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! 

Canary Island Ferries

For those that are planning an island hopping holiday in the Canaries, there are some excellent deals about at the moment.
For example, you can travel between La Gomera and La Palma with Fred Olsen ferries for just 54€ for two adults. And if you want to take a car, it's only 6€ more! But do remember that if you have a hire car, normally they are not allowed to be taken off the island from where it was originally hired except when it is a large car hire company with branches in different islands. Best just check with the car rental company before you sail off with their car!

 I remember the time though when we went from La Palma to Tenerife by ferry, complete with in-laws and vehicle, one Christmas time. This was a bit of a mission as it was a five hour night-time crossing in those days and whilst it was far from being what I hoped for as our first Christmas in La Palma, ie to spend it in Tenerife, there were some family friends holding a festive get-together which couldn't be missed.

Having agreed to the trip, I was pretty determined to put my stamp on it by keeping costs to a minimum. Of course four seats on the ferry would be fine! This would practically be a luxury especially when I brought to mind the time I tried to sleep on an overnight ferry whilst on the floor under a set of stairs, thinking that even if I didn't get much sleep, at least I wouldn't get stood on. (Of course that was the exact effect it had on me - no sleep and I might as well have been stood on.) And since I am a child of cruise-loving parents, I've also had my fair share of great cabins too. No, seats were the answer and so I booked four 'butacas,' the comfortable reclining armchair seats and looked forward to falling asleep listening to the soft lull of the boat's engines.
When I arrived home with the tickets, the first question I was asked was, 'You did get a cabin, didn't you?' Erm, no. And with that I was dispatched back again to the ferry terminal in Santa Cruz to get a cabin for the four of us. Oh no, think of the cost!

 Having eventually managed to locate the office girl, who turned out to be an office man sat at the bar having a coffee, I explained that I would like to change the four seats for a cabin.
With a smile (could that have been a knowing smile?), he took the tickets from me, studied them and then set about entering details in the computer. (Did this mean we might be getting a cabin?) And moments later, four new tickets shot out of a machine.
Somewhat curiously, on top of the tickets sat a 5€ note and so I questioned what this was for. Apparently that was the difference in price between the cabin (complete with washbasin and wardrobe) and the seats - 5€ cheaper!
Incidentally, the crossing time between Tenerife and La Palma is now much faster and so you won't be needing a cabin, but you can enjoy the very comfortable butacas - and the low price too!

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!

Hiking with Travel Insurance

From cut-price flights to last-minute accommodation deals, most of us are keen to keep costs as low as is realistically possible. So if we can avoid not having to pay for what might be seen as 'optional extras' such as travel insurance, then it might be tempting to forgo this extra expense. However, travelling with fingers crossed can be just about as uncomfortable as it sounds!
So just what are we talking about here? Delayed flights, lost luggage or the possibility of a medical problem while on holiday in a foreign country. Yes, of course it's sensible to make sure you have insurance cover for all of these possibilities so that if nothing else, you have peace of mind.
However, there is another cover which you might not have considered - that of insurance cover for walking, hiking or trekking, particularly when it is in a remote location or at a substantial height above sea level.

The good news is that you can get special insurance cover for walking/hiking/trekking at heights above 2000m for as little as £17. Not too much to pay for that peace of mind!

You can get a quote directly from our Holiday Shop under 'Travel Insurance.' 

Where to go on holiday?

I'd love to know what makes us decide where to go on holiday. Maybe it's a holiday destination that was on the television or perhaps a case of hearing from friends where they went on holiday and thinking, 'That sounds like my kind of place!'
These days, by the time I speak to people who are considering their next holiday, they have generally already decided where to go - La Palma! Which of course I'm thrilled about.

The next decision then is where to locate yourself on the island. This may not be quite as straight forward as east, west, north or south as La Palma is a pretty (pun intended) mountainous island and the altitude of accommodation plays an important part.Yep, it's time to get out your map on La Palma - and also seek some insider advice!

We often get asked, 'Where is the best place to stay?' It is a questions that is often asked on Trip Advisor too. First of all, it's important to identify what you are looking for in a holiday. Would you prefer a cottage in a village location where you can walk to the shops? Or perhaps your holiday to La Palma is all about catching some winter sun (or summer sun!) and you want an apartment close to the beach. Oh, and close to restaurants too.

Maybe you are looking for a villa with swimming pool so that you can relax with a degree of privacy? Somewhere quiet ... or not far from the airport. Or rural accommodation with walking routes straight from the door yet near a bus route?

There may be a small compromise involved but it's certainly worth identifying what you will and won't give way on! After all, it's your holiday and that's important.
We are always very happy to help with any questions on La Palma and you are more than welcome to contact us.
Happy planning!

Travelling Light

As my family will happily tell you, I travel light.  In fact, it is a bit of a standing joke that I might turn up at a wedding or posh restaurant in shorts and T-shirt.  Or maybe that is just a comment about my fashion sense!
But it is true that in recent years, I have tended to restrict my luggage to a small backpack, whether I am going back to the UK for a quick visit or spending rather longer in the Far East.  I can't help it - I just love the fact that I don't have to wait for luggage to arrive - or not - at the other end and that I am 'hands free' when getting on and off trains and planes.
But I fully appreciate that not everybody is the same and holidays are the perfect time to wear clothes that otherwise lurk at the back of the wardrobe.  Then of course you might want to pack a whole range of clothes from light summer clothing to a cosy fleece and walking boots so a large and sturdy suitcase might be essential.
However, if you are trying to go down the minimalist route, be careful as many bags such as wheeled 'carry-ons' which you assume will be accepted as cabin luggage are just too big.  Always check your airline's maximum allowances for dimensions of a bag and make sure you adhere to the smallest measurements if using two different airlines for outgoing and return journey.  Some airlines really are strict and when they say one bag per person allowed on board, they mean it.  Handbags, camera, laptop etc all need to fit inside although I have been allowed on board clutching a book, Sunday newspapers and a selection of several boxed Scottish shortbreads in my hand!  No matter how I tried, there was no way they would fit inside my trusty but teeny 20 litre rucksack.

However, due to our trekking and walking expeditions on La Palma, we have recently upgraded the backpack to a 30 litre one which still - just - fits the criteria to go on board a plane although I think some caution is still needed that you don't try and fit in the kitchen sink et al.
The one we chose is the Karrimor 30 litre Kodiak ramblesack.  Its key features are a handy built-in rain cover, compression straps, waist and chest straps, pocket in the lid, two mesh side pockets and a 'super cool' back system to keep you ventilated on long walks.  We could have done with that this summer!  It also has a special compartment in the back that takes a hydration bladder so that you can sip water while you are walking.  You can get it at Milletts, Blacks and Amazon, amongst others (apologies for being rather UK orientated) for 30 GBP.

If you have a favourite backpack, large or small, don't forget to let us know.  I am sure I could be persuaded to go for something larger, I mean, hands free and all that space, just think of the shopping I could do!  Maybe I should remind myself of the travellers' maxim - half the luggage, twice the money.  Bah!

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.