La Palma is calm, safe and very green, though mountainous. With babies and young children, the key is a short plan in the morning, a nap after lunch and well-planned drives. In return, the island offers a beautiful capital, black-sand beaches with calm water, volcanoes you can explore and forests that look like something out of a fairy tale.
Mapi says
La Palma has a ship that never sails and a volcano with a path around its rim. Exploring slowly is the best way to see it all.
Santa Cruz and Los Cancajos
Santa Cruz de La Palma is one of the most beautiful capitals in the Canary Islands. The seafront avenue, flat and right by the sea, is lined with houses with wooden balconies and is perfect for the pushchair. In the middle of town there is a replica caravel, the Barco de la Virgen, home to the island’s naval museum, with models, instruments and interactive displays. For lunch, Chipi-Chipi, on the outskirts, has a shady garden and has served Canarian food since 1960. In the afternoon, Los Cancajos beach, with black sand and water calmed by breakwaters.
Caldera de Taburiente, on the flat
The Caldera de Taburiente Visitor Centre, in El Paso, is the gateway to the National Park, with an exhibition, an audiovisual show and a garden of endemic plants, all on level ground. For lunch, Bodegón Tamanca, in Las Manchas, serves grilled meats in a dining room carved into a volcanic cave.
The volcanic south
In Fuencaliente, the San Antonio Volcano Visitor Centre has rooms about La Palma’s eruptions, a 3D screen and a path around the crater rim, best with a baby carrier. Under-twelves go free. Next door, La Casa del Volcán is set in a hundred-year-old volcanic-stone house.
The enchanted forest, for older children
With slightly older children, the green north of the island holds Los Tilos, a Biosphere Reserve, where the laurel forest begins next to the visitor centre, and the Cubo de La Galga, a short walk among ferns and moss-covered trees. For lunch, El Canal, in Los Sauces, has dishes that are easy to adapt for children.
Where to stay and tips
In Los Cancajos, Hacienda San Jorge has seafront apartments with kitchens and a saltwater pool, and H10 Taburiente Playa a children’s pool and playground. In the south, La Palma Princess has a Mini Club and a children’s pool heated in winter. The roads are mountainous, so use nap time for the drives. And the Roque de los Muchachos, at more than 2,400 metres, is best saved for another trip if you are travelling with babies. The day-by-day plans are in La Palma with babies and La Palma adventure route for kids.