Puerto de la Cruz - a different side to Tenerife

The hotel is situated in Puerto de la Cruz on north Tenerife. To our delight this is a real place, full of locals and Spanish tourists and not just Brits abroad. Great bars and restaurants, lovely to walk around by day or evening. During the day the hotel runs a free shuttle to/from the town centre which is about a 30 minute walk downhill - which would mean a stiff climb up after dinner. Fortunately a taxi is only about Euro4-5. The hotel has a nice pool area surrounded by a garden (not huge, but big enough to create a pleasant environment); and a big spa with indoor (small) and outdoor pools for a change of scene. Lots of activities arranged in hotel, eg wine tasting, and exercise classes in the spa, an enormous putting green to keep guests occupied. Be warned there are likely to be cloudy days - Mount Teide looms behind and sometimes sends clouds drifting down towards the sea and the hotel seems to be roughly where they stop. In September it's warm enough to sit by the pool on a cloudy day, of which we had 4 out of 10 days. Going down to the town takes you back into sun and there's a spacious lido there which charges Euro5 if you want to stay in the sun. Nice room. Excellent breakfast. Lovely staff. Great spa. All good. Great range of restaurants easily reached in Puerto de la Cruz; and also a couple of good places very close to the hotel.