Tenerife: A Paradise in the Atlantic

There are many things that make this Canary Island special.

People choose Tenerife mostly by its weather which certainly plays an important role. In fact, it is known as the Island of eternal spring. The average temperatures fluctuate between 63- and 77-degree F throughout the year.

What you will find in Tenerife is a paradise of black sand beaches, good weather all year round and amazing Canarian food. This, like the other six Canary Islands, has a myriad of small villages and beautiful beaches that enchant visitors.

Here you will discover the most important and tourist sites you surely will want to visit there.

Puerto de la Cruz

The main tourist resort is Puerto de la Cruz – a small town in the north of Tenerife. It has everything Tenerife is famous for: amazing cuisine, old town and stunning black sand beaches of volcanic rock. A wide boulevard lined with tourist shops, restaurants and hotels is a major attraction. You can book your hotel at the Barceló Hotel Group – check the Black Friday resort deals and discover exclusive discounts.

Puerto de la Cruz used to be a small fishing village and there are parts of the city that look like it. The old town is a picturesque scenery of small colonial houses and narrow streets. Plaza del Charco is a small square by the old harbor, full of palm trees, restaurants and shops.

As mentioned before, the beaches in Tenerife are famous for their beautiful black sand beaches and in Puerto de la Cruz you can explore many of them: Playa de Martiánez, Playa del Bollullo and Playa de Castro are some of them.

Mirador La Paz has the best sunset place at Puerto de la Cruz. As the viewpoint is quite high up on a mountain it allows tourists a panoramic view of the whole city, the beach and the sun sinking into the ocean.

In the Paseo San Amaro you can visit the stairs of Agatha Christie where she wrote one of her books during her stay in the 1920s. Even today, locals proudly celebrate the Agatha Christie Festival in Tenerife once a year.

Lago Martiánez is an artificial pool complex with seawater which is a great alternative if you already visited the beaches.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

It is the capital of the island and shared capital of the Canary Islands.

The city is known for its famous carnival, declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest and considered the second largest in the world after Brazil.

It is also known for its historic buildings including the Auditorium of Tenerife, which is considered one of the greatest exponents of contemporary architecture.

The towers of Santa Cruz, which at 400 ft are the tallest twin towers in Spain, also stand out in the panoramic view of the city.

Other highlights are the Plaza de España and the García Sanabria Park. Plaza de España is the heart of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and is the largest square in the Canary Islands. The square has a large artificial lake and is a very attractive site where tourists and locals can have a good time. The García Sanabria Park is a large urban park also located in the center of the city.

The Teide National Park

Going to the National Park of Teide is a must when visiting Tenerife. This island is famous for its volcano, a natural wonder absolutely worth seeing.

Tourist can reach the National Park by bus or car. There are countless viewpoints on the way up to El Teide and many places to stop, walk around, explore, read signs and take photos.

From any part of Tenerife you can visit this volcano, Teide, the highest mountain in Spanish territory and the most visited place in Spain. The altitude of Teide also makes the island of Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world. It is considered the most emblematic natural monument of the Canary archipelago.

El Teide has the world’s largest shadow cast over the sea. This phenomenon occurs as the height of the sun decreases during sunset, which also causes the shadow to extend to partially cover the island of Gran Canaria or La Gomera at sunrise.

One characteristic is that the shadow has a perfectly triangular shape, although the silhouette of Teide itself is not a perfect triangle.

It’s quite frequent that visitors and tourists climb at sunset to the top of the volcano to witness this unique phenomenon in the world.

To sum up, in Tenerife you can laze on the beach all day, or lurk around the hotel swimming pool, and never venture out to discover the pleasures which abound in the island, or you can hire a car and visit old towns like Garachico, La Orotava or La Laguna, drive through the Mercedes Forest, surf in San Marcos or Taganana, and try the local restaurants or guachinches for a taste of typical food.