With a flying time from the UK of around 4 hours and 30 minutes, letting the plane take the strain is by far the most popular way of getting to Tenerife.

Many airlines – easyJet, Ryan Air, Thomson, Thomas Cook, Jet2, Aer Lingus and Monarch included – all offer convenient, low cost flights to Tenerife from a large number of regional airports.

The vast majority of flights land at Tenerife airport in the south of the island, also known as Tenerife Sur. The Tenerife airport in the north – Tenerife Norte – is smaller and mostly handles flights between the Canary Islands and to and from the Spanish mainland.

Although it only opened in 1978, Tenerife Sur is now one of the busiest airports in Spain. In 2011 a total of  8,656,480 passengers, 58,093 flights and 4,878 tonnes of cargo were handled here.

Luckily after getting to Tenerife airport you are not faced with long, tiring transfers. Most of the main resorts are a comparatively short distance away, with Playa de las Americas and Los Cristianos only about a 30-minute drive.

May, June and November are the best time to pick up a bargain when it comes to getting to Tenerife by plane. Conversely, avoid July, August and the Christmas/New Year period when flights are at a premium.

For those who like to get behind the wheel, driving is another way of getting to Tenerife. The route you take is through France and Spain, ending up in the port of Cadiz in southern Spain for the ferry crossing to the island.  The ferry leaves in the early hours of Sunday morning and arrives in Santa Cruz in the north of Tenerife on Tuesday morning, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the great on board facilities.

A very popular – and definitely the most relaxing – way of getting to Tenerife is via a cruise liner. Again Santa Cruz in the north is where these ships dock. From here you can explore the rest of the island, or simply wander around this lively and atmospheric capital city.

Remaining resolutely Canarian in character, today Puerto de la Cruz continues to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors looking to mix warmer climes with tranquillity, culture and, dare we say it, refinement.

Puerto de la Cruz receives more rain than the busy resorts in the south. The upside however is the lush vegetation that gives the whole area an almost sub-tropical appearance.

Many visitors are content to immerse themselves in the town itself, with its old fishing port, elegant plazas and narrow cobbled streets lined with traditional colonial-style cafés and bars.  However, Puerto de la Cruz offers plenty of other attractions.

One of the major draws of Puerto de la Cruz -  if not the whole island – is Loro Parque. Starting life in 1972 as a small parrot park, today’s 33-acre affair is very different with its Orlando-style killer whale, sea lion and dolphin shows, world’s largest penguinarium and gorilla enclosure.

Costa Martiánez meanwhile is a huge complex of seawater swimming pools, together with  two restaurants several bars and an island in the main lagoon that is home to a casino. It was built by Lanzarote-born artist Cesar Manrique back in the 1970s, and  remains one of the most admired coastal developments in the world

Last but by no means least are the botanical gardens of Puerto de la Cruz – or Jardín de Aclimatación de La Orotava as the locals like to call them.  Housing a magnificent array of plants from the four corners of the globe, this garden of Eden is the perfect place to escape from the heat of the summer.

Why not pay a visit to Real Island Drives for more in-depth information on this most delightful of towns?

The Friday before the Tenerife carnival starts, the opening parade takes place reaching a climax during the night when thousands of people dance in the streets in fancy dress. The carnival excitement and preparation stretches over weeks with lots of different contests for adults and children, musical performances, and much more.

On the Wednesday before the Tenerife carnival weekend, the Carnival Queen and her court is elected by a jury during a TV broadcast to the whole of Spain. It’s a huge event, with elaborate and very expensive costumes.

On the Friday the Announcement Parade takes place through the main part of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, heralding the start of the carnival.

On Saturday the carnival is in full flow with the day dedicated entirely to dance. You’ll find the crowds dancing and partying in the streets, outside bars and restaurants and cars driving around playing their own music and sounding their horns. It’s a cacophony of music, singing and vivid colours!

By Tuesday, the Carnival draws to a close with a parade to mark the official end of the festivities. A huge crowds turn up to watch the many different carnival groups, decorated floats and to see the carnival queen. There is even a special event for tourists coming in by bus from other parts of the Canary Islands.

But it doesn’t stop there! On Ash Wednesday, the “burial of the sardine” ceremony takes place. The city of Santa Cruz is in mourning and a giant sardine (made of paper) receives the full funeral procession, including wailing widows. Participants dress as popes, bishops and nuns to imitate blessings and religious rites. Yes, they are making mockery of the Catholic Church!

The carnival finally comes to an end with the Piñata weekend. Again, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is filled with music and performances and often has internationally renowned entertainment. On Sunday night, the carnival is concluded with a massive fireworks display.

For more information about the Tenerife carnival, take a look at Tenerife Carnival and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Santa_Cruz_de_Tenerife.

If you like the sound of the above, make sure you put the Tenerife carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on your calendar!

According to Wikipedia’s page on Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the city’s first denizens, who called the area Añazo, were the aboriginal Berber race known as the Guanches.  At that time Santa Cruz was mostly stretches of wild vegetation and it wasn’t until the arrival of the Conquistadors from Spain in the 1400s that the city started to grow into the metropolis we recognise today.

However, it wasn’t until the 1706 eruption of a volcano that destroyed the port of Garachico that Santa Cruz became not just one of the most important ports in the Canaries but also the Atlantic.

The harbour is one of Spain’s busiest and a central communications hub between Europe Africa and the Americas.  There is a high level of commercial and passenger traffic with Santa Cruz being a major stopover for cruise liners before crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

It is this nautical significance that prompted one of Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s most famous battles.  In 1797 Admiral Horatio Nelson was violently repelled as he tried to storm Santa Cruz with a task force of some 400 guns and 4,000 men.  The locals fought bravely and it was here that Nelson lost his arm before retiring from the painful defeat.

As the 19^th century dawned Santa Cruz de Tenerife really began to evolve and take shape.  With a royal decree in 1821 the city became the Canarian capital and a wealth of architecturally significant government buildings began to spring up along with civic monuments and public leisure spaces.

Nowadays, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a booming tourist destination drawing visitors to its globally famous carnival which takes place every February or March.  The city has also geared up to provide facilities for the hundreds of cruise ship passengers who make excursions into the centre during their stopovers.

For the general visitor in 2012 the city offers a break from the sunshine and sangria of the holiday resorts with its cosmopolitan atmosphere, glamorous architecture and range of museums, art galleries and performance spaces including the iconic Auditorio de Tenerife which has become a symbol of this captivating city.

Click here for more information on the history of Tenerife