With over a hundred years pedigree in the field, PUERTO DE LA CRUZ does resort tourism well. The bustling, former harbour town, which still acts as a focal point for the business communities in the Orotava valley, was historically much favoured by British traders who erected the imposing Grand Hotel Taoro here in 1889. The hotel itself helped to define Puerto de la Cruz as a tourist destination. In the 1890s it became a fashionable spa town and since then it has been a preferred haunt for wintering European royalty and dignitaries such as Winston Churchill and Bertrand Russell. Despite the influx of various high-rise complexes and the associated tackiness of mass tourism, Puerto has managed to retain something of the style and flair of a cosmopolitan spa as well as keep the feel of a small, friendly and busy Spanish town. It has maintained an individuality and character that the southern resorts lack. Particularly popular with a more mature holidaying clientele, much in evidence promenading and pottering happily there, Puerto boasts the highest rate of return visits of any resort in the world.