mary
9th February 2008, 11:59 AM
We have just returned from a few days in La Palma and it certainly is 'La isla bonita' - the beautiful island. The island is very mountainous with the whole area covered in pine forests. It is much wetter than the islands nearer Africa - hence the ability to sustain enormous amounts of banana crops.
We stayed near Los Cancajos which is on the east side of the island. There are lots of apartments and hotels in this area but the small commercial area is very small with only a few restaurants which all seemed to specialise in pizza!. We did find some lovely local restaurants - one of which was Casa Goyo. Its just on the end of the airport runway. You sit in little cabins and are offered fish - grilled or fried. Similar to the description of Casa Juan in Puerto Rico but in a quainter more rustic setting.
My husband went diving with La Palma diving - great guys who run this - Uwe and Michael, Germans who speak good english. They were very helpful in telling us about the island and places to go. You can dive from the beach in los cancajos. It is a very gentle type of dive and good for beginners. We went on a day trip with the dive centre to Fuencaliente, in the south of the island. The last volcanic eruption on the island was in this area about 40 years ago and under the sea at about 50 metres is a hotspot, still. The dives here are much deeper and can be deeper than 40 metres if you wish. The landscape here is much more volcanic and has the eerie feeling of parts of Lanzarote. Not much plant growth there.
The warmer side of the island is in the Punto Naos area. This is more developed as far as tourism and the weather is a little more reliable.
The island in general is much more of a get away from it all place. If you like walking with the occasional day for sunbathing then this could be for you. The beaches are very small with black sand with amazing landscapes and views from every turn of the incredibly winding roads. If you get car sick then drive off armed with every seasick tablet you can find. I lived off seasickness chewing gum.
We stayed near Los Cancajos which is on the east side of the island. There are lots of apartments and hotels in this area but the small commercial area is very small with only a few restaurants which all seemed to specialise in pizza!. We did find some lovely local restaurants - one of which was Casa Goyo. Its just on the end of the airport runway. You sit in little cabins and are offered fish - grilled or fried. Similar to the description of Casa Juan in Puerto Rico but in a quainter more rustic setting.
My husband went diving with La Palma diving - great guys who run this - Uwe and Michael, Germans who speak good english. They were very helpful in telling us about the island and places to go. You can dive from the beach in los cancajos. It is a very gentle type of dive and good for beginners. We went on a day trip with the dive centre to Fuencaliente, in the south of the island. The last volcanic eruption on the island was in this area about 40 years ago and under the sea at about 50 metres is a hotspot, still. The dives here are much deeper and can be deeper than 40 metres if you wish. The landscape here is much more volcanic and has the eerie feeling of parts of Lanzarote. Not much plant growth there.
The warmer side of the island is in the Punto Naos area. This is more developed as far as tourism and the weather is a little more reliable.
The island in general is much more of a get away from it all place. If you like walking with the occasional day for sunbathing then this could be for you. The beaches are very small with black sand with amazing landscapes and views from every turn of the incredibly winding roads. If you get car sick then drive off armed with every seasick tablet you can find. I lived off seasickness chewing gum.