Bestia Marina is a high-end fish restaurant in Garachico, ten minutes along the coast from San Marcos. Of everywhere in this guide, it is the one chosen for the occasion rather than the convenience — the dinner you book because the evening is the point.
When to use it
Most of the eating on this coast is casual and inexpensive: village restaurants, grilled fish by weight, long lunches. That is genuinely the appeal, and it is what we recommend for most of a week.
Bestia Marina is the other thing. If there is a birthday in the group, or it is your last night, or you simply want one meal that is about the food rather than the view from the terrace, this is where our hosts would spend it. Book — it is not a walk-in.
Fish on the north coast
The Atlantic here is cold, deep and rough, which is exactly why the fish is good. This is not a sheltered Mediterranean coastline; the water off Garachico drops away quickly and the swell that carved the rock pools is the same swell the boats work in.
What that means at the table is fish with firm flesh and real flavour — cherne (wreckfish), vieja (parrotfish), tuna, octopus — usually treated simply, because it does not need help. At the upper end, the difference is in sourcing and precision rather than elaboration.
The town
Garachico was the most important port in the Canary Islands until May 1706, when the Trevejo volcano erupted above it and seven lava flows buried the harbour over the following days. The town lost its trade permanently.
Three hundred years later it is a small, quiet, remarkably intact place that people visit for its old streets and its black rock pools. A serious restaurant here is a comparatively recent development, and a welcome one.
Getting there
Ten minutes by car from the apartment. Book ahead, and as always check the hours rather than assuming.