Christmas in the Canaries

This winter, the Canary Islands really do seem to be the number one holiday location on the Christmas wish list.  It is traditionally a busy time here on La Palma and the rest of the islands but for the past month, the number of enquiries has been - in our experience - unprecedented.  Finding accommodation for people, whether it be an apartment by the beach or a rural house for rent, has become more and more difficult.  It really is a case of the early bird having the choice of accommodation!

The most popular week even above Christmas week has been over New Year and all of the apartments at Tazacorte that we normally book for people are now taken. Maybe it is something to do with laying on the beach and soaking up some sun - not a bad way to start 2012!

New Year's Eve, Tazacorte beach

But if you haven't booked your accommodation yet, despair not.  There are still one or two houses for rent available and with a few seats still remaining on the 30th December to 6th January direct flights from London Gatwick to La Palma or direct from Manchester to La Palma.  Thanks to Santa's little helper, otherwise known as Thomsons, the return flight costs just £109 return so you too could be spending New Year on La Palma. 

However, if you are able to hang on for another week or two, you might be able to take advantage of an even better deal as Thomsons reduce their post-New Year holiday prices even further to £88 for a return flight to La Palma, both from London Gatwick and Manchester.  It's a crazy price!

And by waiting until after the holiday rush, you will have a greater choice of accommodation too.  So if we didn't see you in La Palma this year, then maybe next!

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year too, wherever you may be.

Ann and David.

www.holiday-lapalma.com

Flying Directly

Great news - the direct Manchester to La Palma flights with Thomsons are back on again!

After a summer with Thomsons offering direct flights to La Palma from only Gatwick, with some jubilation I see the Manchester ones have made a come back.  And it looks like it wasn't just me that  was pleased to see them as it certainly created a flurry of enquiries from people looking for accommodation on La Palma - and I'm not surprised with the prices they are offering.

For example for one week from the 25th November to the 2nd December, the price is £114.00 return.  That is a brilliant price!  Great to team it up with a week in the rural north of La Palma in a traditional Canarian house or bag a beach break with a self-catering apartment overlooking the sea in Tazacorte. 

On behalf of owners, we've got some fabulous apartments for rent on La Palma at the Puerto de Tazacorte. You can check them out here.

And if the Thomson itinerary doesn't suit, you can of course find flights to La Palma via Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Madrid, Germany, Holland or Belgium seven days a week. 

Happy Holidays!

Insured to go

When it comes down to it, I don't think too many of us are averse to cheap flights these days.  Even the more expensive flights seem to have cut down on providing an in-flight meal or even film to while away the hours.
So how about cheap accommodation?  I'm certainly not averse to booking a hotel room on-line at two-thirds of the normal price - although I have discovered you can't expect the best room in the hotel!
And then what about cheap travel insurance? There was a time when it was obligatory to take out travel insurance when booking a holiday either at the travel agents or at least tick a box confirming that travel insurance had been taken out.  With time however, it seems to have become more of an optional extra and this is when I hit upon the great idea for savings in this direction - just don't bother!
So that begs the question - is travel insurance compulsory?  And the answer to that is very simple - yes!  Yes that is unless you are happy to pay for an air ambulance should you need to be flown back after a serious accident or illness, yes if you have to get home quickly due to an emergency which means booking new flights and yes unless you don't mind losing all your money and valuables while on holiday.
Having decided that travel insurance is probably the only option then it's time to decide on which company to take the policy out with.
On my last travelling expedition, I took out cover with World Nomads, a company apparently among thousands who are offering travel insurance.  However, what swung me towards them is the fact that they are recommend by Lonely Planet and - even more so - they go that bit further to add value to your holiday with a host of extras such as a travel forum, travel articles and information, photo uploader, travel journal and the facility to 'add a little back' by donating to a chosen project. 
If you or one of your young ones are setting off travelling or on a gap year then a rock-solid travel insurance is vital.  But then even short holidays are precious too and for the relatively few pounds or euros involved, taking out travel insurance for any holiday has got to be a must. 
Have a peek into our new holiday shop where travel insurance is top of the list.
Happy holidays and we hope to see you on holiday in La Palma one day.

