La Palma

La Palma is my favourite island out of all the Canaries. It is the island referred to in the old Madonna Song "The Isla Bonita" and the song is spot on. It is the Spanish paradise.

Stunning scenery

Fantastic wines.

If you like full bodied wine the local Tinto Negramol is definitely worth trying. Clearly the best Malvasia in the world. Here La Palma has practically no competition. The Albillo dry whites can also be very good, but the quality varies greatly from year to year. Some years are too hot. Overall, it is no wonder that the French spent so much effort to systematically sink every ship carrying wine from the Canaries in the 16th and 17th century. Before that all European royal courts drank Canarian wines instead of French.

Beautiful mountains.

Quite lethal as well. Fog can come out of nowhere and the visibility drop to under 5 meters in a matter of minutes. The first ten meters up any of the cliffs are usually the last for any climber. The rock is so fragile that there is simply no way to climb on it. The only way through the mountain is along the few marked trails.

Beautiful Seaside

In most places the coast is formed by lava fields going straight into the sea and there are no beaches as such. However, due to the really small number of hotels on the island this does not really show. The beaches are not crowded and there is plenty of coastline for everyone.

Nightlife (lack of it)

Most importantly, La Palma has NO BLOODY "NIGHTLIFE"! No clubs whatsoever. No cretins puking their brain out along with a late night curry after a night of "lighthearted entertainment". Only good food, good booze served in plenty of small restaurants and bodegons and tranquility.

Other entertainment

Paragliding

La Palma is also paragliding heaven. The banana plantations are like huge burners spewing hot air into the sky. The thermals above them are so strong that paragliders can circle around for hours without landing

Maroparque Wildlife Park

The park is nothing special when compared to Loro Parque on Tenerife or La Lahita on Fuerteventura. However, its setting is unique and gives an interesting perspective on just how valuable is the land on La Palma. It is set on a set of terrases along a nearly vertical ravine (most likely from a derelict banana plantation).

Driving

Driving on La Palma is entertainment. Despite all improvements that have gone into the road network over the last 10 years into the road network it remains one of the most dangerous places to drive in Europe. It is not uncommon for a road to climb up to 2 km in altitude within less than 20km. It is also uncommon for a road to have a straight part that is longer than a few hundred meters. In fact there are all in all two places on the island with 1km of straight road - one from Puerto De St Cruz to the Airport and the other on the road from St Cruz to Fuencaliente. This results in the locals being some of the most careful and considerate drivers in Spain. Ones that are not get a Darwin award at a very short notice. On my first trip to La Palma I rented a car at the same time with a German gentleman who was very persistent in trying to get the lady at the rental to answer the "What is the speed limit on the island" question. He went away quite annoyed that he did not get an answer on how fast he can go before the police fines him. One week later when we returned the car he apologised to the rental lady for pestering her and said that he now understands why on this island nobody even tries to drive at the speed limit.

Flying into La Palma

Yes, this is entertainment as well. First rate, great entertainment for any adrenaline junkie.

If you want to feel what it feels like to land on an aircraft carrier this is one of the easiest ways to experience it. The airport is located in the only flat place on the island - a small lava field sticking into the ocean 1 km south from Playa Cancajos. It is not level. Yep, I am not joking, it has several degrees slant towards the north so an aircraft taking up towards the north has to roll downhill and an aircraft landing from the north has to land uphill. The runway on the north and south side drops straight into the ocean with a 50m+ sheer cliff. East side is the same - sheer cliff going into the ocean a few meters away from the airport building. And the west side finishes the picture with a 45 degree cliff going up 1800m towards the Cumbre Viejo volcano. On top of that, planes landing and landing from the north have to approach the runway nearly sidewise till the last minute in order to avoid the thermals (see the paraglider section). And just to make it all even more interesting the runway is just over a kilometer in length and has no place to put any automatic guidance. All in all the experience is enough for many tourists to say "I am never flying here again".

How to get there

La Palma has never been a tourist place, because it is too difficult to get there and the land is to expensive for the classic Lansarote/Fuerte style land speculation. It is now slipping back even further into being a mostly agricultural island. Quite clearly the tourism and property development on it have failed. As a result the few resorts are even quieter and more pleasant than before . How to get there: If you want to get there you will most likely need book it entirely yourself. There are some package holidays from Britain, but they are an on-off affair which tends to coincide with German recessions. When the German economy is strong the very few flight slots (see the flying section above why they are so few) are booked by German tour-operators. Here are some links:

• Hotels - Oasis (a local agency).
• Tickets - opodo and Binter

-- AntonIvanov? - 7 Dec 2008