Whilst staying down in Los Christianos in Dec '11, my partner and I decided that we would like to see another part of the island. We booked a one night stay at the Hotel Rural Oratava and set off in the car towards La Oratava. We decided to go the scenic route and drove off in bright sunshine into the mountainous central part of Tenerife zig-zagging our way through quaint, atmospheric little villages until we plateaued around Mount Teide and started to descend into the Orotava valley. The change in the scenery and weather was dramatic...from glorious sunshine we hit a bank of mist and drizzle and the temperature plummeted...it was incredible!
The hotel is situated in the historic part of town and is one of the oldest buildings in town, being late 15th century. They haven't renovated the soul out of the building and it looks pretty much how I imagine it would have looked in the days of Christopher Columbus and Francis Drake! The hotel has an open central courtyard and all the rooms are situated on the second floor. To spend a night here is like... literally stepping back in time! The huge bedroom door was old and gnarled and studded and amazing. The room itself was huge and tall and there was even a huge, weathered, 'fresco' on the wall depicting a medieval scene....maybe not to everyone's tastes but we loved it. The bed was gargantuan and comfy.
We ate dinner in the hotel and were anticipating a hearty local meal...we were very disappointed! The menu stated that the restaurant had been awarded a 'Tourist Board' level of excellence for cooking typical Canarian cuisine...My lamb stew was supposedly a speciality dish but turned out to be dry and rather tasteless. My partners meal was equally disappointing.
In conclusion, I would say well worth the experience...the tariff was reasonable around 80 Euros for bed & breakfast. La Oratava 'old town' is interesting with lots of little bars to seek refuge in if it gets too cold!! We would certainly recommend the hotel for one or two nights.

We stayed one night in this hotel, which is situated in an old historical building of La Orotava. The room was spacious, clean, well decorated, with bathroom. The bed was comfortable. The rooms are around a patio, which has advantages (no noise from the street) and disadvantages (no window looking outside). The ancient kitchen where we had breakfast is worth a look. There is a restaurant on the ground floor which offers decent food. Overall the hotel is very good value.

This is a beautiful old wooden building carefully restored. Huge polished wooden floor panels and high wooden ceilings with old hand made window glass. Perfectly situated for exploring the old town with free parking close by. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly, and poured the most generous whiskeys! The food was very well cooked - be sure to have the mixed grill for two - so good, we had it twice. We chose to eat here for all but one night (which was an error) and were happy enough to book an extra night. My sole negative point was that although the bed was huge, it was very bouncy so we both had disturbed sleep. Apart from that, I would highly recommend this place.

La Orotava was our first stop in an almost month-long vacation in the Canaries. We arrived at Hotel Rural Orotava after a long flight from the States to Madrid and then to Tenerife. Such a nice welcome, almost like we were family, after leaving our bags in our spacious room, we were treated to an assortment of tapas and beer in their restaurant. This is a family-run hotel, but all of the staff was very accomodating. Breakfast was provided with an assortment of meat, cheese, fruit, yogurt, cerals, breads, pastries and coffee, tea and juice. By choice, we ate our dinners in their restaurant and were very pleased with all of our selections. Truly a wonderful start to a great vacation. Just a note, all the rooms are on the second floor and you need to climb one flight of stairs.