El Roque: Hiking Trail, Culture and Festival Traditions
Accommodation in El Roque
You can get to know El Roque for travel planning through several highlights: the Monte Cho Pancho–El Roque hiking trail passes through a landscape bearing traces of earlier agricultural use; Casa Don Gregorio, Museo de La Papa and El Drago represent architecture, potato culture and pottery. There is also the annual festival in honour of San Roque. If you are looking for a hotel in El Roque, you can plan your stay around whichever highlight matters most to you.
Hiking Trail and Outdoor Area
The Monte Cho Pancho–El Roque hiking trail connects the El Roque neighbourhood with Monte de Cho Pancho and is also known as “La Silleta”. The Área Recreativa Cho Pancho is the endpoint of the hiking trail from El Roque. If you are planning a hike, it is advisable to check the current trail conditions and signage, as both can change.
The trail passes through areas formerly used for agriculture, where threshing floors, ovens and traditional buildings have been preserved. These features make it possible to understand the area’s former use along the route. The hiking trail also offers views of the coast and the surrounding mid-altitude areas of the region. How far you can see depends on the weather and vegetation.
The Área Recreativa Cho Pancho has accessible areas, children’s play areas and a sports area. It also has fire pits with firewood, tables, sanitary facilities, rubbish bins and springs. The facilities cater to a range of uses, from spending time outdoors to playing and doing sports. Some facilities may be changed or temporarily unavailable. So, before your visit, check the condition of the facilities that are important to your plans.
Architecture, Potato Culture and Pottery
The Museo de La Papa is housed in the restored Casa Don Gregorio in the El Roque neighbourhood. Casa Don Gregorio features traditional architecture. Its educational activities give visitors the opportunity to engage with the subjects presented. The museum explores the importance of the potato to the island’s diet and culture. Visitors can also learn about cultivation techniques, the tools used and the cultural value of the potato. Potato cultivation as an important economic foundation of San Miguel de Abona is also among the topics presented.
The pottery tradition offers another cultural perspective. El Drago in El Roque is recognised as one of San Miguel de Abona’s traditional pottery centres. The municipality’s pottery tradition included shaping clay into a jícara or a bernegal. In this way, the agricultural theme of potato cultivation complements the perspective on a traditional craft practice, though they do not tell the same story.
The Festival in Honour of San Roque
The festival in the El Roque neighbourhood takes place every year in the second half of August in honour of San Roque and lasts three days. The veneration of the Virgin of Lourdes is also part of the celebrations. If you would like to plan your trip around the festival, check the dates and programme for the relevant year in advance.
Discover more destinations: Las Zocas.
Go to the main travel overview: San Miguel.