Putting the Canary Islands on the Map

I remember ten years ago when we came to the Canary Islands looking for a place to live.   Wow - all that exploring and seven islands to do it in.  It wasn't long before we bought a map. 
Luckily, we came across a map with all the Canary Islands on it and it was certainly enough to get us by in the short term.  However, I have to confess that a smaller scale map of Gran Canaria or Tenerife might have been useful at times especially as I am all for saving petrol, time and in-car harmony!  
Once we arrived in La Palma, we quickly decided that we were not going to rely on road signs or our Canary Islands map to guide us round and we bought our first map of La Palma.  

Now the funny thing about La Palma is that there really is only one main road which runs round the island.  From that you might think you can easily manage without a road map.  Well, in one way you can … because at least you are hardly likely to end up on the wrong island without noticing it!  However, whilst it seems to simplify things with relatively few roads on the island, this does mean that it is important to be on the right road.  Coming from the UK, we are so used to one road literally leading to another that we tend to keep on driving until we find a turning.  Here, you might have to drive a long way before that becomes the case, or if you do find a side road, there is a good chance that after a couple of kilometers of tortuous driving, you’ll end up in a banana plantation or pine forest when actually you were heading for the beach.

The map that we chose soon became my trusty companion in that the main roads stood out really clearly from the side roads, donkey paths, walking paths and mountain bike paths.  This, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is rather important in the popularity stakes when navigating! 

In time though, we came to realize that whilst this was an excellent road map of La Palma, it wasn’t particularly good as a walking map so we invested in a second map.  And then, when we became more avid walkers, it was time to buy yet another map of La Palma but an even smaller scale map particularly suitable for walkers. That really did show the walking routes in great detail and provided us with even greater enthusiasm.

So if you are coming on holiday to La Palma and you’ve already got your flights booked and accommodation sorted out then maybe it’s time to think about getting a map in advance especially as there are not so many places on that island that sell them.  Don't forget that La Palma is not a tourist hot spot!
If you are holidaying on any of the other Canary Islands then it still might be a good idea to buy a map on line whether that is a map of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote or Fuerteventura.  For a map of La Gomera and map of El Hierro, you will find that either they have their own map of they will be on a map with either Tenerife or La Palma.  There is certainly a choice of maps and scales, especially if you are buying your map on-line.
Once you have your map, your holiday homework can really begin.  Enjoy!

Taking Off

Here's some good news that you might be able to take advantage of - another airline with flights from the UK to Madrid and Madrid to Santa Cruz de La Palma (flight code SPC).   There are also flights from Barcelona to La Palma and Bilbao to La Palma - it's great to know that there are more flights from mainland Spain to our little Isla Bonita!
The company is called Orbest Airlines and although it offers flights from just one UK airport at the moment, Edinburgh, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it really takes off, so to speak.

If you haven't heard of Orbest, maybe you have heard of one of its parent companies - Orizonia and before that, Iberworld airlines.  Apparently, without most of us realising it, they have been pretty busy flying thousands of passengers in and out of around twenty airports in Spain alone.
The Orbest fleet consists of  9 aircraft: 3 Airbus A-330-300, able to hold 388 passengers, and 6 Airbus 320, capable of carrying 180 passengers.   If you are searching for flights to La Palma or the other Canary Islands, their website is in Spanish and English.
At the moment, they are only projecting flights as far forward as September and because the Edinburgh to Madrid flight is on a Monday and the Madrid to La Palma flight is on a Friday, you'll need to do a bit of mix and matching with other airlines. The flights from Barcelona to La Palma are on a Saturday and the flights from Bilbao to La Palma are on a Tuesday.
I hope you manage to find a flight to suit you and don't forget the airport code to La Palma is SPC!

