La Palma
La Palma is one of the least visited Canary island. It has few beaches and is known as the steep island . Most visitors are Germans and they are often found in mountain boots. Then the island is very good for hiking. There are only a few large tourist hotels on the island, but many smaller hotels and apartementos. Check on hotels.com or booking.com.
When I was there in January it was a little rainy and the central, highest part of the island with many volcanoes was covered by clouds all the time. In terms of weather, it is safer to travel there during the summer.
The easiest way to get there is by plane to Gran Canaria and continye with plane to Santa Cruz de La Palma. Alternatively fly to Tenerife and boat from Los Christianos to La Palma.
Where to stay
The island is not big and there is an excellent bus connection around the island. The buses are called Guagua here. I rented an apartment in Los Llanos which is in the middle of the island. From there you can easily reach the huge caldera Caldera de Taburiente, a collapsed volcanic crater and one of the world’s largest such. Or you can hike the high mountains to the south.
Puerto de Tazacorte and the sea with one of the few beaches are a a few minutes by bus from Los Llanos. Puerto de Tazacorte is also a nice place to stay.
Caldera de Taburiente
This is one of the nicest trips on the island. You can take a 4×4 taxi to the top in the morning and go down into the caldera. The caldera is forested on the inside and a river flows along the path. Very scenic. You come out near Puerto de Tazacorte. There you can call for a taxi from Los Ljanos, or hike back.
Southwards
To the south you can walk along the island and view volcanoes, or walk along the coast as I did because of the clouds covering the top. Nice trip, some trough pine forest. Far to the south of Fuencaliente is a volcanic visitor center. The volcano here had a large eruption in 1971 and the traces of this are very clear. From here it is a nice walk down to Punta de Fuencaliente on the coast. NB. There are not many buses back from here, so check the bus times.
North of Los Llanos
There are also many opportunities in the north. If you take the bus a short distance north direction Las Riveroles, you can follow an old road back to Puerto de Tazacorte. The last bit down to Puerto de Tazacorte is very steep. If you climb the opposite way up from Puerto de Tazacorte you can look forward to a cold beer on the top!
Other hikes:
La Gomera hiking
La Palma hiking
Mallorca hiking
Madeira Levada hiking
Viñales Cuba, tourism and hiking
Hiking Peru – Inka Trail to Machu Picchu
Phong Nha National Park Vietnam
