Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the island's capital and its most urban experience, a working city of 200,000 people that most beach tourists skip entirely. This is a mistake. The Plaza de España, recently redesigned around an artificial lake, faces the harbour where Atlantic liners and cargo ships pass. The Auditorio de Tenerife — Santiago Calatrava's extraordinary wave-shaped concert hall — stands at the waterfront like a piece of sculpture. The Mercado Nuestra Señora de África, a covered market, has some of the best fresh produce in the Canaries.
The city's Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre holds one of the finest collections of Guanche artefacts in the world, including mummies — the pre-Hispanic population practiced complex mummification. The Parque García Sanabria, the largest urban park in the Canaries, provides shade and a sense of calm in the city centre. Santa Cruz is an easy half-day from anywhere on the island and gives a more honest picture of Canarian life than the resort towns.