Municipios, contiene información sobre los pueblos de Tenerife. Su historia, lugares de interés para visitar, etc. Todo pensado para que puedas planificar tus vacaciones y tiempo libre, disfrutando de todo y sin perderte nada.

Boroughs, it contains information about towns in Tenerife. Its history, places of interest to visit, etc. All geared so that you can plan your holidays and free time, enjoying it all and without missing a thing.

In the north of Tenerife, in the Orotava valley, is Los Realejos, a municipal district with thirty five thousand inhabitants, which contains an enormous variety of attractions which await your discovery. Five protected landscapes, a coastline dotted with tiny bays with beaches of exotic black volcanic sand, traditions jealously guarded over the centuries and the friendliness of the people: this is the temptation that the Los Realejos district puts in the path of its thousands of visitors.

There are two important historical events which have given fame and prestige to Los Realejos; firstly, this was the birthplace of the illustrious and  wide ranging Canarian  writer, José de Viera y Clavijo, and secondly, this was the place where the final surrender of the Tenerife natives took place, resulting in the definitive incorporation of the island to the Kingdom of Castille in 1496.  

 The town bears witness to a splendid past in the historical buildings of considerable architectural interest which survive, including both religious and lay constructions. Outstanding examples of the former are the churches of St James the Apostle (1496), the Immaculate Conception (1512) and other smaller churches and chapels of the 16th and 17th Centuries, such as the Churches of  Tigaiga, La Cruz Santa, Icod el Alto and la Gorvorana, which are located in different parts of the municipal district. 

 The most striking example of lay architecture is the Hacienda de Los Principes, the residence of the Adelantado, or Governor,  Alonso Fernández de Lugo, the conqueror of the island. There are other excellent examples of traditional Canarian architecture in the Haciendas de la Era, La Pared, El Cuchillo and La Coronela, to name but a few.
 
 Los Realejos is a district which has held fast to the traditional values of the country and which is little disposed to lose the emblems of its identity, despite the coming of progress, and combines the best of the past and present. One result is that this is the Canarian district with most fiestas, a total of seventy held in the course of the year although May, June and July are the months of greatest activity.  
 
 Five Landscapes of Especial Beauty make this a superb destination for all those people who enjoy being in close contact with nature. A comprehensive network of well-signposted footpaths enables the visitor to get to know a flora and fauna of no little scientific interest.
 
The district of Los Realejos measures 57.5 square kilometres.  Like almost all the municipal districts of Tenerife, the territory slopes steeply in a north-south direction and is crossed in the same direction by a number of ravines or "barrancos", some of which are very deep, which have determined the locations of the centres of population.
 
Until the 1960s, when Puerto de la Cruz began to be developed for tourism, Los Realejos was an eminently agricultural area. Once the conquest of Tenerife was complete, Alonso Fernández de Lugo settled in what was called the Hacienda de Los Príncipes, where he created an important refinery for sugar cane, which was the first crop to be introduced in the area. As time passed, this crop was supplanted by others, due mainly to the special climatic conditions and the fertility of the soil: vines, barrilla, for the extraction of soda, and cochineal cactus, and in the modern day, principally, bananas, potatoes and flowers. 

Climate

As on the rest of the island, the climate of Los Realejos is dominated by the trade winds which blow in cool and moist from the north for more than 80% of the time in summer, 50% in winter. These winds are directly responsible for the stability of the temperatures, which would otherwise be abnormal for these latitudes, with little difference between day and night, with the result that the winters are mild and the summers cool, leading the climate to be characterised as an "Eternal Spring".

Nature

Los Realejos is one of the districts in the Canaries to which nature has been most generous. This is clear from the fact that almost 50% of the land is under legal protection.
As a result, this is one of the best-conserved areas in the Canaries, with the territory enjoying a number of different kinds of protected status, whether national, regional (the Law of Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands) or European (Area of Special Protection for Birds).

Among the protected areas, the most important are the las Cañadas del Teide National Park, (79 hectares), the Natural Park of the Corona Forestal (2,270 hectares), the Protected Landscapes of Los Campeches, Tigaiga and Ruiz, (510 hectares), Rambla de Castro (45.9 hectares) and Montaña de los Frailes (25.7 hectares) and the Barranco Ruiz  Site of Special Scientific Interest (49.8 hectares.).

These natural spaces, quite apart from their scenic beauty, are also important for their flora and fauna, due largely to the sparse population and the unevenness of the terrain.
The National Park and the Natural Spaces located in the district contain innumerable locations for leisure activities, including particularly the Emilio Fernández Muñoz Nature Classroom and a number of recreational areas.
The diversity of ecosystems in these protected areas makes them an attractive setting for educational activities with local schoolchildren, principally from the districts surrounding the park.
There is also an extensive network of footpaths running to the main centres of population of the Orotava Valley.

Recreational areas

Los Realejos has four high quality recreational areas open to anybody wishing to spend a pleasant time in the company of family and friends..
 
In the upper part of the areas of Palo Blanco and Las Llanadas, at the natural border between the heather-myrtle vegetation and the pinewoods, is the Chanajija recreational area, one of the most important on the island of  Tenerife.
 
A metalled road takes you in barely half an hour from the town of Los Realejos, through the hamlets mentioned above, to this recreational area with its innumerable natural attractions.
 
For those who only wish to take a rest stop on a day out, there is no better option than to visit the la Higuerita and Barranco Ruiz recreational areas, the first of which, at the very heart of the Orotava Valley, at the side of the Orotava-Icod dual carriageway, has everything you need to have a pleasant and relaxing time.
 
The Barranco Ruiz recreational area, lying alongside the same road, at the edge of the municipal district of San Juan de la Rambla, offers the opportunity to contemplate in all its grandeur the final section of this ravine, which has been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
 
Those who want to be in more intimate contact with the environment must visit the camping area of the "Emilio Fernández Muñoz" Nature Classroom,  which is located in the pinewoods, only a short distance from the las Cañadas del Teide National Park. 
 
This area can be reached, with a suitable vehicle, from the Chanajija recreational area or, alternatively, turning off the main road from La Orotava to las Cañadas del Teide at the "Choza de Sventenius".

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Información proporcionada por la oficina de turismo de Los Realejos.