Good Connections

If you are considering a holiday to La Palma, then you may wish to take advantage of one of the many super-cheap flights and travel via Tenerife or Gran Canaria.  Then you can continue your journey by air or sea - or even stay a few days on one of those islands.
If travelling via Tenerife, you will most likely need to transfer from the international airport in the south, Reina Sofia, to the north airport, Los Rodeos, which serves the Canary islands plus mainland Spain.  
For inter-island flights - check out Binter or Islas airways - www.bintercanarias.com or www.islasairways.com.  The flight from Tenerife (north airport) to La Palma takes 25 minutes and from Gran Canaria, 50 minutes. 
Both Binter and Islas use the ATR 73 twin-engine turboprop which carry up to 78 passengers.  If you enjoy small (ish) planes, you'll love this - it's a lot fun! 

For ferries to La Palma, look at www.fredolssen.es or www.navieraarmas.com.  There is a fast ferry from Los Cristianos in Tenerife with Fred Olsen lines which takes around two and a half hours and with Armas which take a couple of hours longer.  By boat from Gran Canaria takes considerably longer.  View it as a mini-cruise - just sit back and enjoy!

The Titsa

The 'Titsa,' in case you were wondering, is the name of the bus company in Tenerife.
You see the Titsa buses everywhere, very distinctive in green and white and if you arrive in Tenerife en route to La Palma for your holiday, then these buses will come in very useful.

You see, the interesting thing about Tenerife is that it has two airports, the Reina Sofia airport in the south and Los Rodeos in the north.  Most international flights arrive/depart using the south airport and inter-island flights almost always use the north airport.  So ... if you come to La Palma via Tenerife, the chances are you will need to change airports.
It's quite simple really - but here are a few tips ...
From the south airport, there are several buses that you can take:
the number 343 is the express bus between the airports
the number 111 bus is the next best alternative and goes to Santa Cruz leaving the south airport every half hour on the hour/half hour.  It takes fifty minutes to get to Santa Cruz (the bus station/terminus) from where you can catch the number 102 bus to the north airport.  
And that's it!  Just sit back and enjoy your tour of Tenerife courtesy of Titsa.

To laptop or not?

I think we can all agree that security at airports has changed in recent years. And not only that but it seems to change every year and at every airport.

It can certainly be frustrating but the more you are aware of the latest requirements, the easier it is to comply - and still stay in that happy holiday frame of mind!

My latest finding was at Manchester airport. Not only was it a case of belts off and liquids out - see the rules on liquids here - but also laptops have to be taken out of the cabin luggage. Not easy when they are packed safe and sound in a rucksack or carry-on!

However, if you do decide to bring a laptop or similar, then you will find that some holiday homes and apartments offer WiFi. Here at the finca in Franceses, we have been offering free WiFi for some time and have seen an increasing number of people wanting or needing to connect to the internet. So if you do think it's worth bringing your laptop - keep it handy in your cabin luggage when coming through security!

If you are not sure what other regulations apply to what you can take on a plane, either in the hold or cabin luggage, you can check here.

Cheap Flights

 It seems that the UK has been having some excellent sunny weather of late and even brilliant weather for Easter.  What's going on! 

So if you are getting rather hooked on warmer weather and thinking about a holiday to La Palma or cheap flights to the Canary Islands in general, there are some seriously stunning deals about.

And of course it's not a bad idea to get in there before the hiked-up prices for the school holidays. So - how about Doncaster to Tenerife at ₤15 incuding taxes? That really is a stunner!  

OK, so most flights are rather more than that but it's still worth searching for these little nuggets as there are plenty of flights about for less than ₤50 including taxes and not just with airlines that are considered to be budget.  For example, Monarch are offering ₤50 off flights at the moment. That manages to bring the price down from 'a good buy' to 'a really good buy.'  If you are looking for flights from Manchester or Gatwick to Tenerife then one worth considering is 31st May - 7th June at ₤128 including taxes, return. 

And just in case you are wondering - there are daily flights between Tenerife and La Palma with both Binter and Islas Airways, plus the daily Fred Olsen ferry.   

That just leaves accommodation ..... if you are looking for a hotel, apartment or house to rent on La Palma, just drop us a line!

