A Guide to La Palma – Canary Islands, Spain

La Palma consists of 728 square kilometres and holds 80,000 inhabitants.

In the centre of the island lies the largest known crater: La Cadera de Taburiente, a National Park. It has a circumference of 28km full of dense pine forests with depths of up to 770m. The highest peak is known as Roque de Los Muchachos (2,423m) and it is there that you will find the Astrophysical Observatory. The impressive grandeur of la Cadera can be observed from the observation platform of la Cumbrecita because it can be viewed in detail and visited from that point.

Santa Cruz de la Palma

This is the capital of the island with an important port and 18,000 inhabitants. It lies on the East coast of the island on a mountain slope and on the edge of a volcanic crater called la Cadereta. Its form is that of an amphitheatre which gives the town a curious look. Its picturesque Real Street, the centre of commercial and social life, leads to Espana Sq where El Salvador and also the Town Hall stands, two valuable examples of 16C architecture.

Santa Cruz de la Palma contains a Museum of Natural History with magnificent zoological examples and traces of the original population as well as a large library. The seaside avenue skirts the sea and there are modern buildings alongside large old houses with huge, wooden balconies, typical of the island.

Near the town stands the Sanctuary of Nuestra Senora de las Nieves, the patron saint of the island.

Places of interest in La Palma

Los Llanos de Aridane

An important commercial and agricultural centre of the island which lies in one of the loveliest valleys of the Canary countryside which can be viewed in all its beauty from the observation platform of El Time.

From there it is also possible to see La Cadera de Taburiente and Tijarafe.Lies in surroundings full of banana-trees with a small and very typical harbour and good beaches.

Puerto de Naos

A small, very tourist-oriented village with an excellent beach of fine, black sand.

Fuencaliente

This is the most southerly village of the island. It is surrounded by pine forests and vineyards that contrast against the volcanoes, the most famous of which are San Antonio and Teneguia. The latter erupted in 1971.