Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of Tenerife — the largest of the Canary Islands (2,034 km², 917,000 inhabitants), an autonomous community of Spain in the Atlantic Ocean 300 km west of the African coast and 1,800 km southwest of mainland Spain. Santa Cruz (population 210,000) is the administrative capital of both Tenerife and the Canary Islands autonomous region (jointly with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the peculiar co-capital arrangement of the Canaries) — a lively Spanish port city on the northeast coast of Tenerife whose primary claim to fame is the Tenerife Carnival (the second-largest Carnival in the world after Rio de Janeiro, held in February-March, drawing 250,000 participants at peak nights; the Santa Cruz Carnival has the longest continuous tradition of any Spanish Carnival, originating in the 17th century, and was banned by Franco and survived underground). The island of Tenerife itself is dominated by Mount Teide (El Teide, 3,715 m — the highest mountain in Spain, the highest point in the Atlantic Ocean, the third-largest volcano in the world measured from its ocean base at approximately 7,000 m; UNESCO World Heritage Site; visible from Las Palmas 180 km away on a clear day; the lunar-like volcanic landscape of the Teide National Park surrounds the cone), and has the finest range of climates of any European-territory island — the northeast has lush laurel cloud forest (the Anaga Rural Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with the largest surviving fragment of the ancient Macaronesian laurisilva forest that covered all of southern Europe in the Miocene period), while the south coast bakes in guaranteed sunshine at 25°C year-round. The Tenerife cuisine features the most distinctive food culture of the Canary Islands: papas arrugadas (small salted potatoes boiled in extremely salty water until the skin wrinkles and the salt crystallises on the surface, served with mojo rojo — red pepper and cumin sauce — and mojo verde — green coriander sauce — the definitive Canarian food), gofio (toasted grain flour — wheat, barley or corn — mixed with water, milk or wine into a dough or porridge that has been the staple food of the Guanche indigenous people and their successors for 1,000 years), fresh tuna from the local waters, and the Tacoronte-Acentejo DO wines (the volcanic soil Listán Negro reds of the northeast slope).
Parque García Sanabria (the tropical garden in the centre of Santa Cruz — the finest urban botanical garden in the Canary Islands, with 3,000 plant species from the Canaries, Africa, Asia and the Americas, monumental sculptures by local and international artists, the famous "living wall" of tropical plants, and the cast-iron gazebo of the 19th century; the garden is a UNESCO-listed cultural heritage site) and the Santa Cruz city walk — the Rambla de Santa Cruz (the Canarian equivalent of Las Ramblas), the Mercado Nuestra Señora de África (the covered market with fresh tuna, papas arrugadas potatoes, tropical fruits, Canarian cheeses and mojo sauces), and the Auditorio de Tenerife (2003, Santiago Calatrava — the sculptural concert hall that defines Santa Cruz's modern waterfront).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideEl Teide (3,715 m — the highest mountain in Spain and the highest point in the entire Atlantic Ocean; the third-largest volcano in the world from its base on the ocean floor; UNESCO World Heritage Site 2007; the volcanic landscape of the Las Cañadas caldera surrounding Teide is the most surreal terrain in Spain — the multicoloured pumice fields, the Los Roques de García rock formations, the Llano de Ucanca plain at 2,100 m altitude surrounded by 500 m volcanic walls; the Teide cable car (4 km, 8 min, from 2,356 m to 3,555 m — the second-highest aerial cable car in Spain; summit access permit required from October for the last 200 m to the rim crater, free but must be booked in advance at the Parques Nacionales website).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePapas arrugadas (the wrinkled potatoes — small Canarian potatoes, ideally the "papa negra" or "papa bonita" varieties (endemic Canarian potato varieties from the Tenerife highlands grown since the 16th century Spanish import from the Andes) boiled in water so salty it is near-brine (the traditional method used seawater; commercial restaurants use 250g of salt per litre) until the water evaporates and the salt crystallises on the skin in a white crust — served warm with the two mojos: mojo rojo (red pepper, cumin, garlic, olive oil, paprika — the more common version) and mojo verde (green coriander or parsley, garlic, olive oil, cumin — the fresher-tasting version); the definitive Canarian dish, listed by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best dishes in the world.
The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival (the second-largest Carnival in the world after Rio de Janeiro — officially recognised as the world's second largest by the Guinness World Records; held in February-March depending on Lent; the Carnival Queen election (the first event of the Carnival season, typically in late January, where candidates compete in increasingly elaborate costumes — the winning costume is typically 5-6 m tall and weighs 200+ kg); the Coso parade (the main Carnival parade through the Rambla and Avenida de Anaga, 200,000 spectators); the entierro de la sardina (the Burial of the Sardine — the closing ceremony, a mock funeral for a giant papier-mâché sardine to symbolise the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent); the Carnival Museum in the Santa Cruz cultural centre documents the history from 1666 to present.
