views over the Orotava valley and the botanical garden a short walk away.

• Tropical is right in the middle of town with kitchenettes and balconies, and public transport a hundred metres away. Simple and central.

• Parque Vacacional Eden is all-inclusive apartments a few minutes back from the seafront, and the sharpest price on this list for what you get.

👉 All hotels in Puerto de la Cruz

Beaches in Puerto de la Cruz

The beaches here are black. Not grey, not dark gold: properly black volcanic sand, and it is the first thing that tells you that you are not in the south of the island. It looks extraordinary against the palms and the blue water, and it gets hot underfoot by midday, so bring something for your feet.

Playa Jardin is the main one and the reason to come: three linked beaches running west from the town, laid out by Cesar Manrique with palm gardens, lava-rock walls and planting behind the sand. Loro Parque is at the far end. There are lifeguards, showers and a row of places to eat, and it is a genuinely beautiful stretch. The Atlantic here is the real thing rather than a sheltered Mediterranean bay, so the surf can get up beyond the breakwaters and the flags are worth reading before you swim.

Playa Martianez is the town beach at the other end of the promenade, black sand again, popular with surfers and a good place to watch rather than swim when the swell is running.

Lago Martianez is the answer on the days the sea is rough, and honestly on most other days too. It is Manrique's seawater lido on the seafront: a chain of saltwater lagoons and pools, sculptures, palms and sunbathing terraces, filled from the ocean and completely calm. Adults pay a few euros, children less. Families and anyone who wants to swim lengths end up here rather than on the sand.

San Telmo is the small rock-pool area right in the old town, more a place to sit with a drink than a beach, but the sea comes in hard against the rocks and it is a good spot in the evening.

If you want golden sand and no waves, that is the south of the island and it is an hour away. The trade you make for black sand is a coastline that actually looks like a volcano built it.

Local Lingo

Spanish is the language and English is widely spoken along the seafront, less so in the old town and the market, which is where a few words pay off. Canarian Spanish is its own thing: softer than the mainland, closer to Latin American, and it drops the vosotros form entirely.

• Hola, OH-la, Hello

• Buenos dias, BWEH-nos DEE-as, Good morning

• Por favor, por fa-VOR, Please

• Gracias, GRA-thee-as, Thank you

• Una cana, por favor, OO-na KAN-ya, A small draught beer, please (the default order, and cheaper than a pint)

• Cuanto cuesta?, KWAN-toh KWES-ta, How much is it?

• La cuenta, por favor, la KWEN-ta, The bill, please

• Guagua, WA-wa, Bus (the Canarian word, and nobody here says autobus)

Where to Stay in Puerto de la Cruz

Puerto de la Cruz is a real town rather than a strip, so where you stay changes the holiday more than it does in a purpose-built resort. It is small enough to walk end to end in half an hour, and the seafront promenade connects almost all of it.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Where should families stay in Puerto de la Cruz?

• The Martianez seafront is the practical answer: the big hotels sit along the promenade within a few minutes of the Lago Martianez pools, the beach and the buses, and you can get back to the room without a taxi or a hill.

• Punta Brava, at the western end by Playa Jardin, puts Loro Parque and the best beach on your doorstep. Quieter in the evening, and a fifteen-minute walk or a short bus into the middle of town.

💑 Where should couples stay in Puerto de la Cruz?

• The old town, around Plaza del Charco and the harbour, is the atmospheric choice: eighteenth-century streets, the fishing quay, the best restaurants and the evening paseo happening outside your door.

• La Paz and Taoro, on the hillside above the town, is where the grand old hotels and the gardens are. You get the view down over the whole valley to the sea with Teide behind you, and a walk or a lift back down into town.

💰 Where can I stay in Puerto de la Cruz on a budget?

• Behind the seafront, in the streets around Avenida de Colon, there are plenty of straightforward apart-hotels and smaller places two minutes from the promenade at a fraction of the seafront rate.

• La Paz again works here, because the hillside hotels are often better value for the standard than the equivalent on the front, and the bus down is frequent and cheap.

Puerto de la Cruz Holidays 2026 / 2027 Travel Guide - Things to do

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 What are the best things to do on a Puerto de la Cruz family holiday?

• Loro Parque - One of the best-known animal parks in Europe, about 2.5km west of the centre next to Playa Jardin, with parrots, gorillas, penguins in a refrigerated Antarctic house, and a large aquarium. A full day, and the bus from town takes minutes.

• Lago Martianez - The seawater pool complex on the seafront. Calm, shallow in places, and far more interesting than a hotel pool, which makes it the reliable answer on a day the Atlantic is doing its thing.

• The botanical garden - Founded in 1788 and still full of species nobody expects, including a fig tree with aerial roots the size of a house. Children treat it as a jungle, which is more or less what it is.

• Plaza del Charco - The main square, shaded by Indian laurels, ringed with ice cream and coffee. Pedestrianised, so everyone can be let loose while the adults sit down.

💑 What are the best things to do for couples in Puerto de la Cruz?

• The evening paseo - Not an attraction, just what the town does. From about seven the seafront and the plazas fill up with people walking nowhere in particular, and joining in is the most Canarian thing you can do here.

