Flying to La Palma by Norwegian Airlines

The direct flights to La Palma with Thomsons are just great - with flights from Manchester and London Gatwick, it makes a really easy way to get to La Palma.

Flying over La Palma

Other options are flying via Tenerife, Madrid, Gran Canaria plus Germany, Holland and Belgium. You can read about the logistics for this here - http://www.holiday-lapalma.com/transport.html
But now .. ta da! .. we have Norwegian Airlines.
Incredibly cheap prices - yes, you can fly from London Gatwick direct to La Palma for under £100 per person return including taxes. It's amazing! 
Check out their website here - http://www.norwegian.com/uk/
Other airports they operate to/from are Edinburgh and Manchester to La Palma.
You can also fly with Norwegian airlines to other Canary Islands (Tenerife and Gran Canaria) from the UK. Lots of options - do give me your feedback on the option you have found best for you whether it be one of the other Canary Islands or a direct flight to La Palma.
As always, don't forget that the airport code for La Palma is SPC.
Happy flying!

Winter sun in the Canaries

Are you the sort of person who likes statistics? I know I am. And of course with pre-Christmas and New Year statistics immediately followed by post-Christmas and New Year statistics, we haven't been short of a few figures. You name it - super Saturday, black Friday, wibbly Wednesday and any other day of the week they want to throw at us! (OK, so I made the Wednesday one up ..)

So you might like to know that in 2013, in the month of December alone, over one million foreign tourists chose the Canary Islands for their holidays which was an increase of 13.2% over 2012. British tourists who travelled to Spain in that month increased by 20.3% with 46% choosing the Canary Islands for their holidays. Yay, winter sun!

Puerto de Tazacorte in December

However, the reason that I find the figures interesting is not so much that I believe them, disbelieve them or am about to do anything about them, but because of the mental picture they conjure up. I can just image crowds of people patiently waiting for the day to arrive when the statistics say they buy presents, take their presents back or book their winter holiday. It's not allowed to go before or after! So whilst you might think that you are 'home alone' booking your holiday in the sun - you might be at home, but you're far from alone!

There is one thing that's clear though, if you're thinking of a holiday to La Palma for Christmas or New Year, whether it's flights or accommodation that you are looking for, don't wait to be a part of the peak, get in there early!

What Time is it, Mr. Wolf?

As a kid, I used to love that game - What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf. For those who don't know how it goes, basically you have a Wolf (a chosen individual) and a bunch of sheep (children). The idea is to touch the Wolf who keeps his back to the sheep as they edge forward and call out 'What time is it Mr. Wolf?'
Mr. Wolf makes up any old time - one o'clock, five o'clock or whatever - as the children edge closer and closer asking what time it is. When the wolf thinks they are closer enough, he screams out 'Dinner Time!' and turns to touch the nearest child. Of course if he mis-times it and the children aren't close enough, he can't catch them and the game starts again. On the other hand, if the wolf leaves it too late, then one of the children can touch him and he is out of the game.

You probably wonder, justifiably, what has set me off on this track and how it could possibly be classed as a hint or tip on traveling to La Palma. Let me explain.
At five thirty this morning, I received a text from someone looking for accommodation on La Palma. They were already on the island but had a problem with their current accommodation and could I possibly find them another place. And would it be too early to ring and see what I suggest?
I must hastily explain that I had not had any contact whatsoever with this person before and had nothing to do with the current accommodation they were staying in.
As it happens, I didn't read the message until just before seven a.m. which is when said person rang.
So, as ever with a mind to writing blogs, I thought it was perhaps timely that I wrote and explained about the time on La Palma and the time in the Canaries in general.

You might be relieved to know that this does not require any lengthy explanation whatsoever - it's GMT. Yep, it is exactly the same time as it is in the UK - the clocks go forward an hour in Spring (spring forward) and go back an hour in autumn or what is called Fall in America (fall back). Thank you America for your help with that one.
I am actually giving the benefit of the doubt to my caller that he didn't know the time and perhaps thought it was an hour later than it was - although I didn't quiz him on this - and he was very apologetic. But it's an easy mistake to make and it's not the first time. In fact, we have had people staying with us who have been on the 'wrong time' all week and even two people who only just managed to get to the airport in time due to being in the 'wrong time.'
So if you are wondering What Time It Is in the Canaries, now you know! And it's probably best if you let Mr. Wolf sleep until at least 07.30 hrs. That's Greenwich Mean Time.

