Santa Cruz de Tenerife Iconic Areas

Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a city with a variety of notable landmarks and areas. This article will share how multiple zones/districts stand out in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and offer insight into the layout of this magnificent city. A map of the city will be included in this article to help with the visualization of these areas and landmarks.

1.) Zona Centro

This area is considered to be the Old Town Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It is now also classified as the City Center Zone (Zona Centro). The streets are lined with restaurants, bars, cafes, hotels, apartments/flats, casinos, sports betting businesses, tattoo shops, tourist shops, barbershops/salons, surf and skate shops, camping and outdoor activities supply stores, and clothing stores of local Spanish brands and global brands, such as Foot Locker and Adidas.

There are multiple bus stops and metro stations in the city. The area is also home to multiple plazas, which were packed with people during Carnaval, which is a subject that I’ll dive deeper into in one of my future articles.

2.) La Guiri Bar

La Guiri Bar is located in the City Center of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and is the perfect bar to visit if you’re looking to make connections with expats or people who are from other English-speaking countries. However, you can also meet people from Spain here as well, this is just one of the more notable expat bars in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The bar is super pretty inside and it reminds me of the super cool sort of elegant 1920’s American/The Great Gatsby or upper-class 17th-21st century vibes that many British tea houses/restaurants continue to display today. The bar also gives off home-like/comfortable vibes with the furnishings and general layout of the bar.

3.) Teatro Guimerá Statue

The theatre mask statue at Teatro Guimerá is just one of the many art pieces and murals that Santa Cruz de Tenerife is comprised of because art is a huge part of the culture of the city. Teatro Guimerá is located near a metro station with the same name, and it is one of the many metro stations in Zona Centro.

4.) Parque Garcia Sanabria

Parque Garcia Sanabria is the largest park in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and it is filled with flower displays and fountains. Every morning and afternoon there is a decent-sized crowd in the park. The park is located just outside of what is considered Zona Centro.

5.) Los Llanos

Los Llanos is a district of Santa Cruz de Tenerife that hosts Intercambiador, which is the bus terminal that I mentioned in a previous article. In addition to Intercambiador, there are also three shopping malls/shopping centers in the area, each designed differently. The three shopping centers are El Corte Inglés, Centro Comercial Meridiano, and Centro Comercial Nivaria (Nivaria Center). The malls contain stores of fashion clothing brands, such as Zara and Guess.

The layout of El Corte Inglés reminds me of Harrods, the major department store/shopping center in London. It is built extremely tall, and the different clothing/makeup and beauty sections and restaurants/grocery areas seem to flow into each other on each floor of the building. Centro Comercial Meridiano and Centro Comercial Nivaria remind me of American malls, where there’s a giant open floor or wide hallway with doors to the different retail stores lining the walls. The area of Los Llanos is also home to Carrefour, which is basically the European equivalent of what would be the product of combining Costco and Walmart.

Mentioned Areas Map

Also, as a few final notes, located near Plaza de España is the famous Santa Cruz sign and the Fred Olsen ferry/cruise ship, which I’ve used to travel from Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Gran Canaria, which takes about an hour and 20 minutes each way. There are five or six different options for departures and arrivals timing-wise, so depending on your daily schedule, you have options to stay at your arrival destination for a few hours or all day. Tickets can also be spread across multiple days, so you can spend more than one day on another island if you want. The tickets are available on their website and Gold Class is the seating area I reserved a seat in. The pricing isn’t too expensive, so Gold Class is worth it, and the service is similar to what you’d expect if you were flying first class.