Penelope Cruz loves swimming with sharks.

The 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' actress - who has children Leo, three, and Luna, 11 months, with husband Javier Bardem - enjoys watching the sea creatures when she goes scuba diving, but insists she isn't ''crazy'' enough to get up close to the biggest and most dangerous of the species out of a contained environment.

Asked what every woman should try at least once, she said: ''Scuba diving--with sharks. I've done it in the Caribbean and Brazil. I think they were lemon sharks or reef sharks. If I ever do it with a great white shark, it will be in a cage. I'm not crazy.''

While the 40-year-old beauty loves scuba diving, her favourite holidays enjoy being lazy on a beach.

She said: ''I like anytime I'm on the beach, in the sun, lying on the sand.''

And despite getting to travel the world with her work, Penelope still has a list of places she is desperate to visit.

She said: ''I would love to visit Patagonia, and then I would go to the Amazon, because I've never been.''

The 'Nine' actress was left devastated when a ring she was given by her grandmother was stolen, as she had previously taken it everywhere with her and even insisted on wearing it while shooting movies.

Asked the best gift she's been given, she told America's Marie Claire magazine: ''A ring my grandmother gave me. I had it for years, but it was stolen. I did many movies in which it was part of my character's costume.''