Royal Garden Villas & Spa

Royal Garden Villas is tiny by Tenerife standards, a cluster of twenty-eight villas on the hillside above Costa Adeje, each with a private heated pool and a walled garden. It opened in September 2006 and sits inside the Golf Costa Adeje course, twenty-seven holes wrapped around the property. That is the whole proposition: no lounger politics, no entertainment programme, just your own pool, a small spa and a quiet restaurant when you do not feel like driving.

There are three villa types and nothing else. One bedroom for two, two bedrooms and two bathrooms for four, three bedrooms for six, all with a heated private pool, an ocean-facing terrace and a proper kitchen, plus a small shared panoramic pool if you want company. Despite the couples framing, the house is not adults-only. The two-bedroom villas are sold for family holidays and babysitting is offered, so do not assume silence by default. The décor divides people: it is rich, ornate and Asian-influenced, with carved wood and dark tones, and if you prefer white-on-white modern you will find it heavy. Look at the photos honestly before you book.

Food is one restaurant, Jardín, where Patry García cooks breakfast and dinner against a cellar of Canarian, Spanish and international wine, plus the Tucán Tucán bar, a pool bar for snacks and an al fresco dinner beside the pool on Mondays with live music. Brunch arrives at your own villa on a floating tray if you want it that way. The Golden Pond Spa is small and warm rather than clinical, with a thermal circuit, hydromassage showers, a Turkish bath, an ice fountain and waterbeds, and treatments built on Alqvimia and Natura Bissé. For a day at the sea, the group runs Bésame Mucho on Playa Troya.

The pattern in guest feedback is that couples on honeymoons and anniversaries adore it, and that the staff know regulars by name. Like Royal River next door it is inland, so the beach is a short taxi ride and the golf course is your neighbour. One restaurant also means few dining options and a breakfast that turns repetitive over a long stay, with nothing within walking distance to break it up. Where it wins is intimacy. Royal River is the bigger, newer, glossier version. This is the one where you can go a whole day without seeing another guest, and for a romantic week where the point is the two of you, that is the better trade.