Puerto de la Cruz on the north coast of Tenerife, in the Orotava Valley, at 4kms West of La Orotava, and about 37 kms NE of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Tenerife North International airport is 25 kms away.
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This municipality, the smallest in Tenerife is inhabited by just over 30 000, the Portuense people.
The lowest point is the coastal Atlantic zone and the highest is Las Arenas, a volcanic cone with an elevation of 249 metres. Farmland is tucked in the valley areas and within the Atlantic coastal zone, while urbanization covers much of the area and the terrain rises rapidly to the south.
Prior to the development of hotels and buildings, much of the area consisted of agricultural land. Considerable fiscal pressure led to the land being developed and the population shifted from rural to urban and tourism. The population is mainly urban today.
Places of Interest: Costa Martianez (El Lago) completed and designed by the famous architect Cesar Manrique, La Plaza del Charco in the town centre is worth a visit, Loro Parque, a famous park and zoo located on the outskirts of the city, Ermita de San Amaro, dedicated to the semi-legendary Saint Amaro.
Puerto de la Cruz, a welcoming and hospitable town if there is one thing that a traveler really feels like doing when he goes on holiday it is to discover special places while he feels just as if he were at home. And one of the things that surprises the visitor when he reaches the town is the open and welcoming character of the people. This is not an act but rather the desire to look after the customer, the product of centuries in which the Puerto resident has had close and continuous dealings with visitors who, although they spoke a different language and had different ideas, always fitted into the life of the town.
Nowadays, Puerto de la Cruz offers the most varied hotels and an enormous number of resources for leisure, culture, relaxation or contact with nature.
This is not the traditional district which has arisen to take advantage of the boom in tourism. The town has a history which goes back to the early 16th Century and it is the port activity that connects with the major cities of Europe and the young America. It is for this reason that Puerto de la Cruz has had an international reputation for over five hundred years.
Its vocation as a resort for tourism was born in the 19th Century when European travelers came here attracted by the excellent climate and the open and friendly character of the inhabitants. In these times, the word “tourism” had not yet been coined but of course the term must always come later than the matter it defines.
Puerto de la Cruz, as the first borough devoted to tourism in the Canary Islands, had its beginnings at the start of the second half of the 20th Century and since then it has consolidated its position as one attractive destination.