Palmetum of Santa Cruz

The hill under your feet was the city's rubbish dump until 1983. It now carries palms from islands across the world, sorted into regional sections. Royal palms ring the main square of the Caribbean section, where a waterfall built from local rock drops into a pond edged with white sand and coconut palms. A baobab sown in 1996 grows by the lake in the Madagascar section, and two Corypha utan in the Australian section are the tallest palms in the garden.

Inside El Octógono, a half-sunken shade house of 2,300 m², the most delicate species grow dense over winding paths, streams and bridges. Most plants carry labels. From the lookouts on the ocean side the view runs over the city, the port and the sea, with benches to sit on. The garden is kept without pesticides or fertilisers, and wild birds are a common sight in the trees.

• Allow a few hours: the sections spread across the whole hill, and most plants are labelled.
• Shade is plentiful, but the paths cross an open hill in the sun; on hot days carry water and a hat.
• A simple kiosk roughly in the middle of the garden sells hot and cold drinks, ice cream and snacks.
• Toilets, including accessible ones, are by the entrance and in the centre of the garden.
• Dogs are not allowed.

The Palmetum rises on its hill at the seaward edge of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in Cabo Llanos, with the César Manrique Maritime Park alongside and the Auditorio de Tenerife close by.

Two car parks lie about 130 m and 275 m away in a straight line. Finding a space there ranges from easy to near impossible; the garage beneath the Auditorio de Tenerife is the fallback. The nearest stop, Auditorio y Centro de Ferias y Congresos, is about 220 m away.

You come in through the entrance building at the bottom of the hill. From there a tower with a spiral staircase and a lift climbs to a bridge that carries you into the gardens. On the way out, walk down the paths or take the lift.

Best: mornings, the earlier the better. Avoid: the middle of a hot day. The garden holds plenty of shade, but the paths between sections cross an open hill above the sea, and by midday the heat on the slopes wears a visit down.