When is the best time of year to hike in La Gomera?

🔆 The island’s mild sub-tropical climate means you pretty much can hike here all year round but in my opinion, spring is the best season as it’s not yet too hot but the rains have mostly finished so you’ll be hiking walking trails in a lush world of wild flowers, palm trees & prickly pears. 

Both the summer months and the winter months are good to visit too, though as climactically, the Canary Islands remain fairly consistent throughout the year.

☁️ Throughout most of the year, thanks to the trade winds, the north of the island tends to be cloudy & cooler, while the south side is sunny & warmer.

How long do you need to hike in La Gomera

As much or as little time as you have. There’s more than enough to see see & do! You could come over from Tenerife and do a day’s hiking or you could spend as long as 6 days exploring on foot.

We spent 3 days hiking, but I’d have loved to do more. I know I’ll return one day in the not too distant future.

Questions to ask yourself

Do you want to stay in one place and plan a circular hike each day?

Do you want to spend all your time in the mountains and canyons, or walking between beaches? 

Do you want to walk on roads, paths, or be off-grid?

Will you have a car?

Do you want to avoid people and settlements almost entirely?

Do you want support if something goes wrong?

What’s so special about hiking in La Gomera?

Oooof, what isn’t special about this place would be a better question in my opinion!

🌋 Well, this tiny, volcanic island is home to beautiful views, rugged terrain, canyons & valleys, steep hills, banana plantations and more. There are some incredibly deep ravines that require a steep climb in & out but there are also coastal paths & short hikes that are just as possible. 

🌿 It’s also not very busy, particularly when you’re out hiking. If you don’t want to see many people then then this is place for you. We saw fewer than 20 people each day we were out walking.

Parque Nacional de Garajonay (Garajonay National Park)

This national park in the centre of La Gomera is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s also the reason we wanted to visit La Gomera. Once I’d read about this national park I was hooked and knew I had to see it for myself. I was not disappointed (except by the fact that I now want to live with these beautiful moss covered trees).

☁️🌳 An incredibly gorgeous laurisilva cloud forest covers around 70% of this park. There are very few cloud forests left in the world and this one, at the heart of the island of La Gomera, is considered to be one of the best there is, hence its super protected status. 

The upper reaches of this dense forest are almost permanently shrouded in clouds and mist, and as a result are covered in lush and diverse vegetation, much of which is endemic to the island. We particularly loved seeing 25m tall heather trees & giant dandelion plants.

💦🌿 I have a fascination for moss and was thrilled by how juicy and wet it is in this forest. I’ve never encountered such happy moss anywhere else.

🔎 There is a visitors centre at Juego de Bolas & Bosque el Cedro is where many people begin their hikes

⭐️ We hiked from Risquillos de Corgo, through Las Creces to Las Hayas and finally to the small village of Chipude where we spent our first night.

🔭 There are miradors (viewpoints) over the basin of Vallehermoso but it was entirely shrouded in cloud for us. Instead, after leaving Las Hayas, we walked to a viewpoint (mirador) over La Calera, which worked fabulously too. 

El Alto de Garajonay

This is the highest point of the island (1,487m) and on clear days, the views can be absolutely magical. It’s possible to see Tenerife & El Hierro (the smallest of the Canary Islands). However, on non-clear days you can see… cloud, which is what we got. We were treated to spectacular views as we completed the circular walk up to El Alto but once up there had a quick picnic in the cloud, waited to see if it would clear, got very cold and then headed back down. The view above is the last photo I took before we entered the cloud.

Other hikes

Many people don’t realise that actually, some of the best hikes are actually outside of the national park: for example, the Barranco de Guarimiar is one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever hiked in my life (and, I’ve hiked across South & Central America, Asia, Europe & Africa) – we spent a day walking down this canyon from Imada to Playa Santiago.

📲 Download the free Komoot app to help figure out your route around La Gomera in advance.

What else to consider

Hiking fitness level required

There’s something for everyone on La Gomera.

The MexicoCassie family fitness levels: (to give some idea) my own level of fitness is high and my hiking endurance particularly is never-ending (sorry, family). My partner has had various knee surgeries including 2 last year but is generally very fit & strong. My kids are 11 & 13 and while they’re fit and capable, they’d never done multi-day hikes before. We all managed just fine, despite a few injuries. We were definitely out of breath at times, & we were tired at the end of each day but no one was sore or ever felt incapable of walking.

⭐️ We spotted a carpark a 30 minute walk from the Alto to Garonjanay, and while we spent 3 hours hiking there, this was the place we saw the most people, many of whom had clearly driven most of the way.

⭐️ A stroll through the Cloud Forest is also not a difficult hike to do for most people – we saw plenty of cars parked along the side of the road.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ And then there are also areas that are far, far more difficult. We didn’t do anything I’d consider to be technically difficult but you do need to have a good level of general fitness, be surefooted and not have bad knees.

Our longest day hike was 17 km. It was considered an ‘expert’ hike that required ‘sure-footedness’. It included a walk along the edge of a canyon (that did make one of my kids nervous as they don’t love narrow paths when we’re up high), a long & rocky climb down to Imada and then an almost vertical path up a canyon wall to leave Imada.

Altitude

🌊 → 🌋The island goes from sea level to almost 1,500m. This isn’t enough to worry about altitude sickness unless you’re really susceptible – we found ourselves slightly out of breath because we live at sea level and the jump to hiking at 1,000m was fast but it never bothered us. 

Volcanic activity

❌ There hasn’t been an eruption on La Gomera in 3 million years – you’ll be fine!

Food 

There are really good restaurants all over the island. We certainly didn’t have a single meal we didn’t love. Unlike the more touristy islands of Tenerife & Gran Canaria, on La Gomera you’ll find fabulous traditional Canarian food is the norm. Embrace it, it’s really delicious.

💶 We did find it to be slightly more expensive than mainland Spain but I don’t think that’s particularly surprising (and it’s worth noting that everywhere was happy to let us pay with credit cards).

Ipalan contact details

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