Friendly five star with a great spa circuit & fabulous gardens

The Hotel Botanico is a little bit special. I enjoyed the combination of their friendly staff, excellent food & drink, relaxing spa and beautiful botanical gardens. I wasn't wowed by our room but then we hadn't booked anything special, just a double deluxe with a view of Mount Teide. As the weather wasn't good, we spent the afternoon in the spa enjoying the variety of jets, steam and sauna rooms both in the indoor and outdoor areas - although it rained on us in the latter, a quick dash to the cave jacuzzi warmed us up again. It was still raining so we decided to put off exploring Puerto de la Cruz and try the Bar Hall for a personality booster before dinner. I was delighted to see a varied gin & tonic menu and loved my choice of Brockmans Gin & Q tonic which was served with a lovely selection of canapés. Still unsure of our plans for the evening we hadn't booked The Oriental restaurant in the hotel, luckily we were offered the last free table, other guests arriving after us without a reservation were turned away. Our evening meal was superb, there was no shortage of waiting staff, it was fascinating to watch the chefs at work in the open style kitchen and the food was excellent. We slept well, the rain had finally stopped and for the first time we could see the top of Teide. The breakfast selection was good and fresh, I couldn't help but order some freshly made pancakes which I enjoyed with crispy bacon and syrup. Finally the sun broke through and I could wander around the beautiful botanical gardens, I spotted butterflies, parrots, ducks, terrapins and koi carp on my meander along the various footpaths in the grounds. The free WiFi was a disappointment, it was quicker surfing on a mobile phone hotspot, than the hotel internet which was slow and kept dropping.