Canary Islands: Tenerife, La Gomera and La Palma

1. Day 1: Arrive in La Laguna

   Tenerife North Airport to San Cristobal de La Laguna

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in San Cristobal de La Laguna
   Day 1 details

   We meet you at Tenerife North Airport, about 10 minutes from San Cristobal de La Laguna, the island's old capital and our base for three nights. La Laguna sits on a high plain at about 550 m, cooler and greener than the resort coasts, and its old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site: a grid of streets laid out in the late 1400s that became a model for colonial towns in the Americas. Once everyone has arrived we take a short evening walk through the pedestrian streets, past painted wooden balconies, the cathedral square and the student bars of the university town. Your guide briefs the week ahead, including how we choose the clearest morning for Teide and when the ferries run. Welcome dinner is at a restaurant in the old town, a short walk from the hotel.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Tenerife North Airport (TFN)
   • Evening orientation walk in La Laguna's old town
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening walk, depending on your flight

   Activity: Flat streets, about 2 km at an easy pace.

   

2. Day 2: Teide by cable car

   La Laguna to Teide National Park and back

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in San Cristobal de La Laguna
   Day 2 details

   We leave La Laguna at about 7:45 am and drive up through pine forest and above the sea of cloud into Teide National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, about 1 hour 15 minutes away. Our cable car tickets are for the first departures of the morning, so the queue is short and the light still sharp. In eight minutes the car climbs to La Rambleta at about 3,555 m, just below the 3,715 m summit of Teide, Spain's highest mountain. Short, signed paths lead to viewpoints over the crater of Pico Viejo and, on clear days, to La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro floating on the ocean. Back down by late morning, we walk the Roques de García loop among wind-carved lava towers, then sit down to lunch near the park. We return to La Laguna by mid-afternoon; the evening is free.

   Included

   • Teide cable car on an early timed slot, return
   • Viewpoint paths from La Rambleta
   • Guided Roques de García walk
   • Lunch near the national park

   Optional experiences

   • Summit path to Teide's peak with a national-park permit, if one can be obtained for the date

   Easier option: Stay at the base station terrace while the group rides up, then walk the first part of the Roques de García loop.

   More active option: With a summit permit, the short, steep path from La Rambleta to the 3,715 m peak.

   Free time: Free evening in La Laguna

   Activity: An early start: we leave at about 7:45 am. About 4 km of walking in total at 2,000 to 3,555 m, on rough volcanic ground; at the top, walk slowly. If wind closes the cable car, this day swaps with day 3.

   

3. Day 3: Anaga and La Laguna

   La Laguna to the Anaga mountains and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in San Cristobal de La Laguna
   Day 3 details

   The Anaga mountains rise just north of La Laguna, about 20 minutes away, and are covered in laurel forest; the massif is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. We start at the Cruz del Carmen visitor centre and walk into the forest, where mosses and ferns hang from the trees in the trade-wind mist. From the ridge, a path drops towards Chinamada, a hamlet where some homes are still cut into the rock, with views down the ravines to the Atlantic. The van meets us below and we have lunch at a country restaurant in the hills. In the afternoon a local guide walks us through La Laguna's old town: the cathedral, the Plaza del Adelantado, old merchant houses with inner patios, and the convent bakeries where the nuns sell sweets. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Guided walk in the Anaga laurel forest from Cruz del Carmen
   • Chinamada viewpoint and hamlet
   • Lunch at a country restaurant in Anaga
   • Guided walk of La Laguna's old town

   Easier option: The short, level Sendero de los Sentidos loops at Cruz del Carmen, then meet the group at Chinamada by van.

   More active option: Continue on foot from Chinamada down to Punta del Hidalgo on the coast, about 4 km more.

   Free time: Free evening in La Laguna

   Activity: About 6 km and 3 hours on forest paths that can be muddy, with a steady descent; the old town walk adds about 2 km on flat streets.

   

4. Day 4: Ferry to La Gomera

   La Laguna to Los Cristianos, ferry to San Sebastian de La Gomera

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in San Sebastian de La Gomera
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast we drive south down the motorway to the port of Los Cristianos, about an hour, and take the ferry across to La Gomera. The fast ferry takes about 50 minutes, and from the deck you watch Teide shrink behind you while the steep cliffs of La Gomera come up ahead. We land in San Sebastian, the island's small capital and our base for two nights. Columbus stopped here in 1492 to take on water and supplies before crossing the Atlantic, and a short walk with your guide takes in the Torre del Conde, a 15th-century tower, the Church of the Assumption and the well that local tradition links to his voyage. Lunch is near the harbour. The afternoon and evening are free: the town beach is a few minutes' walk away, and the harbour front fills with locals at dusk.

   Included

   • Ferry from Los Cristianos to San Sebastian de La Gomera
   • Guided walk of San Sebastian: Torre del Conde, Church of the Assumption
   • Lunch in San Sebastian

   Free time: Free afternoon and evening in San Sebastian

   Activity: Short, flat town walk; luggage is handled for you between van, ferry and hotel.

   

5. Day 5: Garajonay and the whistled language

   San Sebastian to Garajonay National Park, El Cedro and Agulo, and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in San Sebastian de La Gomera
   Day 5 details

   We drive up the island's spine, past the volcanic plug of Roque de Agando, into Garajonay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site that protects one of the largest surviving laurel forests anywhere. From the Pajarito trailhead a climb of about 1 km reaches Alto de Garajonay at 1,487 m, the island's highest point, with Teide often visible across the water. We then walk down through the forest towards El Cedro, under tall laurel and heather trees dripping with lichen, the path mostly downhill and shaded. The van collects us and we drive to the north coast near Agulo for lunch, where a local whistler demonstrates Silbo Gomero, the whistled language once used to talk across the island's ravines and now taught in its schools and recognised by UNESCO. We return to San Sebastian by late afternoon; the evening is free.

