Santa Cruz de Tenerife Off The Beaten Path

San Cristobel De La Laguna to give it its full and complete name is just 20 minutes by bus from Santa Cruz. La Laguna was the first capital of Tenerife, holding that title for some 200 years until Santa Cruz took over in the 1920's. It's also the second largest city of Tenerife (it almost merges into Santa Cruz) and is a university city.
The old-town core of the city is lovely, largely unchanged over the centuries and containing some lovely old buildings and streets, especially around the main square.
Beyond this old core it is quite nice too, and the university quarter is interesting and has some decent cafes and bars aimed at students - which means low, low prices!

The beach is hemmed in by a breakwater which virtually encloses the whole bay. This makes the bathing inside of the breakwater very safe, and the sea is always calm here. On the day we visited the waves were crashing everywhere else, but the breakwater kept the bathing water like a mill pond.
The palm trees are nice for giving a bit of shade, which would otherwise be hard to come by, as well as adding a very picturesque look to the beach.

At the village of San Andres, about 20 minutes from Santa Cruz by bus, is Las Teresitas.
Las Teresitas is possibly the best beach in Tenerife, though it is 100% man made. Lovely fine gloden sand has been imported to fill the entire sweep of the bay and a breakwater has been built right across the bay to create what is almost a swimming pool, protected from the worst that the altlantic breakers might bring.
The beach is backed by palm trees and kiosk bars, as well as showers, toilets and changing huts, and naturally there is a lifegurad and first aid hut.
As San Andres is a fishing village it is filled with seafood restaurants, some of which look very good. Being so close and easily accessible from Santa Cruz the beach is easy to visit for a morning or an afternoon - we went on the morning and visited La Laguna in the afternoon, all by bus.

For me the best beach on Tenerife. This is a great beach for both sun worshipers and surf enthusiasts as the waves on this beach really carry you away. This beach ispopular with young people but never gets over crowded (maybe because acces is quite difficult) This beach is also clothes optional so you can go au naturel if you wish.
Directions :
From El Rincon roundabout (la Orotava/Puerto de la Cruz) drive or walk down to the end of the road.Park car near restaurant and continue on foot down a narrow valley (baranco) steep at times for about 10/15 mins. When you reach a clifftop path turn left and follow path for 150m until you arrive at some steps that lead down to the sea. The beach is directly below you. In actual fact there are 2 beaches - acces to the larger 2nd beach is sometimes impossible due to high tide.
The trek to Los Patos is quite long but believe me it's well worth it.

Many of the interesting buildings are on the beaten path, but one day I found myself taking the bus much further than I had intended and found this interesting building. I quickly snapped a picture through the bus window in hopes that I would find the building again- but never did. (The bus window was quite dusty as you can see.)

Hmmm... like the udders of a cow- which I thought to be interesting since the Canarian's don't eat or drink many cow products.

Santa Cruz seems to be somewhat of an Architect's playground. There are many interesting buildings to be discovered in this little city.