Puerto de la Cruz Green Walk

One of the great things about Puerto de la Cruz, the beautiful resort on the northern coast of Tenerife, is its natural green landscape – such a contrast to the south.

When I was there in December, I took the chance to capture a few shots “off the beaten track” to give some idea of what this part of the island is really like, once you leave the town itself.

You can walk up from the town centre, basically up the hillside, into an area called San Antonio and then turn right, and you will come across one of the two main barrancos or river beds that run down through the town.  Just across the river, we found a balcony where the flowers had taken over:

Puerto de la Cruz Balcony - Over-watered?

Perhaps the owner had over-watered them..

Just up past a few houses and we come to one of the many little lanes that run through the banana plantations that literally surround the town.  This particular lane is one of several that run parallel to the coast, behind the town, and it makes for a tranquil walk through the bananas, where the only sounds are the birds singing and the leaves of the banana plants rustling in the breeze.

Puerto de la Cruz Bananas

When we were walking here, we met a grizzled old man walking the opposite way, carrying a big bucket of paint.  Now, my Spanish is not that good, but his English was non-existent, but he was determined to get his message across.  After literally 10 minutes, we came to understand that he had a lovely renovated house to sell, right here amongst the bananas where it was so peaceful and quiet, and by the look of us it would be just what we wanted!  Well, I have to admit I was tempted to take a look, but we would have been wasting his time and I could not face much more of the barrage of Spanish dialogue that was being thrown upon us.  So we said our goodbyes and on we went.

After about 20 minutes, we came to another of the radial roads that run up the hill from the town, but by now we were well to the left (south west) of the town, above the Loro Parque and the little rocky outpost of rough old houses known as Punta Brava.  Being so high up still, we had a great vantage point to get a rare panorama of Puerto de la Cruz from the south west looking north east, as these next two shots show.

Notice how the hillside is green and look at the ancient terracing:

Puerto de la Cruz Terracing

In this final shot you can see the town itself, although most of it is hidden, down on the flat land at the base of the great hillside that rises steeply from the back of the resort.  Only the tallest of buildings in the flatter main part of the town are visible, the beige and white tower on the left being by far the highest building in Puerto de la Cruz (the infamous Bel Air apartment block – built decades ago and probably never to be repeated):

Puerto de la Cruz from the South-West

Well that’s it for now, but watch this space for more information and pictures from the beautiful resort of Puerto de la Cruz.  Meanwhile, if you’re itching to go there (as I am) then take a look at our great hotel deals here: Puerto de la Cruz Hotels.