Now a lively and historic university town, LA LAGUNA was Tenerife's first major settlement and, for over two hundred years, its capital. Though the government may have moved, and its bland suburbs now melt with Santa Cruz, its well-preserved centre remains a showpiece of Canarian architecture and the city remains the cultural, religious and learning centre of Tenerife. A good deal higher than Santa Cruz and so with a considerably cooler, cloudier and rainier climate than at the coast, the town took its name from its proximity to a former lagoon which was drained as late as 1837, after having already shrunk as a result of logging in the area. Today, La Laguna is seen at its best during festivals, particularly Corpus Christi, when many of its central streets are bedecked with complicated patterns of flowers

The Town

La Laguna does little to court the tourist industry, and despite being crammed full with examples of the vernacular architecture, its most impressive buildings can be viewed within a couple of hours. Though the old town is in a geographic sense its centre, it's the university district, just to its south, that is the busiest area of town. This grid of streets buzzes with students and is awash with all the usual student hangouts - bars, cafés and bookshops. Though founded in town in 1701, the present university campus, just beside the motorway, was built in the 1950s and is nothing special