Los Realejos

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.