La Palma or Gomerra
 

My husband and I are wanting some winter sun in Nov/Dec but not a long flight and are considering the Canaries. However, do NOT want the horrible Tenerife England-by-sea scenario so were thinking about the smaller Canary islands. Anyone got any info on these and recommendations of small upmarket hotels? Would the weather be warm enough to sunbathe on these other islands? Are they prettier than Tenerife?! Thanks so much for any advice you can offer!

Hello Victoria, <BR> <BR>I`ve been to both Islands in September/October and can`t imagine that it`s really a good idea to go in December if you care for water temperatures. Some comments: <BR>If you don`t want to travel a lot of hours, choose La Palma. There`s no direct flight to La Gomera, you have to connect via Tenerife by boat. If your incoming flight is too late you`ll have to spend the night in Tenerife. <BR>If your goal is to be near beautiful beaches, consider Fuerteventura. La Palma offers no more than 4 decent beaches and they`re black! Other than that La Palma is beautiful-a paradise for hikers...on the other hand it`s the rainiest Island of the Canaries(that`s why it`s so green and lush).La Gomera <BR> has more nice beaches than La Palma, but nothing to get excited about. It used to be THE hippy destination in Europe. Now it`s more touristy, but nothing compared to Gran Canaria or Tenerife. Hugh... The landscape is very nice, as well. In La Palma you`ll find the beforementioned hikers and families with small kids. Puerto Naos is a bit touristy, but not much. <BR>Again, if the beach situation is important for you, look into Fuerteventura, it`s the closest Island to the African coast and offers beaches to dream of. It`s also the Island with the driest and warmest climate and one of the most popular Surf spots in Europe. I`m just going on Saturday and rented an apartment in the middle of nowhere. But stay away from Jandia and Corralejo, if you decide to go. Tourism at it`s worst. <BR> <BR>Just ask if I can help further <BR> <BR>Miriam

La Palma is probably the most beautiful island among Canary Archipelago, but as Miriam said there are no really good beaches, just some black sandy coves, deserted narrow beaches as Nogales beach in the North or sandy-peebly bigger ones as Puerto Naos in the west, all with black sand since it is an almost active volcanic island, there are also some artificial pools offering facilities for sunshading and swimming. Its lushy landscapes specially in the northeast have no rival in the other islands, due to what they say "el mar de nubes" that´s to say humid air blowing from northest into the steep mountains so almost permanently covered by clouds while the rest of the island remains sunny. Those landscapes and the enormous Caldera of Taburiente are really a paradise for hikers. Another thing that could differentiate La Palma from other Canary Islands is that it does not depend from tourism so strongly as the others, since it is the richest agriculturally speaking, you can feel that the island is not as touched by tourism as Tenerife, Lanzarote or Gran Canaria. The main city, Sta Cruz is also a picturesque nice city plenty of typical canary architecture and quite charming. I would reccommend you if you decide finally to go there some restaurants where we enjoyed delicious meals based in fish and salads: Casa del Mar in Puerto de Tazacorte ( west ), La Era at Fuencaliente ( south, stunning sunsets from the edge of S. Antonio volcano ), Chipi-Chipi in the outskirts of Sta Cruz. There is a new Parador five kilometres southwards from Sta Cruz that could fit any needs. I personally do not know La Gomera but it has recently been opened the new airport with direct fligts to Madrid, so you now do not need to spend some nights in Tenerife to get there. La Gomera has probably one of the most interesting forests in the world, Garajonay National Park that covers the most part of the center of the island, it is quite small and do not have all the amenities La Palma could offer although the scenery is stunning. I would suggest if you are planning to stay more than a week to combine one of the eastern (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote for beaches ) and La Palma for its exceptional beauty, one so deserted and the other so lushy, nice combination. We did so two years ago and it was a fantastic trip. In Lanzarote the best beaches are around Papagayo point and the best local food and nice canary architecture in Teguise. Tasty malvasias wines in La Palma and Lanzarote. Temperatures in November/December could be around Max 72-78ºF, Min 65º-68ºF really nice if compared with Mediterranean ones,there is actually a typical cover in Spanish newspapers in December/January that resemble sun tanned people having a swim at the beach with the background of snowy Teide volcano. Regarding Hotels I would suggest Hacienda de San Jorge, The Parador, La Palma Romantica or the bigger Taburiente Playa or Sol Elite La Palma ( this last one is the favourite of tour operators )in La Palma and the Parador in La Gomera. There are also many rural houses to rent in the Canary Islands ( specially in La Palma )and lots of apartments in the eastern islands.