“Four more weeks of feeling grotty then we’re off to Lanzarote”. This was the song that got me and my young family through the winter months. During the post New Year blues, this musical countdown to a warm winter break kept us sane. Every February we’d choose a different Canary Island and chill out at a hotel complex to recharge the batteries. Now the kids have grown up we have discovered another fabulous experience you can have in the Canaries. If you love a decent walk, stunning views and the contrast of beach and forest let me take you to a land that looks like Middle Earth with added sand, cool beers and great food.
La Gomera is the second smallest Canary island a short ferry trip away from Tenerife. The journey to our hotel on the south of the island was not for the faint-hearted. The windy, precipitous roads gave us a delicious clue as to the landscape we were about to spend ten days exploring. We stayed on the south coast at Playa de Santiago at the Hotel Jardin Tecina and flexed between beach and hiking, a wonderful contrast.
During our stay, we joined some of the numerous free trips offered by the hotel such as stargazing and a tasting evening with typical local produce. Our favourite paid trip was the hike in the Garajonay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is a green paradise including rare laurel forests and exotic flowers. It is a photographer’ dream with breathtaking views back to the cloud draped Mount Teide on Tenerife.
Top tip. It is worth checking the ferry times and if it looks tight with your arrival get a taxi transfer. We had a coach transfer as part of our package which took quite a long time. We just missed a ferry and had to wait around for another couple of hours. A taxi would have got us to an earlier ferry.
We will return for further adventures and look forward to exploring more of the island. The website lagomera.travel is a great tool when researching your trip and companies like Inntravel have great walking holiday suggestions.