The Anaga Rural Park (UNESCO Biosphere Reserve — the rugged mountain spine of the Anaga peninsula, the northeastern tip of Tenerife, rising to 1,000 m; the park preserves the largest surviving fragment of the ancient Macaronesian laurisilva — the subtropical laurel cloud forest that covered all of southern Europe, northern Africa and the Canary Islands during the warmer, wetter Miocene period (23-5 million years ago) before the Mediterranean climate dried; the forest is perpetually draped in cloud and mist (the trade wind clouds catch on the peaks), creating a temperate rainforest ecosystem of ancient Canarian laurel, Canarian pine, tree heather 10 m tall, and Macaronesian endemic plants; 40+ marked hiking trails from 2 to 15 km).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTaganana (in the Anaga valley, accessible via a spectacular winding road down from the Anaga ridge through the laurisilva — considered one of the most dramatic mountain roads in the Canary Islands; the village of 400 inhabitants, the oldest continuously inhabited settlement on Tenerife, sits in the steep-sided Anaga valley above the black sand Atlantic coast; the 16th-century church of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves has a fine polychrome wooden altarpiece; the village bar and the two restaurants serve the local almonds, homemade wines and the octopus from the Taganana fishing boat) and the Benijo beach (the wild black volcanic sand beach below Taganana, with powerful Atlantic waves and the offshore islets Roque de las Bodegas).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePlaya de Las Teresitas (the famous artificial beach 8 km north of Santa Cruz — in 1972 the Tenerife government imported 1.4 million tonnes of fine golden sand from the Sahara Desert and deposited it on a natural bay to create the only non-volcanic-black sandy beach on the northern Tenerife coast; the Sahara sand combined with a breakwater creates a perfectly sheltered, gentle-wave bay of golden sand in an otherwise dramatically volcanic landscape; the palm tree promenade, the view across to Anaga peninsula and the fishing village of San Andrés adjacent) is the Santa Cruz municipal beach and the most visited beach in the north of the island.
Tacoronte-Acentejo (the wine DO of the northeast Tenerife slope — the finest wine appellation in the Canary Islands, producing Listán Negro red wines of volcanic intensity from vines growing in black lapilli volcanic soil at 400-700 m altitude; the area east of Santa Cruz on the way to La Laguna has the most concentrated wine scene on the island) and gofio (the ancient Guanche staple: the toasted grain flour — typically wheat, barley or corn — mixed into a thick porridge with water or milk, or rolled into balls with honey, or added to stews as a thickening agent and flavour base; gofio has been continuously eaten by the people of the Canary Islands for 1,000 years and is now a fashionable ingredient in fine dining across Spain).
San Cristóbal de La Laguna (4 km west of Santa Cruz — UNESCO World Heritage Site 1999: the first colonial city in the Americas was planned on the La Laguna model — the city, founded 1496 as the first Spanish colonial capital of the Canary Islands, was designed without defensive walls using a pre-planned grid street layout with a central plaza mayor; this urban model (the non-walled, grid-planned colonial city) was exported directly to the Americas — Havana, Lima, Mexico City and dozens of other colonial capitals used La Laguna as their planning template; the 15th-16th century colonial mansions, the cathedral and the convents of the historic centre are the finest late Gothic and early Renaissance ensemble in the Canary Islands.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMasca (the remote mountain village in the Teno Rural Park, 60 km southwest of Santa Cruz — accessible by a spectacular road of hairpin bends through the Teno volcanic mountains; the village of 100 inhabitants at 650 m altitude on a narrow volcanic ridge above the Barranco de Masca — the gorge that drops 4 km from the village to the Atlantic coast, the most dramatic hiking route in Tenerife: the 4-5 hour descent through the gorge (experienced hikers only; no shade, rope-assisted sections, ends at the coast where a boat returns hikers to Los Gigantes) passes through volcanic rock formations, cave hermitages and the palm grove at the coast.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLos Gigantes (the vertical volcanic cliffs on the west coast of Tenerife, rising 600 m directly from the Atlantic Ocean — the name means "the Giants"; the cliffs are the remnant of an ancient volcanic caldera wall; the whale and dolphin watching here is the finest in Europe — resident pods of short-finned pilot whales live year-round in the calm waters between the cliffs and La Gomera island 30 km west; the sunset from the Los Gigantes marina (the sun sets behind La Gomera on the western horizon, silhouetting the island and its forests against the orange Atlantic sky) is the most photographed Tenerife coastal sunset.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe farewell Tenerife dinner — cherne (wreckfish from the deep Atlantic waters west of the Canaries — a dense, meaty white fish grilled or baked with gofio crust), vieja (parrotfish — the multicoloured reef fish that is the most-eaten fish in the Canary Islands, grilled whole with mojo verde and papas arrugadas), and bienmesabe (the traditional Canarian dessert: a cold cream of ground almonds, eggs, sugar and lemon — the name means "tastes good to me" in Spanish; a Moorish-origin sweet that survived in the Canarian tradition longer than in mainland Spain) at the waterfront restaurants of Los Gigantes or Santa Cruz.