Exploring Tenerife: Los Realejos

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In this post you'll find:

Intro

Did you know that the town with most festivities in Spain is in Tenerife? Do you want to enjoy nature and hiking, but you’ve already been to the most typical places: El Teide, Anaga, Masca…? Would you like to enjoy the traditions of the Canary Islands in a town full of charm, but far from the most touristy areas of the island? Well, if you are interested in finding out more and discovering a different place than those recommended on the travel websites, we invite you to visit Los Realejos with us.

Where is it?

Los Realejos is a town in the north of Tenerife, nestled between La Orotava, Puerto de La Cruz and San Juan de La Rambla.

Festivities

It seems incredible, but with a scarce 57 square kilometres of surface, Los Realejos is the place with more fiestas than any other place in the country. Yes, although it may surprise you, there are around 80 festivities every year. If you want to know them all, here you have the calendar with all of them, but we want to highlight some of the most popular ones.

Fiestas de La Cruz (May)

One of the most emblematic festivities is the festival of the Crosses and Fireworks of May, where the locals wait with excitement for the impressive fireworks display all year round, something they mark with a countdown that you can watch 365 days a year. This celebration is centred on two streets: Calle del Medio and Calle del Sol, although everyone enjoys the fireworks and looks for the best place to see them. There is a competition between the neighbours of both streets to see who can prepare the best fireworks display. In addition to the fireworks, the neighbours also decorate crosses with flowers inside and outside the houses.

Fiestas del Carmen (July)

During the month of July different events are held in honour of the Virgen del Carmen. This is another of the oldest and most popular festivities in this town. Although it is mainly a religious festival, there are also other events such as the zarzuela performed by the Sociedad Musical Filarmónica, one of the oldest bands in the Canary Islands, accompanied by lyrical singers. Below you can see a video of the departure of the Virgen del Carmen from the church and another with the zarzuela of the year 2023.

Nature and hiking

The natural areas of Los Realejos stand out for their flora and fauna, many of which are endemic. They are perfect places for bird watching or hiking. Of all the options we have chosen to highlight the following ones:

La Rambla de Castro

It’s an impressive protected natural space that surprises visitors with its palm grove and the ruins of the old Gordejuela Water Elevator (1903), also known as Casa Hamilton, which is located on the edge of a cliff and is one of the most photographed parts of the area. It is an industrial building that was built to pump water and sell it to farmers in the surrounding land.

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Parque Natural de la Corona Forestal

Next to the Teide National Park is one of the most important green spaces of Tenerife, where water is extracted from a considerable part of the island’s galleries. With its almost 47,000 hectares, it’s the largest protected natural area in the whole of the Canary Islands. An ideal place to see Canarian pine trees.

Don’t forget to make a stop at the Corona viewpoint. Located on the Tigaiga mountains, at about 750m,  you can enjoy breathtaking views of the whole valley from here.

La Ruta 040

If hiking is not intense enough for you, you can participate in the Ruta 040. This is a race with the highest elevation gain in Spain in which you have to walk 57km ( there and back) between the sea (Playa de El Socorro, Los Realejos) and Teide (the highest mountain in Spain). Here you have the official website with more information and a video where you can see parts of the route you have to do.

Interesting history facts

Los Realejos or El Realejo?

Oddly enough, if you talk to someone from Los Realejos, you will hear that they don’t call their town in the plural form (Los Realejos), but in the singular one (El Realejo). Why is this if the official name is the plural version? The answer to this question lies in the recent history of this place. Until 1955 there were two different towns: El Realejo Alto and El Realejo Bajo, but in this year with the merge of both municipalities a new one was formed: Los Realejos. That is why the local people still call the municipality the way their ancestors did.

Historical figures

José de Viera y Clavijo was born in Los Realejos in 1731. He was, among many other things, a very important historian for the history of the Canary Islands. He was a member of the Royal Academy of History thanks to his work Noticias de la Historia General de Canarias.

Agustín Espinosa García was the greatest representative of surrealist literature in the Canary Islands. Although he was not born in Los Realejos, he spent his childhood and adolescence in this municipality.

Food

Although you can buy them all year round, Christmas is the time when they are eaten the most. They are a typical pastry from the north of the island, made with lard, water, salt, flour, guava and sugar. Below is a video from local television showing how they make this traditional product.

If you want to try them at any time of the year and find the best place to do so, the recommendation of the locals is a small bakery specialised in making these cakes: Pastelería Paula.

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