Isla de La Palma Things to Do

The 10 KM long road from Las Tricias to Santo Domingo de Garafia is very scenic.
The deep barancos are breathtaking.
The hills are covered with beautlful succulent plants.
And if you have a good look you can see a lot of caves in this area. Some of them are just along the road. Some have small doors and are used for storage or as stable for sheep and goats. Not long ago people also lived in some of the caves in this area.
At the west side you have nice views at the ocean, at some places.

In the area of Las Tricias is a unique collection of dragon trees.
The best thing to do is to park your car in Las Tricias and walk. From Los Llanos you can take also a bus to Las Tricias. It takes one hour. from Las Tricias you can make a nice walk fo 6,25 KM, visiting also the Cuevas de Buracas.
In the area of the dragon trees, is a rural part of the village with unpaved roads, where ''alternative'' people live in the rural houses or caravans just on a piece of land. You can visit a small ecological museum here. The most dragon trees you can see just outside the village on your way in the north east direction to the caves.

Puerto Naos has a large hotel Sol de Palma (465 rooms/apartments) and many other apartments for rent. There is a boulevard and a beach with palmtrees and black sand.
There are bars, restaurants, shops and the largest concentration of tourists in the south west area. A village like the present Puerto Naos can be everywhere in the world.
Nothing is left of the original structure of the village.
We bought some bread at a German bakery and returned inland.
North and south of Puerto Naos are some less crowded beaches.

After our walks and trips on the island we mostly went to Puerto Tazacorte at the end of the day, for a little walk along the oceanside and through the picturesque alleys. We did some shopping and found a nice artisitic jewellery shop.
And before returning to our lovely casita, we enjoyed our drinks and meal at one of the small terraces, looking at the ocean and the sunset, in a very relaxed atmosphere.

Puerto Tazacorte is a lovely, very tiny place with only a few roads and alleyways.
Puerto Tazacorte is the place where in 1492 the Spanish conqueror Fernandez del Lugo landed. So the history of La Palma started in Tazacorte. Taza, the Guanchen tribal chief, died in the battle with the Spanish soldiers.
Tazacorte is named after this chief. Tazacorte means the court of Taza.

Puerto Tazacorte lays at the Atlantic coast, 3 KM north of Tazacorte. We reached Puerto Tazacorte mostly by road from Los Llanos, the last part passing through the Baranco de las Angustias. This baranco goes up to the Caldera de Taburiente in the other (north east) direction.
It's also possible to walk down to Puerto Tazacorte from the mirador el Time (3KM, 1 hour).
We liked this very small fishing place with its nice coloured apartments. The balconies look out over a nice flowering park and the sea.

From the mirador el Time at 600 M, on the way from Los Llanos to the north, not far from the coast, you have a good view at the whole Aridane valley with the villages, villas, green houses, terraces and plantations. You have an overview from the Atlantic coast in the west to the Cumbre in the east with mostly the typical clouds hanging over its ridge. In the north east, not far from the mirador, you can see also the entrance to the Caldera de Taburiente.
The mirador el Time has a terrace, shop and restaurant.

The Cumbre (Nueva and Vieja), a 47 KM long mountain ridge from north to south divides the island La Palma in a wet eastern and a dry western part. El Paso and Los Llanos are in the western sunny part. We stayed in a casita between the banana plantations near the old road connecting both places.
Los Llanos de Aridane (19.000 inhabitants) is a nice town with two lovely plazas, some good restaurants and many shops.
El Paso ( 6000 inhabitants) has some nice old alleys in the towncentre.
We enjoyed our stay in this area. It was also a good starting point for our trips and walks on the island.