Icod de los Vinos is one of the better reasons to leave Tenerife's beach resorts for the greener north-west. It is a wine town first, a tourist stop second, with steep streets, old Canarian houses, banana plots, and the famous dragon tree that has become one of the island's symbols.
Most visitors come for the Drago Milenario, and that is fair enough. The tree is enormous, old, strange, and theatrical, with a crown that looks almost designed rather than grown. But the town works best if you give it a few hours rather than treating it as a photo stop: wander the streets around the church of San Marcos, taste a glass of local malvasia, and look down toward the black-sand cove of San Marcos.
The strongest reason to stay longer is Cueva del Viento, a lava-tube system in the hills above town. Visits are by guided tour and need advance booking, but the cave gives Icod a geological anchor that most Tenerife towns do not have. It is easy to pair Icod with Puerto de la Cruz, Garachico, or the Teno road if you have a car.