Mirador de La Punta

Hermigua fills one of the greenest valleys on La Gomera, and this balcony explains at a glance how the place works. Banana plantations cover the valley floor and climb stone terraces that farmers have built up the slopes; below, Playa de Santa Catalina takes the northern swell against a shore of rounded cobbles. Four concrete pillars rise out of the water, all that is left of the loading crane built in 1907 at El Peñón to ship out the harvest, and abandoned in the middle of the twentieth century when the way of moving fruit off the island changed.

The viewpoint sits on the GM-1 itself, between Hermigua and Agulo, so you drive to it and simply pull over. To the east stand Montaña del Hueco, the headland of Hermigua and the cliffs of the Majona nature park; to the north, on clear days, the whole of Tenerife appears with Teide rising above the sea. That view depends on the weather: the northern side of La Gomera often traps the trade wind cloud, and the same spot can be open in the morning and closed in soon after. Stopping is worth it even in haze, because the valley itself still reads.