West Canaries Tourism Guide - West Canaries Tourism

La Gomera Tourism Guide

Unlike most of the other Canary Islands (except El Hierro), La Gomera's focus for visitors is not to be found on the coast - which is mostly rocky - but in the centre of the island in the Garajonay National Park. Conditions on La Gomera, one of the smallest Canary Islands situated west of Tenerife, are perfect for the Laurisilva which need year round subtropical conditions with mild temperatures and high humidity. You'll find Laurisilva forests elsewhere in the Atlantic on some of the other Canary Islands, and on the Azores and Madeira.

The story of the laurisilva forests in these regions is a familiar one - after the arrival of the Europeans from the 15th century they were considerably eroded by ongoing development. Garajonay on La Gomera remains the largest and best preserved representation of an ancient eco-system. Half of all the Laurisilva forests on the Canaries are here in La Gomera.

There's a variety of landscapes today in contemporary La Gomera, which covers only 376 km squared. La Gomera is essentially an ancient massif, and the mix of spewed up during it's volcanic formation means that the different rocks have eroded at different rates - hence the selection of Roques (harder rock resistant to erosion) scattered around the island. There's been no volcanic activity on La Gomera for 2 million years, over which period what you see today, including canyons, hillocks, cliffs, crsts, jungles, laurisilva forests, marks of settlement including terrace cultivation (hardwork this) on the hillsides. Bear in mind mountainous though, so don't be thinking that driving around the island is quick and easy - some hard work is needed on constantly winding and ascending roads!

The main settlement areas, and bases for visitors on La Gomera include San Sebastian (the capital and La Gomera's main port) to the south east, the Valle Gran Rey area to the west and Playa Santiago near the only golf course on the island and La Gomera's small airport. It's easy to take a daytrip to La Gomera via the fast ferry which departs from Los Cristianos harbour five times daily and the other way from San Sebastian to Los Cristianos 5 times daily. The boat trip is a mere 40 minutes. It's easy then to split your holiday with a week on Tenerife, and another on La Gomera. Binter Canarias flights arrive on La Gomera daily coming from both Tenerife North Airport, and Gran Canaria's Las Palmas Airport.

La Palma Tourism Guide

La Palma is still a relatively quiet Canary Island, and particularly popular with walkers exploring the magnificent Parque Nacional de la Caldera de Taburiente in La Palma's northern interior. In November 2002 the whole of La Palma was declared a World Biosphere Reserve. To the south are the Fuencaliente La Palma volcanoes and a popular and informative visitor centre is situated adjacent to Volcan de San Antonio. You can actually walk around the rim of San Antonio Volcano - a must do whilst on La Palma. For sheer natural beauty La Palma comes top of the Canary Islands charts, and unlike many of the other islands, La Palma has so far avoided the influx of mass tourism. Work is currently afoot on an extra Terminal at La Palma Airport and there has been much protest from locals against it, concerned for the environmental affects on the island from the inevitable increase in visitor numbers!

La Palma's Airport is situated on the central east coast of the island near one of two main resort centres - Los Cancajos. The other main La Palma resort centre is Puerto Naos on the west coast. Both have beautiful black sandy beaches, with Puerto Naos' beach lined with palm trees to great effect. Relatively untouched and very Canarian and rural, La Palma offers some challenging mountain driving for sure! It's a joy of an island, nicknamed 'La Isla Bonita', and a paradise for walkers and nature lovers alike. La Palma is a mix of high verdant mountains to the north, and arid, lower lying volcanic cones and lava outflows to the south. You'll find some of the best preserved rock carvings on La Palma - two of the best can be found at La Zarza to the north and Belmaco in Mazo to the south. La Palma is also famous for it's Astronomical Observatory situated high up at El Roque de Los Muchachos - for star gazing worldwide you can't do much better than La Palma!

Not by chance has La Palma, the greenest of all the Canary Island, been nicknamed the Pretty Island). Shaped like a triangle, and the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands archipelago, in the northern interior is the Caldera de Taburiente National Park. Essentially this is an enormous crater or landslide, and outside of the crater is an abundance of 2 million year old Laurel pine forests and plummeting waterfalls.

Of all the Canary Islands La Palma is the most volcanically active! It's in the Ajuvenile state of volcanic development. Lanzarote is often mistaken for the most volcanic of the Canary Islands, but the eruptive activity in the Cumbre Vieja to the south of La Palma far exceeds that of Timanfaya on Lanzarote. The volcanic history of Tenerife too has been much less intense than La Palma, and historic eruptions on Tenerife have not generally seen lava flow reaching the sea, as on La Palma. Tenerife is now entering what is called the juvenile state of volcanic development and moving into eruptive quiescence which has been the dormant state of La Gomera for a long time!

El Hierro Tourism Guide

El Hierro certainly is the 'wild west' of the Canaries - the sweeping ravines, volcanic badlands, interior pine forest and the breathtaking views of El Golfo bay from the Peno Mirador will amaze - you do indeed feel like you're at the end of the world, as once this spot was before Columbus discovered America across the mammoth Atlantic. Today El Hierro is a walker's paradise, with numerous old Camino trails across the island. It's the quietest of all the Canary Islands - there's not a huge amount of accommodation here (considered a blessing by many who come for the peace and tranquility of the island). Booking well in advance for both accommodation and car hire is highly recommended! Activities wise, you're looking at some of the best walking across the Canaries, plus a spot of fishing and swimming on naturally formed volcanic beaches and rock pools.

El Hierro is an island of immense mixes - pine forests to the south and interior, to the west volcanic badlands and a jagged coastline, and the views of El Golfo, where rocks soar upwards. Valverde, the only large town to speak of on El Hierro and the island's capital, sits to the north east near the airport. (one of three petrol stations on the island is in Valverde so fill up if you're picking up a car hire from the airport and then heading towards Frontera - the other two are in Frontera and La Restinga). Before Columbus went off on his jaunts, it was El Hierro that was considered the end of the world! There's an air of mystery here, which has a lot to do with it's