Village
A municipality in the Valle de La Orotava formed by the union, on 6 January 1955, of the old towns of Realejo Alto and Realejo Bajo, which had been separate since the 16th century. Realejo Alto had received the title of Villa on 8 December 1941. In the 18th century, José de Viera y Clavijo described both Realejos as places of 'good climate, excellent waters, orchards, vineyards, fruit trees'.
Historical milestone
The military phase of the Castilian conquest of Tenerife ended on 25 July 1496 by the Barranco de Godínez, in Los Realejos, where the conquerors had set up their military camp (the 'Real') and where they erected a church to Santiago Apóstol in thanksgiving; the event is considered the founding act of Realejo Alto.
Monument
Built in Realejo Alto on the very site where the Castilian army camped at the end of the conquest, it is the first Christian church erected on Tenerife; it attained parish status in 1498. A Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Monument
A three-nave church with Baroque features, built around 1516 in Realejo Bajo, which obtained parish status in 1533.
Monument
A 20th-century sanctuary declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), home to the patron saint of the Valle de La Orotava and perpetual honorary mayoress of Los Realejos, the Virgen del Carmen.
Historical milestone
Founded by the adelantado Alonso Fernández de Lugo as a sugar-cane mill (he established its entailed estate, or mayorazgo, in 1512), the Hacienda de Los Príncipes was also where the Portuguese Fernando de Castro planted, in 1541, the first vineyard in the Canary Islands, the origin of the later Denominación de Origen Valle de La Orotava. It preserves 16th-century gofio mills.
Nature
A black sand beach on the north coast of Los Realejos, holding a Blue Flag since 1999 and a regular venue for national, European and world surf and bodyboard championships, including events on the O'Neill circuit and the La Santa Pro Junior.
Nature
A protected natural area lying entirely within Los Realejos, with an extensive Canary palm grove, laurisilva remnants and a dragon tree that emerges from the palm grove itself; it gives its name to the Mirador de San Pedro, with views over the palm grove and the banana plantations of the Rambla del Mar.
Nature
A centuries-old dragon tree (Dracaena draco) in Realejo Bajo, on the rise where Calle del Medio and Calle Cruz Verde meet, described by early travellers as a 'huge candelabra' supporting a forest of yuccas.
Nature
A viewpoint on the approach to Icod el Alto with views over the three municipalities of the Valle de La Orotava, presided over by a bronze sculpture of mencey Bentor, the last Guanche king of the Menceyato de Taoro, who according to tradition threw himself off a cliff in 1496 rather than submit to slavery.
Activity
A pilgrimage held on the last Sunday of May, declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional (Festival of National Tourist Interest), celebrated without interruption since 1676. The image of San Isidro venerated in Los Realejos is, according to local tradition, the oldest iconographic representation of the saint in the Canary Islands, and its pilgrimage the oldest dedicated to him on the island.
Activity
A festival declared of Tourist Interest of the Canary Islands, held on 3 May, with crosses decked in greenery the day before and, on the night of the 3rd, a procession of the Cross in Realejo Alto accompanied by a fireworks display in Calle del Medio and Calle del Sol described as one of the largest in Europe. Its origin goes back to an ordinance of Bishop Diego de Muros in the late 15th or early 16th century.
Curiosity
The municipality holds close to a hundred festivals a year spread across its town centre and numerous neighbourhoods, which has earned it the reputation of the town with the most festivals in the whole of Spain.
Food and drink
According to local tradition, Juan Bautista de Castro planted in 1622 in Icod el Alto (Los Realejos) the first potatoes brought from the Andes to Europe. The 'papa bonita' variety, grown today in the municipality's midlands (Icod el Alto, Palo Blanco, Las Llanadas), forms part of the Protected Designation of Origin 'Papa Antigua de Canarias', recognised by the European Union in 2012.
Historical milestone
A 17th-century house in Realejo Bajo where the Tenerife historian, naturalist and writer José de Viera y Clavijo was born in 1731, author of the 'Noticias de la Historia General de las Islas Canarias' and chronicler of both Realejos in 1772-1773.
Monument
A processional image carved in 1637 by the sculptor Martín de Andújar Cantos, carried in procession during Holy Week in Los Realejos.
Activity
A paragliding, paramotor, skydiving and base-jumping festival held in early May in Los Realejos, bringing together pilots from different countries and using Playa de El Socorro as its landing zone.