"Christmas in Puerto de la Cruz" Isla de Tenerife by annase

I spent Christmas 2007 in the town of Puerto de la Cruz, on the northern part of the Tenerife island. The north side of the island gets much more rainfall than the south, so it's very green and the temperatures are generally a bit cooler in the north than in the south. It's not like it's cold: the temperature was about +21 or +22 every day, and in a week's time that I stayed on the island, it rained only once. However, people who had spent the previous week on the island, said it rained every day, so they were really disappointed with their holiday.

It was my first time in "South" during Xmas and it was a bit bizarre, since it didn't feel like Xmas that much. We certainly didn't celebrate our Xmas the same way as we would have done had we been in the north. For instance, I didn't feel like stuffing myself like I normally would back home, but it was a nice change from the usual Xmas.

You need to venture outside the city centre to see more locals and the authentic island way of living, as there are masses of Scandinavian, British & German tourists and expats in Puerto de la Cruz during winter. Most of them are pensioners and therefore the athmosphere of the town is very "chilled out".

We rented a flat on the outskirts of the town in the most recent development called La Paz where most people are Spanish speaking, so we saw other people than the expats and the tourists as well. It was good to be away from the husstle and busstle of the most touristic areas, and we also did masses of walking and running since the beaches and the town centre was about 1-3km away (depending which route you'd take).

The town is half located on some really steep hills, and half near the sea. There are some pretty cruelsome hills and steps that lead upwards. Running up the hills was proper tiresome =)

The beaches in Puerto de la Cruz are of gorgeous black volcanic sand. To start with I was a bit put-off by the colour, but actually I started preferring the black sand, since it's more coarser than the fine lighter colour beaches in the south, but it's easier to brush the black sand off your skin and clothes after a day on the beach.

The waves on the beaches of the town are rather strong and the water in the sea is very salty and rather cool, but I went swimming twice which was rather nice.

The famous sea water pools (Lago Martianez) was a bit of a disappontment, since they do not heat the pools in the winter, so the water is absolutely freezing!!! It's not only Lago Martianez, but any other outdoor pool at the hotels and the residences. Therefore, you won't see anyone swimming in the pools despite the fact that they look very attractive and summoning.

• Pros:Very green and pretty nature
• Cons:Unpredictable weather, the town is generally not accessible for wheelchair users, lots of Scandinavian, German and British holiday makers and pensioners