Good hotel with a fantastic spa

We had a very enjoyable week at the Hotel Botanico. The hotel had a nice ambience - not just another ‘international hotel’. A interesting range of paintings and lovely garden to amble through. For us the the spa was a standout feature - not a facility we’ve used much at hotels in the past, but really well done here with an indoor and outdoor pool and several interestingly decorated sauna/steam rooms with different temperatures/humidity, including a surprisingly nice ‘ice cave’. The jacuzzi inside an artificial cave with amethyst geodes embedded in the rock was a nice touch. The breakfast buffet was excellent, but the dinners we had were rather average and not in our view good value for money. That doesn’t matter too much though as their are lots of fairly close restaurants. Bodeguita Algarrobo is just opposite the hotel and has good food at a very reasonable prices. The hotel advertises Brunelli's Steak House which we initially dismissed, but after reading some good reviews we gave it a go. Free transport to/from hotel and the view over the sea is fantastic; we’re surprised they don’t mention this in their advertising. Food was good and my steak superb. If you want fine dining then El Taller Seve Diaz is a short taxi ride away and well worth a visit - very high quality cooking that was cheap for the quality. Other things worth a mention: - The hotel operates a handy shuttle bus to the centre of Puerto de la Cruz - The botanical garden is just around the corner and worth a visit - A reasonably equipped gym, but not air conditioned - Had some nice lunches by the main pool. I particularly liked the €8 gazpachio