The Santiago Valley nestles high above the south west coast of Tenerife, flanked by fragrant, emerald pine forests and backed by the site of Tenerife’s last volcanic eruption.
Opened in March 2010, the beautiful Rural Hotel Señorio Del Valle in Santiago del Teide is the ideal place to base yourself for one or two nights to explore the valley’s excellent walking trails.
Perfectly placed for anyone who intends hiking the Masca Barranco, it’s also an idyllic base from which to explore the natural beauty of the Erjos Pools, the Chinyero National Park and the quaint hamlets of Valle de Arriba and Arguayo.
The hotel forms one part of a whole series of features built on the Casa del Patio site of the former home of Santiago del Teide’s 17th century Lord of the Manor, Fernando del Hoyo y Solórzano. With hens, ducks and the occasional cat running around the grounds freely, the original 1660s buildings have been restored to house a museum dedicated to the Chinyero eruption of November 1909; a characteristic bar and beautifully restored tasca serving excellent typical Canarian cuisine; an art gallery; a bodega and cheese museum and a small gift shop.
Here you’ll also find riding stables where you can book a lesson or a ride or take a trip in a pony and trap to the neighbouring hamlet of Valle de Arriba.
The Rural Hotel Señorio Del Valle is rustic simplicity at its best. High wooden beamed ceilings and warm terracotta walls are teamed up with modern artwork and WiFi to provide guests with the best of the old and the new. The 16 double rooms are all individually decorated and named after local flowers and there are two rooms with large terraces and a Junior Suite. bedrooms are temperature controlled and have wonderful high, vaulted wooden ceilings. Beds are on the large side of king-sized, there’s plenty of wardrobe and drawer space and the views are breathtaking. Bathrooms are spacious with powerful showers and two hand basins. The hotel kitchen provides the food for the tasca as well as for the hotel dining room and is freshly cooked using organic vegetables and herbs from the kitchen garden. Besides the dining room, there’s a small cafeteria with a lovely covered terrace overlooking the stables and beyond them, Montaña Bilma and Pico Viejo (the old peak of Mount Teide).
The location is hard to beat for tranquillity and, other than the chiming of the bells of nearby Iglesia San Fernando Rey which only ring during ‘civilised’ hours, the silence is broken only by the occasional whinny of horses or the gossiping of the ducks.
When I stayed there, I could feel my shoulders relaxing from the moment I walked through its doors and I was very reluctant to pull myself away at the end of the two days.
You won’t find any night life in Santiago del Teide but a good shower, great food and wine beneath a star-studded sky and a comfortable bed in elegant, rustic surroundings are a hiker’s best friends.
Looks lovely…Wonder if Wifie would treat me ?