A Perfect Day in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

22 Jun A Perfect Day in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

The idea for this “Perfect Day in Puerto de la Cruz” article came to me recently.

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but ever since I started writing about Tenerife again, random memories have been coming back to me constantly: a photo of a meal, a beach somewhere in the north of the island, a coffee in the morning, or a picture of me and my fiancée sitting on the balcony on Christmas morning in Puerto de la Cruz.

And at some point, I started wondering: what would a perfect day in Puerto de la Cruz look like for us?

The problem is that I quickly realized I have too many ideas for them to fit into a single day.

Because Tenerife is not the kind of place you experience in one rhythm only. Some days you want ocean walks and slow mornings in Puerto de la Cruz. Other days you want to drive toward Anaga or Teide without any real plan. Sometimes the perfect day means doing almost nothing. Other times it means spending hours wandering around the island.

So, this probably won’t be just one perfect day. It will most likely become a flexible version of one — something you can adapt depending on what kind of Tenerife you are looking for.

For a broader view of the island, you can also read my Tenerife Travel Guide, based on two long trips and 31 days spent exploring both the north and the south.

For me, the perfect day starts by stepping onto the balcony.

I know the first instinct most people have in the morning is to drink coffee immediately, but honestly, in Puerto de la Cruz I think the best possible way to begin the day is with a barraquito. Yes, even with alcohol.

That’s how I started almost every morning in Tenerife and, when I think about my ideal day on the island, I genuinely cannot imagine it starting differently.

So, the first thing I would do is simple: walk onto the balcony, spend a few quiet minutes looking either toward the ocean or toward Teide, depending on the weather and the apartment we are staying in.

And then, without any complicated plans, we would slowly head toward our favorite place in Puerto de la Cruz for coffee, wine, or simply a small break during the day.

That place is Fregata.

We spent a surprising amount of time there during our trips, especially in the mornings, sitting near the harbor while drinking barraquitos and watching people move through the port.

It is not necessarily the kind of place you constantly see recommended in guides. But maybe that is exactly why we kept returning.

There is one important thing I should mention from the beginning: for me, a perfect day in Puerto de la Cruz means spending almost the entire day inside Puerto de la Cruz itself.

If you are considering using the town as your base, I also wrote about where to stay in Tenerife and how Puerto de la Cruz compares with the south.

The temptation to leave is huge. In Tenerife you constantly feel like there is always another village, another beach, another viewpoint or another spectacular road just fifteen or twenty minutes away.

But that is exactly what I love here. Sometimes the best decision is simply to stop chasing the next place.

So for this version of the perfect day, we stay in town.

After the barraquito, one of the most relaxing things you can do is walk along the seafront all the way toward the edge of Puerto de la Cruz without any real direction or urgency. I picked El Penon del Fraile as the edge of the Old Town and the place where I would turn and start wandering the city streets.

And then slowly start getting lost again inside the small streets of the old town. Narrow streets, stone pavement, wooden balconies and old buildings that somehow make Puerto feel less like a resort and more like a place where people still actually live.

I think that is what I loved most about the city. Not necessarily the architecture itself, but the fact that Puerto de la Cruz feels built for aimless wandering.

And there is something else that defines the atmosphere of the city for me: the murals.

Tenerife is extremely well known for street art, and Puerto de la Cruz is full of enormous murals hidden between buildings. Sometimes we completely changed our route simply because we spotted another mural two streets away.

I think that is exactly what I would do during a perfect day here: turn those murals into stopping points and spend hours zigzagging through the city without rushing anywhere.

The goal, at least for me, would be to walk enough and move enough throughout the day that eventually I would feel like I had earned a stop for churros con chocolate.

And that stop would happen somewhere very close to Fregata. I still need to check the exact name of the place, but it is maybe fifty meters away and I think we ended up there far too many times while staying in Puerto de la Cruz. And after checking it, this place is called Churreria Perdomo and we just loved the churros here.

If there are a few things in this life that are very difficult for me to resist, churros con chocolate is one of them.

Most people probably sit outside at the small tables nearby, but we almost never did that.

We preferred taking everything to go and finding a place near the harbor instead.

Sometimes we sat directly on the rocks, watching people swim or fishermen unload their boats. Other times we simply looked at the ocean and tried not to rush anywhere.

I think that is exactly what I love about Puerto de la Cruz: it feels designed for slow days.

After the churros, mostly to convince ourselves we had burned at least some of the calories, I would probably continue the walk toward the Agatha Christie stairs.

Puerto has this beautiful way of making you climb without realizing how much elevation you are gaining until suddenly the city opens and the ocean appears below you.

