La Laguna

San Cristobal de La Laguna was the island's capital for three hundred years and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the reason for the listing is not any singl…San Cristobal de La Laguna was the island's capital for three hundred years and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the reason for the listing is not any single building but the plan. Laid out from 1497 as an unfortified town on a geometric grid, it was the first of its kind and became the model that Spanish colonial cities across the Americas were built to. Walking it, that is invisible until someone tells you, and obvious afterwards.

What you see on the ground is a compact old town of low, brightly painted houses with carved wooden balconies and internal courtyards, a cathedral, several convents and a sixteenth-century church whose tower is the best viewpoint in the town. The main streets are pedestrianised and lined with bars.

It is also a university town, which gives it a nightlife that has nothing to do with the resorts: small bars, cheap food, and a crowd that is overwhelmingly local and young.

The practical points are the altitude and the weather. La Laguna sits on a plateau at around 550 metres and is regularly in cloud when the coast below is clear, so it is cooler and wetter than anywhere a visitor is likely to be staying. The northern airport is ten minutes away and Santa Cruz is fifteen.