Getting away from it all

Holidays are all about getting away from it all.  Aren't they?  Well OK, except for people with an endless zeal for crowded bars and crowded beaches, there are a lot of other people out there trying to escape the maddening crowd.  And where could be better than a holiday on La Palma, whether it be a walking holiday, exploring the historic capital city, a laze on the beach or holiday home patio or maybe something a little more active such as SCUBA diving or paragliding?
But no matter what type of holiday, there is one thing that none of us want to get away from for longer than is necessary and that is - our LUGGAGE!
So here is my number one holiday tip:-
when packing, make sure that you keep a few essentials in your hand luggage that will keep you a 'sweeter' person to be with for the next 24 hours after checking-in at the airport. I'm talking here about basic items of personal hygiene and clothing - things that you would really appreciate if you and your luggage didn't meet up again until the following day. 
This holds good for any trip abroad and not just holidays on La Palma.  Be Prepared and you won't be caught out!

Anything to declare?

I was recently asked about Duty Free shopping in La Palma, where to buy it and the permitted allowance.  Well, the allowance is an interesting one because the Canary Islands - La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote - are not actually a part of the EC, although Spain is.  Confusing!  
But the good news is that duty free type goods, for example, wines, spirits and tobacco are laughably cheap here on La Palma and readily available not just in the airport shop but in all grocery shops such as the good old Spar supermarket.
While you are enjoying your holiday on La Palma, I suggest you take the opportunity to try the excellent La Palma wines.  There is a great variety of both red and white wines including Vitega, El Tendal, Teneguia, Oro de Risco, Vega Norte, Traviesa, and the sweet Malvasia wine which is produced in the vineyards in the south of La Palma with its volcanic-rich land.  The wines are of extremely high quality and in fact La Palma produces around half a million litres of wine annualy.  Not a lot of people know that. But then you can't take half a million litres back home with you. 

Just for your interest, we keep a selection of La Palma wines in our own bodega here on the finca in Franceses for guests of both the self-catering cottage and bed and breakfast accommodation to enjoy.   What could be nicer than a romantic candlelight dinner and a glass of La Palma wine without having to leave 'home?'

And don't forget to try the local rum while you are here.  Ron y cola is quite a popular drink, especailly at fiestas. 

Here are the duty free allowances if taking goods back from La Palma and the rest of the Canary Islands to other EU/EC countries:-

Cigarettes

200

Cigarillos

100

Cigars

50

Smoking Tobacco

250gms

Spirits

1 litres

Wine

2 litres

Fortified Wine ( port or sherry)

2 litres

Perfume

60cc/ml

Toilet Water

250cc/ml

Value of goods, gifts and souvenirs

€200

Insured to Go!

Holiday insurance is one of those areas where people sometimes try and make a little saving.  Such as not taking one out!  But really, they are so cheap to pick up especially when weighed against the cost of things going wrong while you are on holiday, or even before you go on holiday. 
But which company?  You can search the inernet for a good price or take out a policy with one of the major supermarkets or high street banks or building societies.  Monarch have also got a good offer on at the moment with policies starting from just 10.55 pound for 7 nights if you use their promotional code.   Some specialist activities, such as snorkelling, horse riding, cycling, fishing, etc, are included in that price and children under two are covered for free.   You can check out their website here. 
Put in the promotional code 'COVERME20' and away you go! 

TAXI !

Whether or not to hire a car for your holiday on La Palma can be a tricky decision.  Doubtless a car gives you independance and freedom of movement to explore the very many nooks and crannies of La Palma.  But not everyone fancies driving themselves around the bend - in the very nicest possible way of course.

That leaves the bus, taxi and Shank's pony (this is weird English-speak for 'on foot.').  

Well, the excellent bus service got a mention in the last post and walking on La Palma has its very own blog at www.gr130-lapalma.blogspot.com so I won't tread on my own toes there.