   Included

   • Roque de Agando viewpoint
   • Walk to Alto de Garajonay (1,487 m)
   • Guided walk through the laurel forest to El Cedro
   • Lunch near Agulo with a Silbo Gomero demonstration

   Easier option: Walk only the short climb to Alto de Garajonay, or the level loop at Laguna Grande, then rejoin the group by van.

   More active option: Walk on from El Cedro down the valley towards Hermigua, about 4 km more.

   Free time: Free evening in San Sebastian

   Activity: About 7 km and 3 hours: about 1 km and 130 m up from Pajarito to the summit, then mostly downhill on forest paths with roots and wet stones; poles help. Route length confirmed with our local guide.

   

6. Day 6: Ferry to La Palma

   San Sebastian de La Gomera to Santa Cruz de La Palma by ferry

   • By ferry
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Santa Cruz de La Palma
   Day 6 details

   An early start: we leave the hotel before 6 am with a packed breakfast for the direct ferry to Santa Cruz de La Palma, which sails at about 6:30 am and takes about 4 hours. You can doze in the lounge or watch the sun come up behind Tenerife from the deck. The direct sailing does not run every day, so we set departure dates around it where we can. On a date without one, we take an early ferry back to Los Cristianos, drive about 1 hour 15 minutes to Tenerife North and fly the short hop to La Palma, arriving by mid-afternoon; that makes a longer travel day, and lunch and the town walk move later. Otherwise we land at about 10:30 am, leave the bags at the hotel and have lunch near the seafront. Your guide then walks you along Calle O'Daly and the Avenida Maritima, past the carved wooden balconies. The rest of the afternoon is free, and we meet for dinner in the old town.

   Included

   • Direct ferry from San Sebastian de La Gomera to Santa Cruz de La Palma (or ferry to Tenerife and the inter-island flight when no direct sailing runs)
   • Lunch in Santa Cruz de La Palma
   • Guided walk of Santa Cruz de La Palma's old town
   • Dinner in Santa Cruz de La Palma

   Easier option: Skip the town walk and rest at the hotel after the crossing.

   Free time: Free afternoon in Santa Cruz de La Palma

   Activity: An early start: we leave the hotel before 6 am for a crossing of about 4 hours. Little walking, about 2 km on flat streets.

   

7. Day 7: Caldera, volcanoes and a night of stars

   Santa Cruz de La Palma to La Cumbrecita and El Pilar, then the Roque de los Muchachos and back

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Santa Cruz de La Palma
   Day 7 details

   A full day that ends late, with a rest in the middle. We drive through the tunnel to El Paso and up to La Cumbrecita, where short paths lead to viewpoints into the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, a deep basin ringed by cliffs and pine forest; vehicle access is booked ahead. Then we head to El Pilar on the Cumbre Vieja ridge and walk a stretch of the Ruta de los Volcanes over black cinder past craters and pines, with the cone of the 2021 Tajogaite eruption in view on clear days. After lunch near El Paso we return to Santa Cruz for a two-hour rest. Late in the afternoon we drive up to the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,426 m the island's highest point, about 1 hour 15 minutes, to watch the sunset over the Caldera beside the observatory domes. After the farewell supper, a local astronomy guide sets up telescopes at a dark viewpoint; La Palma protects its sky by law. We are back around 11 pm.

   Included

   • La Cumbrecita viewpoints, Caldera de Taburiente National Park
   • Guided walk on the Ruta de los Volcanes from El Pilar
   • Lunch near El Paso
   • Sunset at the Roque de los Muchachos and the Caldera rim
   • Farewell supper
   • Guided stargazing session with telescopes

   Easier option: The level path to the Mirador de los Roques at La Cumbrecita, wait at El Pilar's picnic area while the group walks, and skip the evening if you prefer to stay in Santa Cruz.

   More active option: A longer stretch of the Ruta de los Volcanes, about 10 km, with the van meeting you further south.

   Free time: Two free hours at the hotel in the afternoon

   Activity: About 6 km and 2 to 3 hours on loose volcanic cinder and forest paths at about 1,400 to 1,900 m. A late finish, around 11 pm (later in summer, when the sun sets after 9 pm). It can be near freezing at the summit. If cloud covers the summit and day 6 is clear, we move the stargazing to the evening of day 6; clear skies cannot be guaranteed.

   

8. Day 8: Departure from La Palma

   Santa Cruz de La Palma to La Palma Airport

   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   Your last morning is free and starts late after the stargazing night. After breakfast there may be time to walk the Calle O'Daly, the old main street, or to see the replica of Columbus's ship that houses the town's naval museum, depending on your flight. The airport is about 15 minutes south of Santa Cruz, and we take you there in the van with your luggage. Most onward journeys from La Palma connect through another Canary island or the Spanish mainland. Book a departure from La Palma any time from late morning, or ask us about an extra night if your connection is early. Your guide checks your flight time with you the evening before and arranges the drop-off to suit it.

   Included

   • Drop-off at La Palma Airport (SPC)

   Free time: Free morning, depending on your flight time

   

Wildlife and weather: The islands are mild all year, warmer and sunnier on the south coasts. The trade winds often pile a sea of cloud against the north side at about 1,000 to 1,500 m, which keeps the laurel forests misty and green while the peaks above stand in sun. Winter brings cooler nights and sometimes snow on Teide; summer is hot in the south and Saharan dust haze (calima) can come in at any season. October to May has the clearest nights for stargazing.

• San Cristobal de La Laguna3 nights
• San Sebastian de La Gomera2 nights
• Santa Cruz de La Palma2 nights