What to See in La Palma: The Essentials of the Isla Bonita
La Palma is known as "La Isla Bonita" (the Beautiful Island), and for once the nickname falls short. It is the greenest and steepest of the Canary Islands: in no time at all you go from a damp laurel forest, all mist and giant ferns, to a volcanic crater that still smells of sulphur, and from there you climb to 2,426 metres, the roof of the island, where some of the largest telescopes on the planet stand. The question is not so much what to see in La Palma, but how much you can take in without rushing.
Not every spot is here (for that you have the full map on islas24). These are the essentials, sorted by what you feel like that day: nature, villages, volcanoes or family plans. And above all, the sky, because La Palma is one of the best places in the world to look at the stars.
The Caldera de Taburiente and the Roque de los Muchachos
If you could see only one thing, it would be the heart of the island. The Caldera de Taburiente National Park is an enormous mountain cirque, a rock amphitheatre several kilometres across, covered in Canary pine and cut through by ravines and streams. Inside you can only travel on foot, along a very well signposted network of trails. The main access points are the La Cumbrecita viewpoint, a good quarter of an hour from the El Paso Visitor Centre, and Los Brecitos, more remote and reached by a demanding road. From the Barranco de las Angustias you get to the curious Cascada de Colores, stained ochre and orange by the iron in the water. That said, before heading into the ravine check the forecast for the summits: if there is a rain warning up top, do not go in under any circumstances, because the riverbed can suffer sudden, very dangerous flash floods. A local trick: for Los Brecitos there are authorised taxis that will drive you up, so you avoid the dirt track in your rental car.
Crowning the whole rim of the caldera is the Roque de los Muchachos, the highest point of La Palma at 2,426 metres above sea level. You drive up on the LP-4 road, and at the top, on clear days, Tenerife, La Gomera and El Hierro stand out in the distance, rising above the sea of clouds. Here is the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, one of the great astronomical centres of the northern hemisphere. Take note: the observatory can be visited during the day, but only with a prior booking through the official guided tours (the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias runs them), and at night the area is closed to the public because it is the astronomers' workplace. If your plan is to see stars, do not look at them from the observatory: there are viewpoints set up for that, and we tell you about all of them in our guide to where to see the stars in the Canary Islands, which has its own chapter on La Palma.
Nature in its purest form: Los Tilos and the natural pools
In the northeast of the island a forest awaits that seems to belong to another age. Los Tilos is a laurel forest, that broad-leaved subtropical jungle which millions of years ago covered much of the planet and today survives only in a few corners of the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores. Here the trees reach twenty or thirty metres, moisture blankets everything in moss, and the ferns grow to a whole other scale. This is not brochure trivia: Los Tilos was the first Biosphere Reserve in the Canary Islands, declared by UNESCO as far back as 1983, and in 2002 that protection was extended to the entire island. There are trails for every level and a visitor centre where you can make sense of what you are looking at.
Very close by, on the coast of San Andrés y Sauces, are the natural pools of Charco Azul: a complex of adapted seawater pools, with a shallow-bottomed children's area, steps, showers and lifeguards in season. It is one of the safest and most family-friendly swims in the north. Even so, La Palma's sea is no joke when a swell rolls in, so respect the flags and do not go in if the waves are breaking hard against the walls. Half an hour by car from Santa Cruz, it makes for a perfect morning plan.
Volcanoes with a history: Tajogaite, San Antonio and Teneguía
La Palma is a young island and still alive, and it shows. In Cumbre Vieja stands the Tajogaite volcano, the one that erupted on 19 September 2021 and stayed active until December of that year, burying entire neighbourhoods of the Los Llanos district. Today it can be visited, but with conditions: it is a protected and geologically sensitive area, so access up to the cone is regulated and only done with authorised guides and companies, by prior booking and with limited places per day. It is not a place to go on your own. If you approach it with respect and well informed, it is one of the most impressive experiences you can have in the Canary Islands today: you suddenly understand how an island is made.
At the far south, in Fuencaliente, you have two more veteran volcanoes that are simpler to visit: San Antonio and Teneguía, which erupted in 1971 and gained land from the sea with its lava flows. You set off from the Volcán de San Antonio Visitor Centre, with its crater looking out over the Atlantic, and from there a trail drops down towards Teneguía between fields of black lava and vineyards. It is lunar landscape, huge sky and, very close by, the Fuencaliente lighthouse and the salt pans. Bring water and a hat, because there is not a scrap of shade here.
For a family trip
La Palma is easy with children if you choose your plan well. The natural pools of Charco Azul are the safe bet: calm water, shallow depth in the children's area and full facilities. For a day in the forest, the short Los Tilos trails can be done with little ones without any trouble, and the wonder of the giant ferns works at any age. On the west coast, the black volcanic-sand beaches are another experience: we tell you about them one by one in the best beaches in La Palma, with which are more sheltered and which are best avoided when there is a swell.
And then there is the star plan, in every sense: a night of stars. The whole of La Palma is a Reserva Starlight, with viewpoints designed for stargazing, and seeing the Milky Way with the naked eye is one of those things a child never forgets. You need no telescope and no experience; just climb up to a dark viewpoint, let your eyes adjust and look up.
How to plan your visit
La Palma can be understood, broadly, as two worlds: the east, more populated and sheltered from the winds, with Santa Cruz and the airport; and the west, that of Los Llanos, more open and sunny, with the best sunsets. In between, the great caldera and the ridge split everything in two. Do not miss Santa Cruz de La Palma, the historic capital: founded in 1493, it has a lovely old town, with the Calle Real (O'Daly), the wooden Canary balconies of the Avenida Marítima and a very well preserved colonial legacy. It is a city for strolling without haste and staying to eat; and if you want the most local flavour, order something with gofio, the toasted cereal flour that goes with almost everything in the Canary Islands (a note for coeliacs: gofio is usually made from wheat, though there is also millo, that is, maize, gofio).
With three or four full days you see the essentials without stress, and a week gives you room for a day in the caldera, another among the volcanoes in the south, a swim in the north and, above all, an unhurried night of stars. The car is almost essential: here the distances on the map are more deceptive than on any other island, because it is all ridge and bend. Reckon that to cross from east to west you go over the ridge, often through fog or under the chipi-chipi (that fine, persistent drizzle of the northeastern side), and that the weather changes fast with the altitude. A local trick: check the sky before deciding the day's plan, because the fog blanketing the north may be leaving the south clear, and the other way around.
On islas24 you have each of these places with its location, its opening hours and how to get there, so you can build your route without surprises. Choose where to start and let the Isla Bonita do the rest.