Santa Cruz de Tenerife - the capital of Tenerife

Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of Tenerife and at the same time the capital of the province. The province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife consists of 4 Canary Islands: Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The city has around 250.000 inhabitants and is the second biggest city of the archepilago after Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The city of La Laguna as well as Tegueste and El Rosario are more or less merged together with Santa Cruz  and they have around 420.000 inhabitants which is more than half of the population of the island. Tourism isn´t all that important for Santa Cruz although the most beautiful beach on the island, Las Teresitas, is situated next to the village of San Andrés, only a few minutes drive from the capital. The beach is mostly used by local people, especially during the weekends.

A daily trip to Santa Cruz is really worth it and shouldn´t be left out. The best thing to do is to drive to the car park next to the harbour ( follow the signs Puerto ) and from there you can walk into the town centre. You will find nice shops and restaurants and the beautiful public garden is worth a visit too. Apart from that you can visit the African market, the church of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción and the magnificent  Auditorium, finished in 2003 and designed by the Spanish architect Calatrava who also designed the Opera-House in Sidney.