Work Placement Report 2005
We - Claudia, Nikolett and Joshua - had the possibility to get to know the wonderful town of Puerto de la Cruz and its inhabitants during our internship of six months. Let us now show you the town in the way we got to know it, of course including personal tips for the day and for nightlife.
T O U R T H R O U G H P U E R T O D E L A C R U Z
We will start at the by far most popular square of the town: The Plaza del Charco. Day and night it is a meeting point not only for tourists but for many natives as well. Under the shady trees you can drink some coffee in one of the many restaurants surrounding the square or just relax on one of the benches around the fountain in the centre.
At the corner to the Calle Quintana, you can find the "Heladería Pingüino", unanimously rated by us as the best Italian ice-cream parlour of the town. Especially on the weekend there may be long queues - so you should not miss out.
Once you have found your way through the people on the Calle Quintana, on the right hand side, there is the nice little church "Iglesia de la Peña de Francia". If you follow the stairs up to the church and the nice place with its fountain you reach the Café Ebano. Especially in the mornings you can have a nice breakfast here and relax in the comfortable wicker chairs. If you want to cast a nice view at the sea, you should go straight on and pass the street in direction of the Calle San Telmo. Especially if the weather is good you can enjoy a magnificent view on the rocky bays of the north coast. At this point the beach promenade begins that leads along the sea side.
After having passed the small Eremita de San Telmo you head left for the Avenida de Colón, a wide pedestrian street with lots of palm trees on which you can saunter wonderfully. On the left now the famous lakes of San Telmo can be seen. Designed by the famous Canarian artist César Manrique, these are considered to be the town’s mayor tourist attraction. At the end of the Avenida you reach the smaller beach of Puerto de la Cruz, at the first glance the less inviting of the two beaches of Puerto de la Cruz, the Playa Martiánez. On the other hand from here you have a nice view on the entire coast scenery. When windy, the small sand strip is especially popular with surfers.
Of course you will find a lot of more nice attractions than the ones mentioned above in Puerto de la Cruz. Especially for swimming and sun-bathing you should choose the Playa Jardín on the west end of Puerto. This nice black beach is especially 
beautiful because of the many small creeks and the wonderful tropical gardens that were also designed by César Manrique. If you don’t want to take your sun-bath next to sunburned tourist, you should go to the outermost part of the beach in direction of Punta Brava: here you will meet mostly younger Canarians and Spaniards taking a bath or surfing.
If you have had enough of beach and centre and want to have a nice view on the panorama of Puerto you should by all means visit the Parque Taoro, situated slightly above the town. Reaching it you will have to climb some stairs, but you will be compensated by a wonderful park with artificial waterfalls and the best view over Puerto.
N I G H T L I F E I N P U E R T O
The rich nightlife of Puerto de la Cruz offers possibilities for every taste. Like in most of the places in the south, here as well nightlife generally begins quite late. Nevertheless, the cocktail bar "Color Café" with its stylish equipment is always worth a visit even during the week. Also very popular is the bar "Limbo" with its wonderful terrace. Natives as well as tourists meet here to start the evening in a relaxing atmosphere. 
From here it is only a few steps to the town’s most popular salsa club, the Cuban "Azúcar". Party here often starts a little bit earlier, and then people dance to typical South-American and Caribbean rhythms until the early morning hours. In 50m of distance you can find the "TFN", the most popular club among natives. Also very near, is the "Ebano", which usually opens late at night and then is transformed from a café into one of the hippest nightclubs in town.
Who likes to party to US-American R&B, Hip Hop or South-American Reggae will find several clubs and bars in the "Avenida Center". Near this you can find the "Vampis", which has the reputation to be the most tolerant disco of Puerto and where mostly house music is played. Last but not least, we’d like to mention the nearby "FM" with rock, grunge and metal music and also some live concerts. After all, Puerto’s nightlife has got something to offer for everybody.
P U E R T O D E L A C R U Z - A N I M P R E S S I O N
Like almost every town, Puerto de la Cruz as well doesn’t always show a uniform picture: Many tourist and the corresponding, in many cases not too picturesque infrastructure contrast with typical corners and places where the authentic Canarian lifestyle can still be found. At first glance one might think that this first aspect is dominant, but taking a closer look this opinion changes. In contrast to the seaside resorts in the south with its huge hotel complexes, Puerto de la Cruz is still a real and living town - getting to know the town a little bit closer you will still find many of the authentic Canarian peculiarities. Who makes the effort to look for these apart from the tourist hot spots will not be disappointed: Just come here and convince yourself personally!
Finally, the constructions have been finished and the magnificent artificial lakes of Puerto de
We personally can only recommend Puerto de la Cruz to everybody. Claudia, Nikolett and Joshua