Royal River Luxury Hotel

Royal River is a newer arrival above Costa Adeje, on the edge of the golf course, and it does one thing very well: every villa has its own heated pool. It opened in December 2020 on Calle Alcojora, opposite Costa Adeje Golf, built from nothing as a villa resort rather than converted into one, which is why the geometry works. Fifty villas sit on terraced ground, each with its own walls and its own water, none with a neighbouring balcony looking down into it.

Add a central pool complex with a lazy river, restaurants on site and an adults-only policy, and you have a hotel built for people who want to sunbathe in private and never queue for a lounger. The categories are River Villas, Pool Villas, Grand Pool Villas and Lagoon Villas, with the Paradise Villa and the Sky Villa above them. What separates them is the water. The River, Paradise and Sky Villas open onto an 80-metre channel that links them, the Lagoon Villas sit around an African-styled lake, only the Pool and Grand Pool Villas stand alone, and every villa has a private pool. A rooftop infinity pool sits over the whole thing, looking down the coast, which is where the hotel keeps its best view. Guest feedback is warmest about exactly that privacy, and about the sense of newness. The villas are modern, big and well kept.

Eating is four restaurants and three bars, all on site: The Top Brasserie, Kokoro for Asian food and its BBQ Deluxe, Flamingo as a French bistro, and Pineapple. Serenity Spa handles the rest. Adults-only here means fourteen and over rather than eighteen, so the pools stay calm rather than silent, and the occasional teenager is part of the deal. It is a different proposition from the older, more ornate Royal Garden Villas nearby: larger, livelier, more of a resort in feel, with a small scene around the main pool at weekends.

The honest limitation is location. It sits inland on the hill, so the sea is a view rather than a walk, and the beach and the better restaurants of La Caleta are a taxi ride. La Caleta is a 19-minute walk and Playa del Duque 2.3 kilometres off, downhill on the way out and uphill on the way home. Guests without a car sometimes find the evenings quiet, and four restaurants sound like plenty until the sixth night on the same site. Prices track the villa-and-pool format, which is not cheap in winter, when this coast is at its busiest. If your ideal week is mostly spent by your own pool with occasional forays out, that is not a problem. If you want to stroll to dinner, book lower down the hill.