The lush north of Tenerife boasts a number of imaginative gardens, the pick of which are the Botanical Gardens in the La Paz area of Puerto de la Cruz. The gardens were designed in 1788 as an acclimatization centre for exotic plants from the New World destined for mainland Spain. Many plants couldn't survive the Spanish winter however, so were subsequently left to thrive in Tenerife's climate. Now the gardens are a tranquil leafy oasis with all sorts of unusual plants to discover. Look out for the sausage and drunken trees and the 200 year old fig tree, said to swallow tourists who are accidentally locked in.