Icod de los Vinos

If you planning your Icod de los Vinos holidays, the following information may help by giving you an overview of the resort.

You will find that an Icod de los Vinos holiday is one of the highlights of your holiday to Tenerife. A quaint little town some 22km west of Puerto de la Cruz and 3km inland from San Marcos [formerly a little fishing village but now developing into a small resort]. Icod de los Vinos contains one of Tenerife’s most famous sites – The Drago Milenario [Thousand-year-old Dragon Tree] which is the largest and oldest variety of tree associated for centuries with magic and mystery. The tree towers above the main road and you will not be able to miss it! Its dimensions being 17m high with a 6m circumference trunk it is an impressive sight – a tight-knit web of densely packed branches spouting upwards into a huge mushroomed canopy of green. It is said that Guanche chiefs used to hold court beneath the branches.

The best place to view the Dragon Tree is from the Plaza de la Iglesia, whose surroundings have been landscaped to give the tree the natural surroundings its grandeur deserves. The classic picture-postcard shot of your Icod de los Vinos holiday can be taken from here with a view of an equally impressive palm tree on the left and a whitewashed house with typical wooden Canarian balcony to the right. The square itself is covered in exotic vegetation and includes a superb range of trees from Madagascar. You will find a few shops here selling every type of souvenir of your Icod de los Vinos holiday, including cigars, embroidery and wine. You may also be able to find a bar or shop selling dragon tree seed and seedling which make novel [if frustratingly slow-growing] gifts.

The town of Icod de los Vinos is a delightful place to visit. You can relax on the black-sand beach at San Marcos nearby and there is also the small town of Garachico to visit nearby. The Guanches had a town here, a settlement name Benicod [Beautiful Place]. The Spanish colony which replaced it was founded in 1501 making it one of Tenerife’s oldest towns. The area has also been famous a long time for its wines – Vinos means wines. Two of the best wines are Icod and La Guancha and you may be able to find samples to taste and bought from various outlets around the town.

To the rear of the Plaza de la Iglesia you will see the whitewashed Iglesia de San Marco [St Mark’s Church] whose orange-tiled room and tower make the square even more picturesque. To see the rest of the town, take a visit to the Plaza del Pilar, a peaceful oasis from the tourist bustle. The walk up the cobbled lane from the Dragon Tree to Plaza de la Constitucion, which is an old square fringed with palms, laurels, oleanders and a rare eight-branched Washingtonia.

Disclaimer
By its very nature much of the information in our travel guides is subject to change at short notice and travellers are urged to verify information on which they are relying with the relevant authorities. Corona Holidays [UK] Limited cannot accept any responsibility for any loss or inconvenience to any person as a result of information contained above.