SPAIN & PORTUGAL LA PALMA DESTINATIONS E


ven among Canary Islands specialists, La Palma is something of a secret. This despite the archipelago’s most northwesterly member boasting some serious assets: the Canaries’ densest greenery, a vast walking network, beautiful black-sand beaches and Europe’s best-rated stargazing. ‘La Isla Bonita’ has taken


a step out of the shadows, courtesy of direct easyJet flights which began last winter and are coming back for a second season, so it should loom large this year for soft-adventurers seeking somewhere offbeat and less-frequented.


w SELL: STARS AND STRIDES Above all else, you go to La Palma for fantastic walking. Because its relatively tall peaks catch clouds, the fifth-largest Canary island is also the group’s most verdant member. Combine that lushness with caldera-rim miradors (viewpoints), laurel- forest gorges, black sand dunes and about 550 miles of paths, and you have hiking heaven. The absence of much urbanisation enables terrific stargazing too. While Mount Teide on Tenerife tends to attract more column inches, the astral tourism is arguably better on


La Palma. Its skies are protected from light pollution by law, and some of the world’s best telescopes reside atop Roque de los Muchachos. You might well see Venus,


but you’ll definitely spy a few volcanoes on La Palma. Superb museums explain the fissures, flag vents and more, but it’s the undeniable physical evidence – formations, chasms, craters and hills which weren’t there 50 years ago – that truly captivates. Sports fans can enjoy downhill biking, dune-buggying, surfing, caving, canyoning and climbing. Rum and cigar production lend a Cuban flavour, while the two


main, pretty towns – Santa Cruz and Los Llanos de Aridane – have excellent art scenes and daring restaurants. Running from mid-September


until late March, easyJet’s new service departs from Gatwick on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Thomson Airways charters the UK’s other direct flights, departing from Gatwick and Manchester on Thursdays year-round, with an extra Sunday service from Manchester between November and April. Otherwise the quickest connections are via Madrid, taking seven hours. La Palma is a year-round


31 August 2017 travelweekly.co.uk 65


TOP TIP


For maps and information on


La Palma’s main footpaths, go to: senderosdela palma.es/en


PICTURE: LA PALMA TOURIST BOARD/DOMINICDAHNCKE.COM


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