As I mentioned in my previous post about Puerto de la Cruz, there’s a plethora of activities in walking distance of the Apartamentos Casablanca. We arrived on a Thursday, exhausted after a sleepless night on an overnight flight to Madrid with a nap on the shorter flight to Tenerife North, grabbed a takeout pizza at the on-site restaurant, and settled in for more napping. When it became clear that Cassandra was taking a longer nap, I wandered the nearby area, discovering some touristy shops, restaurants, and a small grocery store, all within a couple blocks of the hotel. We did a similar wander later, picking one of the nearby restaurants as our dinner spot, and scoping out potential breakfast items at the grocery store.
While there were a number of items on our potential plans, we only booked one ahead of time: a Teide by Night tour that involved driving to the nearby national park – named for its prominent (dormant!) volcano, Teide, including dinner and stargazing. The overcast day had me a bit concerned until I realized we were driving through and then above the clouds.
Part of the Agatha Christie stairs, with each stair painted a different color with the name of one of her books 
A view of the ocean after climbing the Agatha Christie stairs 
A photo of me wearing a phoenix t-shirt with the volcano Teide in the background 
A nighttime photo of mountain and several visible stars during the Teide by night tour 
The volcano Teide at sunset 
A pigeon on a railing by a pond in one of many city parks 
A rambling of trees and plants at the local botanical gardens 
El Drago de Icod, a tree that’s estimated to be over 800 years old 
Me standing by an orca statue at Loro Parque 
A variety of orchids at the Orchid Garden in Puerto de la Cruz 
A view of Puerto de la Cruz from a high point of the city.
Before that late afternoon and evening excursion, scheduled for our first full day to preempt my inevitable shift back to being a morning person, we wandered up the nearby Agatha Christie stairs, peeking into some tourist shops and a scenic view of the coastline before finding lunch. We enjoyed an amazing sunset and an even more amazing view of the stars – above the cloud cover – in an area with minimal light pollution.
The next day involved walking to the nearby botanical gardens, lingering there for an extended period in lovely weather, then wandering back a slightly different route, which allowed us to discover a larger grocery store. Our plan for Sunday was to seek out a craft market that was advertised in the lobby, and while it turned out to be quite small, our return wanderings took us through the Taoro Garden, a public park with a several distinct areas including a sunken garden, playgrounds, dog park, and ponds… and, luckily for us, a restaurant.
Having taken the time to adjust to the time zone, Monday was an all-day adventure at Loro Parque, starting by catching their free train (tram, really) in Puerto de la Cruz and arriving just after opening. We stayed the entire day, catching the last train back after seeing almost every part of the zoo. The following day, we caught a bus to nearby Icod to visit the “Drago de Icod” – a tree that’s estimated to be between 800 and 1000 years old, a nearby butterfly house, and a banana museum that details the introduction of bananas to the Canary Islands and the resulting industry. That was the only day we really used our raincoats.
Wednesday turned into our big walking day – over 7 miles – starting a couple blocks away at the Orchid Garden, then wandering down towards the coastline for the Fishing Museum (which was primarily about fishing and other seaworthy vessels), the Archaeological Museum, and generally admiring the coastline and variety of shops. The next day, our last full day on the island, we headed up the Agatha Christie stairs again and kept going along a scenic path that gave us some great views of the city and the ocean. As with other areas in town, we found public gardens and a delightful restaurant before returning to pack and rest before a long travel day home.