La Orotava & Puerto de la Cruz: Escaping The Tourist Traps

Escaping Tenerife's southern tourist traps means heading north to discover La Orotava's 16th-century mansions and the island's extreme volcanic coast. Forget the crowded sunbeds and modern resorts. Hundreds of years ago, northern Tenerife was a playground for the ultra-rich. I'm exploring La Orotava, a town built entirely on the side of a mountain, where 16th-century Spanish aristocrats funded lavish super-mansions with the region's booming sugar and wine trade. The ultimate status symbol here wasn't a supercar, but massive, intricately carved Canary Island pine balconies and sprawling inner courtyards. The ultimate display of this old money? A Masonic revenge garden built purely out of spite. A wealthy mother constructed a massive, defiant mausoleum at the top of the valley just to physically look down on the church that refused to bury her son. Down on the coast, the vibe shifts dramatically. Puerto de la Cruz might look like just another Brits-abroad resort at first glance, but it's actually the Canary Islands' original tourist destination. This was the pirate-proof economic engine that funded those mountain palaces. Walking the historic waterfront, you pass black sand beaches, vast saltwater pools designed by artist César Manrique, and the working-class neighborhood of Punta Brava. Here, old fishing houses are crammed right into the jagged volcanic rock, fighting the Atlantic waves every single day—a massive contrast to the manicured wealth up in the hills. Further along the northern coast, the manicured gardens vanish completely into unforgiving geography. The Mirador de Quinientos Escalones offers a dizzying 500-step drop down a sheer volcanic cliff, and the views at Mirador La Garañona feel closer to the wild, lush cliffs of Madeira than a typical Spanish holiday island. We even found a bizarre abandoned metal crane built just to haul sand up a vertical cliff face. It’s an incredibly strange, unforgiving side of the island. Let me know in the comments if you prefer this wilder, historic side of Tenerife over the southern resorts, and stick around for more anti-tourist-trap travel. Chapters: 00:00 - What was the ultimate playground for Tenerife's rich? 00:41 - How did sugar and wine fund La Orotava's super mansions? 01:58 - Why is there a Masonic revenge tomb in La Orotava? 03:17 - How did Puerto de la Cruz fund Tenerife's aristocratic palaces? 05:41 - What did César Manrique build on the Puerto de la Cruz waterfront? 07:20 - How do the houses of Punta Brava survive the Atlantic? 08:48 - Where is the 500-step cliff drop at El Sauzal? 10:15 - Why is there an abandoned sand crane at Mirador La Garañona? 11:24 - Why is northern Tenerife the wildest place in the Canary Islands? #Tenerife #CanaryIslands #puertodelacruz #laorotava