La Isla Bonita
We finally made it to La Palma, Canary Islands! Last year, because of Covid our flight was cancelled, but we were able to re-book for the Easter week early April 21. We booked a beautiful Finca as our base which was close to Tijarafe in the north-western region of the island. The last leg of the drive there took us along a very steep and winding road from Las Llanos to the Mirador del Time and up to 600m above sea level. From this view point you can see right into the outlet of the huge Caldera de Tamburiente, down to Los Llanos and the coast to the south.
The terrain of the northern part of the island is formed by the spectacular Caldera de Taburiente of 8km in diameter and up to 1.5km in depth. The roads to the sea are generally very narrow and an adventure in itself!
A good example is down to Pois de Candelaria, the turning is just before the Kiosko del Diablo in Tijarafe - a great place for tapas at sunset. At the very end of this very steep road there is a parking spot and the start of a couple of walks. We took a steep path which led us to a beautiful cove with caves and these tiny fishermen houses. It was as if we had entered a pirate’s hideaway with waves crashing around us and all in an idyllic setting!
Another highlight is a little further north: Playa de la Veta. Again, there was often only just enough space for one car on the narrow road and we were lucky there wasn't much traffic. At the bottom, there’s a lovely walk down to the bay and part of the track leads through a tunnel.
On the way back to our car in the last of the sun’s rays, Clare saw these little baby trees on a rock backed by lovely orange clouds and got Aaron to take a photo. From this perspective you might think the two trees look like grown-ones on a big rock face we were looking at from a distance - but in actual fact they were right in front of us and only about 20cm high 😊. When we drove home in it was getting dark and we had to pay very good attention to the road watching out for cute little wild rabbits popping in and out of the bushes, some darting across the road!
On our first exploration of the island we headed along the north-western coast to Santo Domingo. This area’s known for its almond and dragon trees and the landscape and vegetation is very beautiful. There are also some old caves where once-upon a time people used to live in. We stopped at the El Callejoncito viewpoint and we were lucky that the clouds started to clear showing us the coast in bright sunlight.
Further on is the pretty village of Santo Domingo de Gerafia with a nice church, cobblestone roads and old windmills.
From there we continued inland along a small track through a ‘barranco’ (ravine), passing the Fuente de la Huerta spring and ended up at the start of a 4x4-only-track where we were forced to turn back. The scenery was really beautiful and there were no other tourists in sight.
Next day we did the northern loop to reach the highest point of the island at the top of the caldera ‘Roque de los Muchachos’ (2426m). It was freezing cold up there in the early morning - we even saw some patches of snow.
There is a great short walk to two viewpoints from where you can see right down into the caldera which is truly spectacular, and we could literally watch the clouds building and rising up out of it.
At Rochas de los Muchachos there is an amazing array of telescopes and an astronomical observatory. Some are massive Mirror Telescopes and the size and sight of them is just mind-blowing! We wondered if we would be getting in touch with ETs and UFOs! The clean air and positioning on top of this mountain would definitely be ideal for stargazing and these telescopes are actually the biggest in the Northern Hemisphere!
Next stop was Barlovento. The landscape with huge pine trees and mountains in the background in the early morning sun was gorgeous. Just before we reached Barlovento, the road was closed so we had to take a detour. This was fortunate for us as we took a newly built and very narrow road through beautiful forest which we would have otherwise missed. This road started at the turnoff to Gallegos and ended at another viewpoint called Mirador de las Mimbreras.
Los Sauces is the next village along with a good atmosphere and a pretty village-square. The east coast starts here and some of the oldest buildings of the island are found here. From the road towards historic San Andrés the view along the coast and of lots of banana plantations was quite good. These plantations are huge and all over the island and we were wondering if the name La Palma should be changed into La Banana 😊.
Water for the plantations is collected from the mountains in a water-channel and pipe system. Despite being the wettest of all the Canary Islands, we didn’t see any river beds with water in them on La Palma and we found this a bit odd.
From Los Sauces there’s a short drive to a protected area called Los Tilos. This is a unique cloud forest with bay trees, a type of plant that no longer exists in continental Europe. From the visitor centre there's a lovely path through lush green forest, following a water channel to a very scenic waterfall.
The capital Santa Cruz de la Palma is a good place for lunch. We walked through the old town with its historic buildings, observing the local life.
Out next trip was exploring the south. First we stopped at Puerto Naos which is probably one of the most developed places for tourists, but we were surprised at how small it was. There’s a black beach and a couple of hotels and restaurants.
The lighthouse originally named Faro de Las Hoyas is now referred to as Faro de Punta Lava because it was here where the lava from the volcano eruption in 1949 reached the sea. The contrast of black and blue was pretty. Further uphill the road crosses a lava field and you can visit the Cueva de las Palomas cave.
From Puerto Naos a road continues north along the coast, passing the black beach of Charco Verde and ending in El Reno. There are a few kioskos with great sea views who serve fresh sea food.
Our next stop was in the far south at another volcano, Volcan de San Antonio, close to the pretty village of Los Canarios. From the visitor center, there’s an easy walk to the top of the caldera. Here you can see over to another volcano, the Volcan Teneguia. With the eruption of this one in 1971 the most recent piece of land in Spain was created.
The road through the centre of the island from Los Llanos to Santa Cruz and the airport is a good one and gets you there fast. Before the tunnel is the entrance to the National Park of the Caldera de Taburiente. This is where the road leads up to a viewpoint of La Cumbrecita. Before you take this road, you will need to make a reservation at the visitor center so you can park your car at the top.
At the top there’s a short walk to the Mirador de Las Chozas and Mirador de Los Roques. Some say this is the best viewpoint on the island but we preferred the view from the Roque de las Muchachos.
Another turn-off just before the tunnel leads to El Pinar. When you’re almost at the top you’ll get a terrific view of the Caldera Taburiente from the viewpoint Mirador de los Llanos del Jabre. The caldera is really huge! This area is great for hiking La Ruta de los Volcanos and the pine trees here are amazing.
The road continues towards the east coast and a highlight along the way are the spectacular dragon trees called Dragos Gemelos. Nobody knows the true age of these beautiful agave plants since there aren’t any age marks in the trunks. Researchers guess that some of them are hundreds of years old.
From the Mirador de Conception there’s a good view over Santa Cruz and its harbour and with the clear day we had, we were even able to see the islands of Tenerife and La Gomera in the distance.
Our week on La Palma was a great getaway with a good mix of exploration and chilling out at the beautiful Finca Pura Vida. A food highlight was the beautiful fresh tuna from the HiperDino supermarket in El Paso (Clare was later trying to remember the name of this supermarket and came up with SuperHippo 😊).
And we had very yummy Tapas on the terrace at the Isla Verde beer brewery. Another somehow endearing memory was when Aaron was stopped by the police for speeding... after paying a 50€ fine (…well we were 13 kmph over the limit) the policeman apologized for the circumstance! 😉
Our other published regions in Spain currently cover the following areas (with links):
Part 1: Costa Brava - the Wild Coast
Part 2: Barcelona
"One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name"
(The Call - Thomas Osbert Morsdaunt, 1730-1809)
Travel blog and travel guide by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
© Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker