Puerto de la Cruz originally has been the port for the inland located La Orotava and is today the sixth-largest city on Tenerife and the tourist center at the north coast with a constantly rising number of inhabitants.

After a volcanic eruption in 1706 of a lateral caldera of the Teide, the westward located Garachico, which was at the time the most important port of the island, was buried to large parts, and Puerto de la Cruz became the most important port of the north coast.

At the end of the 19th century came the first English tourists, and starting from 1950 developed here one of the tourist centers of Tenerife with the "Jardin Botánico" (botanic garden) and the Loro Parque.