Santa Cruz de La Palma - 45km square with approx. 18,000 inhabitants A coastal town which is also the capital of the island. Having travelled the Canaries and visited most of the major towns, this has got to be one of the most relaxing and scenic to walk around. Much of the town comprises of the origional buildings, especially the religious and civil buildings, which have been carefully looked after and/or restored through the last 500 years or so. The main road (LP1) that runs through the town paralells the sea, passing the beach and harbour. There's regular ferry services from here to Tenerife, limited service to mainland Spain and often the large cruise ships stop here too. On the other side of the road is a very good choice of bars, very nice and friendly atmposphere and good to head for in the evenings. Many of the town's buildings support the traditional Canarian woodern balconies and brightly coloured facades lining cobbled streets. Away from the main coastal road that runs through the town, you step back in time a little as you walk through Santa Cruz. The main square, Plaza de España is a good place to head for where you'll also find the church of El Salvador. Other buildings to look for, if that's your thing, include Palace of the Counts of Salazar, temple of Santo Domingo, temple of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves with its neighbouring art gallery, castle of Santa Catalina and convent of Sant Fransisco. Of the celebrations to look for, the main one is extremely hard to time in to your holiday schedule (but well worth it) as it only takes place once every five years! La Bajada de la Virgen de las Nieves. Preceded by a huge pilgramige to Santa Cruz, there's 18th-century styled festivals, floats and dancing with "the dance of the dwarfs" - complete in amazing dwarf costumes!!

 

Los Llanos de Aridane - 35 km square and approx. 20,200 inhabitants La Palma's "second city" situated towards the west coast of the island. This is certainly the agricultural capital of the island. The surrounding valley of Aridane being very fertile and home to vast banana plantations. Closer to the coast is the resort and beach of Puerto Naos. Whilst I personally found the town of Los Llanos (Los Llanos means the flats - this part of theisland being flat!) nice but nothing worth going out of your way for, I have to say the valley of Aridane (where it's located) is one of the nicest parts of the island. The view down into the valley from Tijarafe one of the most amazing of the island.

 

Tazacorte - 12 km square and approx. 7,000 inhabitants Still in the valley of Aridane, close to Los Llanos.. Close buy is "EL Puerto" - the port with beach. Fishing is very popular from here, the palm groves are worth seeing and the town celebrates their patron saint on 29th July each year.

 

El Paso - 135 km square and approx. 7,500 inhabitants The other side of Los Llanos towards the higher part of the valley of Aridane (it's a big valley this!) is El Paso. Known as the city of the Almond Trees the most fascinating tradition/craft about this town is "caterpillar breeding" as natural silk is produced here. Look for Bertila Perez' workshop where you can see the craft in action and admire her works, of course, you can buy silk here too. Lush green countryside, pine-forst-covered hills and banana plantations border this town with an abundance of almond trees and palm groves also to pass through make the pretty town of El Paso well worth a visit.

 

Tijarafe - 55km square and approx 3,000 inhabitants Another town set amidst palm and almond trees, otherwise pretty unspectacular and I wasn't impressed - until I reached the mirador at the edge of the town, "El Time". From here you have THE most spectacular, birds-eye view over the entire valley of Aridane and down the west coast. I went on two different days, the first a clear day and the second, what little cloud was scattered around was actually on a level or below me.

 

Puntagorda - 32km square and approx. 2,000 inhabitants Towards north-west coast, this was a bit of an oasis to arrive at after driving along the north-coast road that runs through the forest there (You'll see what I mean if you do that drive). Yet another town of almond trees (by the way, January and February is when they bloom), it's traditional buildings (and strict building laws) help make the town one of themost picturesque on the island. The locals here really show how well the land on the island can be farmed as almost the entire town survives on agriculture. Puntagorda was once famous for its mills although few ruined examples now remain. The cereal gofio was milled here for the entire island.

 

Garafia - 100km square and approx. 2,000 inhabitants Right on the north-west coast, this is a village rich in water reserves and fertile land suitable for cattle and goat farming. The latter is more commonplace with goat's cheese a popular produce here. The village is set admidst steep ravines, forests of laurel and dragon trees.

 

Fuencaliente - 56km square and 2,000 inhabitants Located towards the very south of the island a much more barren part of the island as this is where the island's volcanos are also located. You'll undoubtadly pass through this town if going to visit or walk through the volcanos. One crop that does thrive in the remaining ashes and is apparent all down the south-west coast is the grape-vine. Around one million litres of wine a year are produced here. Close by are some of the nicest, clear-water beaches on the island such as EL Faro, Playa Nueva, Punta Larga and La Zamora.

 

Barlovento - 44km square and 2,500 inhabitants Situated in the wettest part of the island, the north east, home to very fertile land, all sorts of crops and some beautiful forests. With the land being so fertile here, the locals have made the most of the space they have and have terraced layers out into the mountains to plant their crops, mainly bananas but also potatoes and other vegetables. One of the areas near the town is La Tosca, home to a dragon tree cluster. To thenorth of the village is La Laguna, a reservoir capable of holding 5 million cubic meters of water and surrounded by a protected park. Towards the coast are the Piscinas de Fajana - an area where man has helped develope natural areas of rock in the water to create swimming pools.

 

San Andres y Sauces - 44km square and approx. 5,500 inhabitants An area developed after the conquests thanks to the sugar cane. Though long gone, the towns remained and the land uused for the banana crop. Whilst some locals also cultivate their own crops such as tobacco, 99% of the land here is given over to bananas. The place most tourists head for here though is the Los Tilos forest, a vast sylvan-lorel forest which has in its center underground springs, a river and cascading waterfalls thans to the low, moist cloud and rains in this part of the island. The river's been harnessed in one part by a power plant which uses the force of the water to provide a total of 7% of the islands power. I liked Los Sauces a lot, very peaceful way of life there, nice and friendly tapas bars, a peaceful town square to enjoy the views past the church and down to the coast.

 

Breña Baja & Breña Alta - 40km square and approx 10,000 inhabitants This is the area around the island's capital, Santa Cruz. Beginning at the peek of the mountain above the town (Breña Alta) and going down to the coast (Breña Baja) and the resort of Los Cancajos. Tobaco is a popular crop and craft (hand-rolled cigars) here. Los Cancajos is the main tourist area of this part of the island. A nice place to stay as you're just 10 minutes drive/bus from the capital on one side and the airport (not that busy/noisy) on the other.