Out of all the Canary Islands, La Gomera is the one with the most widespread reputation as an exceptional walking destination. There’s no question walking on La Gomera is quite special, but it’s an island whose rugged trails are not to be taken lightly.

The very nature of the landscape means you aren’t going to find walking routes on La Gomera that remain on the level for very long. Trails can ascend and descend steeply and many times over the course of one walking route. Some routes are partly on caminos reales, merchants trails made up of large cobbles that can jar the bones with every uneven step. Some hiking routes on La Gomera are on steep, narrow paths that would make a mountain goat think twice; although in reality most of La Gomera isn’t that high above sea level, not compared to its neighbour. Hit the 800m mark and you’ve reached the level of the plateau, such as it is, which encircles the centre of the island.

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In short walking on La Gomera can be a challenge, which also makes it extremely rewarding. It’s an island where you can step out of your accommodation and straight onto a hiking trail that will twist and turn through scenery which can switch from dense, lush rainforest to sub-tropical palm groves to valleys that could have been cut from the Atlas Mountains.

We’ve been exploring La Gomera for over 15 years, staying in coastal and inland towns. We’ve walked across the island many times and have written directions for a walking holiday specialists Inntravel. We’ve been shown places that don’t feature in most walking guidebooks as we have friends, including a local trekking guide, who live in a remote valley on the edge of Garajonay National Park; it’s a beautiful place that is off the beaten track even as far as most hikers are concerned.

Our walking on La Gomera page is devoted to our favourite walking routes on La Gomera as well as information about towns, restaurants, accommodation and food. It is basically about what it is really like to walk on the Canary Island’s top walking destination.

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RESTAURANTS AND FOOD ON LA GOMERA

Club Laurel in Playa Santiago
By night Club Laurel provides the romantic setting for sophisticated dining beneath a star studded sky with the gentle chords of an acoustic guitar supplemented by the cries of Shearwaters. Read More.

Glass Floors and Tapas at the Mirador de Abrante
We’d wanted to visit since hearing about its glass floored mirador long before it opened. A friend who lives on La Gomera has been a couple of times since it finally opened in December 2014 and raved about the food. Read More.

Style and Great Food in Hermigua
There is an air of imagination and ambition swirling around Tasca Telémaco. The inside dining area shares space with an art exhibition. Read More.

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A La Gomera Institution – Casa Efigenia
There are no menus, no house specials and no choices to be agonised over, except whether you want wine, beer, soft drinks or one of her home made lemonades sweetened with Miel de Palma sap of the palm tree. Read More.

La Gomera’s Spicy Mojos
Mojos are oily, thick sauces that accompany almost every traditional Canarian meal, usually with a bowl of papas arrugadas (salty wrinkled potatoes that are a Canarian speciality) or as an appetiser with bread. Read More.

Almogrote, a La Gomera Speciality

Almogrote is traditionally made by using a pestle and mortar to mix very mature hard cheese, garlic, pepper, chillies, ripe tomatoes, pepper and olive oil until it reaches the consistency of a chunky thick and rather potent paste. Read More.

Palm Honey, the Sweet Taste of La Gomera
It’s worth running the gauntlet of excess baggage charges to take home a bottle of La Gomera’s palm honey, in fact, it’s worth taking home two because I can almost guarantee that it won’t stay in the kitchen cupboard for long. Read More.

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HOTELS AND ACCOMMODATION ON LA GOMERA

Review of the Hotel Jardin Tecina in Playa Santiago
Wherever you’ve been in the Canary Islands I can guarantee it will not be able to match Hotel Jardín Tecina for the sheer beauty and tranquillity of its surroundings. Read More.

Review of the Parador de la Gomera, San Sebastian

La Gomera’s Parador has 112 rooms but feels intimate. The good sized rooms fit with the colonial style with polished wooden floors and antique furnishings. Read More.

A Return to the Parador de la Gomera, San Sebastian
We strode to the reception of the Parador de la Gomera on happy feet… and were greeted with a welcome which was indifferent at best. Read More.

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Review of the Rural Hotel Ibo Alfaro in Hermigua
Rural Hotel Ibo Alfaro is like the Dowager Countess of Hermigua; a genteel icon of a simpler, grander age who welcomes hikers into her ample and bejewelled bosom to soothe them with her surroundings, replenish them with her breakfasts and send them out into the world fully informed. Read More.

Review of the Hotel Tamahuche in Vallehermoso
A restored, 19th century town house, Hotel Tamahuche is all mudejar-styled wooden ceilings, oak floors and wooden window seats and is the perfect place to kick off the hiking boots and melt into its rural tranquillity. Read More.

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WALKING ROUTES ON LA GOMERA

Walking to the Magic Fountain above Vallehermoso
For the third year in a row we find ourselves huffing, puffing and sweating buckets as we climb a hot hillside on the Canary Island of La Gomera in high summer. Read More.

From Hermigua to Agulo
This is the Canarian Island of La Gomera and we’re in the middle of bruma (low cloud) high up a cliff. The mist obscures the summit; a fact I’m glad about. Read More.

Pepe and his Maracuya
The hedge is full of shiny green fruit the size of small papayas. Andy stops and inspects one. We’ve no idea what they are. Fate intervenes with impeccable timing to answer our questioning expressions. Read More.

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The Enchanted Lake
Where La Gomera beats some of the bigger, and better known islands is that often you can stroll out of your quaint and quirky rural hotel and straight on to the trail. Read More.

Why Walking on La Gomera is so Difficult
The irony is that it’s not the terrain that makes walking on La Gomera potentially difficult – well, yes it partly is as you’re nearly always either going up, or you’re descending on slopes that could give a mountain goat a nose bleed. But that’s not the real reason. Read More.

Walking on La Gomera, an Amazing Job

When Inntravel sent us the itinerary for their walking in La Gomera holiday that they wanted us to update and amend, we knew we were in for a challenge. What we didn’t know, was that it would be such an incredible week. Read More.

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Six Days Walking Across La Gomera
Some describe La Gomera as being like a cow-pat. It’s not the most flattering of descriptions but it does sort of conjure up an image that isn’t far from the reality. Having walked on La Gomera in the past we knew that there weren’t going to be many flat sections. On La Gomera you’re either going up or you’re going down. Read More.

TOWNS AND PLACES ON LA GOMERA

Guide to Vallehermoso
Vallehermoso is a sleepy rural town below the imposing Roque Cano that is surrounded by tiny agricultural terraces, towering peaks and a landscape ripe for exploration on foot. Read More.

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What to see and do on La Gomera
Everyone who knows La Gomera will wax lyrical about its natural and unspoiled beauty. But what is there to actually do and see on the island? Here are 10 suggestions. Read More.

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