• Dinner in the old town - Casa Pache does traditional Canarian cooking and is best known for its carne fiesta, marinated pork, with a fully gluten-free menu. The streets around the fishing harbour are where the good tables are.

• Cesar Manrique's Puerto - Lago Martianez and Playa Jardin were both laid out by the Lanzarote artist who spent his career arguing that tourism and landscape could get along. Seeing the two together is a proper afternoon.

• Mount Teide at sunset - An hour up through the pine forest into a volcanic crater above the clouds, and the drive is half the point. Note that two of the summit trails now need a paid permit booked online in advance.

🎉 What are the top things to do for groups on a Puerto de la Cruz holiday?

• Playa Jardin - Black sand, palm gardens, room to spread out, beach bars behind. The obvious group day.

• The old town bars - Canarian bars and tapas places rather than tribute acts, concentrated around Plaza del Charco and the harbour. Cheap, late and local.

• A guagua up the valley - The bus to La Orotava takes twenty minutes and drops you in a hillside town of carved wooden balconies with a completely different feel, then brings you back for dinner.

• Whale and dolphin watching - Boats run from the harbour, and the resident pilot whale population off this coast is one of the largest in Europe.

🎨 What are the best things to do in Puerto de la Cruz for culture?

• Casa de la Aduana - The seventeenth-century customs house on the harbour, now home to MACEW, the Eduardo Westerdahl contemporary art museum, plus a craft shop and the tourist office. Opening hours move around, so check before you make a trip of it.

• Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Pena de Francia - The town's main church, built between 1684 and 1697, right by the harbour and still an active parish.

• The old harbour and the fishermen's quarter - The oldest part of town, and where the whole place started before anyone thought of tourism.

• Canarian wine and banana wine - The Orotava valley makes serious volcanic wines worth a tasting. Banana wine is the curiosity: fermented from Canarian bananas at El Sauzal, about 25km east along the coast, and considerably better than it sounds.

When to Visit Puerto de la Cruz

🌸 Spring (March-May)

Temperature: 19-22°C with increasing sunshine and lovely mild evenings perfect for outdoor dining

What's On:

• Semana Santa (mid-April) – Holy Week brings respectful processions, beautiful floral displays, and deeply rooted traditions throughout the town

• Día de la Cruz (May 3) – residents adorn crosses with flowers, transforming the city into a vibrant tapestry of colour celebrating Cross Day

• Holi Festival (late April) – the Hindu community shares their culture with colourful powder throwing and rich gastronomy in Plaza de Europa

☀️ Summer (June-August)

Temperature: 23-26°C with warm but not scorching weather thanks to the north's slightly cooler climate

What's On:

• World Beer Festival (July 19-21) – Martiánez Beach hosts three days of vibrant music, craft beers, and culinary delights

• PHE Festival (September 5-6) – massive clubbing and music festival with BMX sea jump competitions, Phe Yoga sessions, and over 25 artists across two stages

• San Juan Night (June 23-24) – bonfires on the beaches, traditional rituals, live music, and the tradition of jumping waves to make wishes

🍂 Autumn (September-November)

Temperature: 22-25°C with warm seas from summer still perfect for swimming and fewer crowds than peak season

What's On:

• Summer Carnival (September 19-21) – explosion of music, colour, and joy at Costa Martiánez and Playa Jardín with orchestras, DJs, drag shows, and parades

• Oktoberfest (October, running since 1973!) – great beer and party atmosphere celebrating German culture in the sunshine

• Agatha Christie Week (November) – week-long event dedicated to the Queen of mystery with various activities for crime fiction enthusiasts

❄️ Winter (December-February)

Temperature: 18-21°C – feels like a proper mild British spring without the rain (still swimming weather by UK & Ireland standards)

What's On:

• International Carnival (February - March) – second-largest carnival in Tenerife with dazzling parades, gala events, and the hilarious Men's Marathon in High Heels

• Mascarita Ponte Tacón (during Carnival) – the famous crazy race where competitors don fancy dress and heels, absolutely brilliant spectator sport

• Burial of the Sardine (end of Carnival) – unique closing ceremony marking the end of festivities with mock funeral processions

More Destinations

• Tenerife - The biggest of the Canaries and genuinely several holidays in one island: a volcano with its own national park, black-sand north and golden-sand south, laurel rainforest in the Anaga hills and whales offshore all year.

• Canaries - Seven very different islands off the coast of Africa with warm weather every month of the year, from the volcanic drama of Lanzarote to the dunes of Fuerteventura and the rainforest of La Palma.

• Santa Cruz de Tenerife - The island capital, half an hour east, with the biggest carnival in Spain, serious shopping, Calatrava's auditorium on the waterfront and a golden-sand beach at Las Teresitas.

• Los Cristianos - A former fishing town on the south coast with golden sand, a sheltered bay, an excellent promenade and ferries out to La Gomera for the day.

• Playa de las Americas - The south's big resort, built for sunshine and volume, with watersports all along the front and the liveliest nightlife on the island.

• Costa Adeje - The smarter end of the south coast, with the island's smartest hotels, Siam Park next door and calm swimming beaches.