Flight options to La Palma

Through reading our blogs on La Palma, I hope by now that you have an idea where I'm coming from - or at least I hope you soon will. To give you a few clues (well, the relevant ones anyway), I'm passionate about La Palma - its majestic beauty, its tranquillity, its quirkiness and its amazing ability to surprise. And that's probably why I'm also passionate about finding you guys cheap travel to the Canaries and doing everything I can to encourage you to come and see this great island yourself.
Low-cost flights to La Palma is probably one of the better ways.

 Let me start (again) with flights to Santa Cruz de La Palma, airport code SPC. I was reading a Tenerife forum thread recently in which a poster asked, 'Is it possible to get direct flights to La Palma?' Ooh, this is going to be great, I thought. This is a chance for somebody to enlighten the poster about the direct flights from Gatwick and Manchester to the island. Yes, you guessed it but I have to admit I really was dumbfounded when the reply came, 'No, you can't get direct flights, you'll have to fly via Tenerife or go by ferry.'
I was of course by now hopping up and down in my seat. What! There have been direct flights between the UK and La Palma for eleven years that I personally now about. So please, come one, let's fly the flag and let a few more people know about it.
Let me explain a little more though because there is something else which those looking for direct flights to La Palma might need to know about, especially if searching a site such as Skyscanner, a personal favourite of mine. During the summer months, Thomsons do not always offer direct flights from Manchester although the flights from Gatwick continue. And that means, if you search for flights between Manchester and La Palma, you'll come up with a big fat zero. But that's not to say that there aren't direct flights from Gatwick!
However, if flying from Gatwick to La Palma isn't convenient for you then definitely consider flying via Tenerife or Madrid airport. Not only can you choose what day of the week to fly, especially when flying via Tenerife, but you can often pick up cheap flights that way and even, if you're crafty, fit in a mini-holiday at either end of your holiday on La Palma.
Personally, I usually travel via either Tenerife or Gran Canaria which tends to fit in better with my chosen destination airport in the UK which, these days is either Edinburgh, Glasgow or Manchester.
Hey look, this is me flying to Tenerife from La Palma in January this year!

All in all, we like to think we know a bit about travelling from the UK to the western islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma in particular, so don't hesitate to ask for advice or information. That also extends to finding accommodation on the Canary Islands - watch out for our hotel and apartment reviews coming soon.
And above all, we hope that you too get to enjoy a holiday visiting the magical Islas Canarias!

Welcome!

La Palma is one of those mystical islands  - most people think they know where it is until asked to stick a pin in the map.  The pin hovers between Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria and the city of Palma in Majorca.  Or maybe it is neither of those.  Correct!   I am talking about La Palma, one of the smaller and less well-known islands in the Canaries.
I should admit however that before I left the UK to explore the Canary Islands, I had never heard of La Palma myself, let alone know that it was referred to as the 'Pretty Island' or the 'Jewel of the Atlantic.'  Now that I live here, I can certainly confirm that the island justly deserves such descriptions.  But the funny thing is that many travel agents still don't have a clue where it is and will do their best to send you to one of the other fore-mentioned places - so better get that airport code of SPC right when booking your flight! 
La Palma hasn't always been easy to get to from the UK though and previously flights were either non-existent or only happened winter.   But now you can benefit from direct flights all year round from both Manchester and Gatwick every Monday. 
It really couldn't be easier and to start this blog off, I am pleased to let you know about a stunningly cheap flight deal with Thomsons

From Monday 6th December to Monday 13th December

Return - Gatwick to La Palma  - inc. taxes - 119 GBP  

Return - Manchester to La Palma - inc. taxes - 99 GBP

And the nice thing is, La Palma is still far from a mass tourist destination.