If you keep going, you eventually reach a small mirador — Mirador la Paz — where you get a beautiful view over one of the beaches in Puerto de la Cruz.

And honestly, I love that about the city too. The constant climbs and descents, the stairways leading toward the sea, the streets that suddenly end in viewpoints.

After that we would probably return on the same route and, instead of continuing forward, turn right near the Burger King and the supermarket nearby and walk down toward the beach we had just seen from above, Playa Martianez.

I do not think I would do anything particularly spectacular there.

Most likely we would just stop for a while and watch people swimming, surfing or walking along the sand.

Toward sunset there are sometimes groups of surfers still in the water, and one evening we caught an atmosphere there that honestly felt incredible.

Nothing organized. Nothing particularly touristy. Just one of those evenings where the light, the ocean and the people somehow align perfectly.

And afterward we would slowly walk back into Puerto de la Cruz along the ocean walls and continue exploring that side of the city as well.

The evening is probably the hardest part of this entire day to build.

And the reason is simple: there are too many good options.

I think this is the exact moment when I realized that the idea of a single “perfect day in Tenerife” does not really work.

Because Puerto de la Cruz is the kind of place where every evening can go in a completely different direction depending on the weather, the light, your energy level or simply your mood.

For example, if the sunset looks promising, one of the most beautiful things you can do is leave the city slightly and walk toward the cliffs where you can watch the light falling over Puerto de la Cruz to a place called Mirador Roger Piedra Gorda.( There is also a carpark just across the street and after so much walking, it could be a good idea)

You can even reach the area on foot, although it takes longer.

But that is exactly what I love about Tenerife. It feels built for slow movement and for moments where you simply stop and watch the light changing around you.

And honestly, watching the city slowly turn golden while the ocean becomes darker and darker is one of the strongest memories I brought home from Tenerife.

But there is also the completely opposite option.

Some evenings, I honestly think the best thing you can do is stay near the ocean and watch the golden hour fall over the surf beach.

The evening light there is beautiful, especially while there are still surfers in the water and the entire coastline starts turning orange and gold.

The food part, however, is very easy for me and I will start soon working on a large food article in Tenerife where I will list all the things I ejoyed.

You can now find all those experiences in my guide to the best food and restaurants I actually tried in Puerto de la Cruz.

Both our favorite pinchos place and the restaurant where we usually ate traditional Canarian food are located relatively close to each other.

You can choose either one very easily.

But if I think strictly about my perfect version of the day, I would probably go for traditional food.

It simply matches the rhythm of the day better.

The more difficult decision is where you spend the final part of the evening.

For the beach and surfer option, you can easily walk there.

For the sunset viewpoint outside the city, however, you will probably need a car, especially after walking all day long.

And honestly, in an ideal world, I would recommend the sunset option.

Especially if the light is good and the sky looks promising.

But there is also the realistic version.

The version where you are already tired after an entire day of walking and simply do not feel like driving anywhere anymore.

And honestly, I think that can become a perfect Tenerife evening too.

Walking toward the beach, watching the final light over the ocean and then ending the night with a glass of wine or a beer before returning to your hotel.

And I think something interesting appears here.

As you have probably noticed already, the beach is not actually the center of my perfect day in Puerto de la Cruz.

Which is slightly strange for Tenerife.

Of course, you could easily add beach time during the day. For example, while walking along the seafront toward the entrance of the city, you could continue a little farther toward one of the beaches in Puerto de la Cruz and spend some time there before returning into the old streets again.

But for me, Puerto de la Cruz was never only about the beach.

It was more about atmosphere, wandering without direction, light, ocean and the feeling that there is absolutely no reason to rush.

And if you are curious what I would eat during my perfect day in Puerto de la Cruz, the answer is honestly very simple.

I would start the morning with a barraquito and nothing else.

I would walk for hours, stop for churros con chocolate near the harbor and then save my appetite for a slow dinner with traditional Canarian food.

Patatas con mojo, queso con mojo, maybe some fish and, if I can find it that day, one of the traditional local soups served in small restaurants around town.

I think this kind of food fits Puerto de la Cruz perfectly.

Simple, slow and not trying too hard to impress anyone.

And at the end of the night, honestly, I would probably finish the day exactly where it started.

On the balcony.

Maybe with one last glass of wine, maybe simply looking toward the ocean or the lights of the city and thinking that the next day I could easily spend another entire day in Puerto de la Cruz and still discover different streets, different murals, different restaurants and different corners of the city to fall in love with.

And I think that is the most beautiful thing about Puerto de la Cruz.

The feeling that you never really finish the city.

This article is part of my larger Spain Travel Guide, where I collect all my itineraries, accommodation experiences, food articles and travel stories from Spain.