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!

A guide to Santa Cruz de La Palma Airport

As airports go, Santa Cruz de La Palma airport - airport code SPC - is quite user friendly in that you can't get too lost. Ah yes, I have 'done' Madrid airport a couple of times and think I have earned the sticker it deserves. And been lost of course. But at least La Palma airport only has one terminal and that obviously helps. However, as it is laid out over several levels, it can initially be difficult to understand the layout ... hence this blog post.

But first of all, where is La Palma airport? Some years back, the airport was located inland above the capital of Santa Cruz. Now however, it's located at sea level, just 9km south of Santa Cruz, the historic capital of La Palma. Incidentally, in between the two, lies the small resort of Los Cancajos with a selection of hotels, apartments and three excellent beaches.

The small and charismatic airport served La Palma very well, but a couple of years ago it was replaced by a larger airport with underground parking as opposed to outdoor parking. This is certainly an improvement although it does lead to confusion over which level your car is parked on or where you should go to collect your hire car. But once you get an understanding of what's where, it's quite straightforward.

The main entrance is the ground floor (Floor 0 in the lift) and this is where you will find the following:
Check-in desks
Arrivals and baggage re-claim (4 carousels)
Shopping (pharmacy and Jerónimo (funky clothes and gifts:)
Airport information desk (sometimes with free bananas)
Flight information offices for Iberia, Condor, Air Berlin and Binter where you can make enquiries, buy tickets and make a late check-in if your gate is closed (not a popular move by the way).
Car hire offices - we highly recommend booking your car hire in advance because otherwise you will have to queue up just to ask the price as prices are not displayed. (Or you can just book a rental car with us and you will be met with your car in the airport car park on the S2 level.)

The 1st floor (floor 1 in the lift) is departures.

Once through control (no photos please ... oops, sorry about that) there is also a snack bar and vending machines. From here there are flights to fourteen destinations - London Gatwick, Manchester (winter only), Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Bonn, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Tenerife North and Gran Canaria.

The three subterranean levels are reached either by escalator or a glass-sided lift. Actually the lifts, two of them at the side of the escalators, is a bit difficult to spot, simply because they are glass sided. These are the basement levels:
Level S 0 is the entrance to the car park where you collect your ticket
Level S1 is staff parking and for certain hire cars
Level S2 is public parking, and the main bulk of hire cars
Level S3 is to the small sea pools set in the rocks by the waters edge.

 Taxis are available immediately outside of the airport building or you can pre-book a taxi here - www.taxilapalma.com. The website also has a very useful list of prices and guided tours of La Palma.
There is also a regular bus service, the number 500 bus, between the airport and Santa Cruz de La Palma. Generally, it runs every 30 minutes except weekends and fiestas when it is every hour - except for the big fiestas such as the Los Indianos fiesta when it runs more frequently. Here is the bus website.
If you're keen to find out more information about La Palma airport itself, here is the website:  La Palma Airport website.
Happy travels! 

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!

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 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!