But the ocassional taxi can be a great option.  No parking.  No driving. No worries!  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

And don't worry, even if the taxi 'office' in rural Garafia is reminiscent of glorious days gone by, the taxis are rather more modern.
I'll give you an idea of some costs, all prices being current as of the date of this post and starting from the airport -

To the capital, Santa Cruz de la Palma - 9 km, cost 11.19 euros

To Puerto Naos - 42km, cost 46.17 euros

to Los Cancajos - 5 km, cost 6.95 euros

So, as you can see, it works out at just over one euro per kilometre although there is a small surcharge between 22.00hrs and 06.00 hrs, public holidays and weekends. 

You can have a look for yourself on taxis La Palma

 It's a great website with lots of ideas for walking tours on La Palma (in a group or otherwise), cycling tours, tours direct from the cruise liners, private tours of La Palma - for example to the Roque de Muchachos, Los Tilos laurasilva forest, La Tosca, the volcanoes, see tobacco being hand-made ... and more.  

 In fact, even if you have no intention of taking a taxi on La Palma, the website is still worth looking at as it has some lovely photos and lots of information.  And you might just feel inspired to call out 'TAXI !'

The good, the bad and the better

Ever since leaving the UK in search of a 'Place in the Sun' we have become very much aware that there are two sides to bear in mind. Take for example the mañana approach (which is very much alive and well on La Palma by the way) meaning that nobody gets too stressed if something doesn't happen when it is supposed to.  There is always the next day ... or the next ...  The other side to this is living on a beautiful little Canarian island where people place a high value on family life, take time to enjoy what is around them and where stress is a six letter word.  But just recently we came across two sides of the coin regarding flights to the island. It seems that unfortunately Thomsons have had to rationalize their flight programme between Manchester and La Palma with the result that during the summer months there will be no direct flights from the UK except between Gatwick and La Palma. The flip side of the coin actually has two pieces of good news attached to it. One is that when they restart in November, the flights will be on a Friday which it seems many people prefer. The other is that Islas Airways are now offering flights on a Friday and Sunday between Tenerife south airport and La Palma.  So all is not lost and there are many ways to reach the island any day of the week all year round from other countries who do have flights directly to La Palma such as from The Netherlands, Brussels, Madrid, Germany as well as from Gran Canaria, Tenerife North and now Tenerife South.  Then of course there are the ferries from both north and south Tenerife So if you are thinking of a holiday on La Palma - or visiting our place in the sun - I am always happy to help you find a flight (or accommodation) on La Palma.  Surely there is no better place to be laid-back abroad!

Buses on La Palma

If you are planning on using the bus on La Palma more than a couple of times, then it's a good idea to get what is called a 'bono' card.  Not only do you get a discount for using it but you don't have to worry about having change - it's  not a very popular move to offer a 50 Euro note for a 2.60 fare!
You can get the bono cards at the bus station in Los Llanos or the libreria (newsagent) on Calle O'Daly almost at the end by Avenida El Puente (that's the opposite end to the Post Office).  They cost either 12 or 20 euros. 
When you get on the bus, just ask for your destination and put the card in the machine by the driver.  For two people you put the card in twice. 
For a bus timetable click here.  Happy busing!!

Flights going cheap, cheap!

The great deals to La Palma are back on again with www.flights.thomson.co.uk    For example, from Gatwick to La Palma on 24th January, the tax-inclusive price is 89 pounds, erm - RETURN.  Gasp!  And flying from Manchester is just 20 pounds more, so still a very good deal, especially for an island that is not a mass tourist destination.  There are plenty more good prices for other dates too, so well worth checking out.
 Just to go along with the theme of offers, anyone staying in our accommodation (any time of year) and quoting the code 'HLP-that's a brilliant deal' can join in for free on one of our guided walks around the trails of Franceses.  Not only is it brilliant walking with some awesome scenery, but it's also a chance to learn about the history - the iconic dwellings with wooden roofs, the cochineal industry, the ancient drago trees - plus how to eat the fruit of the cactus plant while on the hoof, discover the hidden caves and the secret springs.
Hope to see you here!