La Gomera

La Gomera is a steep volcanic island, and its beaches are the narrow coves at the mouths of its ravines: dark sand or rounded grey pebbles. The sea is mild all year, about 19°C in late winter and 24°C by early autumn, but the Atlantic often brings swell and currents, so many beaches are better for sitting by than for swimming.

Valle Gran Rey on the west coast is the best base, with several dark-sand beaches, sheltered water at La Playa and the rock pool of Charco del Conde. Playa de Santiago in the south has calmer pebble shores, and the north coast near Hermigua and Agulo is wilder. Seawater pools built into the rocks are often the safest places to swim. A visitor who wants long pale sand will not find it here.

Eating on La Gomera is simple and rooted in the island. The specialities are almogrote, a spicy paste of aged goat's cheese, pepper and garlic spread on bread; miel de palma, a dark syrup tapped from the island's palm trees; potaje de berros, a watercress stew; and the Canarian staples of wrinkled potatoes with mojo sauces and grilled local fish. Small wineries in the hills make white wine from the forastera grape.

The best meals are in family-run places in the villages and along the harbours of Valle Gran Rey and Playa de Santiago, where the day's catch is the menu. Range is limited: few restaurants go beyond home cooking, and there is no fine dining or international scene to speak of.

La Gomera's heritage is modest and concentrated in San Sebastián, the small capital where Columbus took on water and supplies before crossing the Atlantic in 1492. The fifteenth-century Torre del Conde stands in a garden by the harbour, the Iglesia de la Asunción is where tradition says his crew prayed, and the Casa de Colón keeps the story alive.

The island's most remarkable cultural possession is Silbo Gomero, a whistled language once used to talk across ravines and still taught in schools. Beyond that, the interest lies in quiet villages such as Agulo, Hermigua and Vallehermoso, with whitewashed churches and terraced hillsides. A visitor who comes for museums and monuments will see the island's sights in a day.

La Gomera goes to bed early. Valle Gran Rey has a handful of bars along the seafront where people gather to watch the sunset, sometimes to the sound of drums, and a few stay open into the night. Elsewhere evenings end after dinner. Anyone looking for clubs or a late scene would have to take the ferry to the south of Tenerife.

Nature is the reason to come. At the island's heart lies Garajonay National Park, one of the largest surviving stands of the laurel forest that once covered southern Europe, often wrapped in cloud, with moss hanging from the trees and paths that feel ancient. From this high plateau deep ravines fall to the sea in every direction, their sides stepped with old terraces and dotted with palms, and volcanic plugs such as Roque de Agando stand above them.

A dense network of marked trails, including a long-distance path around the island, makes this one of the best walking islands in the Atlantic, with routes from gentle forest loops to steep descents into Valle Gran Rey or Hermigua. Boat trips from Valle Gran Rey visit the basalt columns of Los Órganos and regularly meet pilot whales and dolphins. Spring is the greenest season, and walking is possible all year.

Outings from a base on La Gomera are mostly to the island's other corners: the harbour capital of San Sebastián, the cliff-top village of Agulo, the banana-growing valley of Hermigua and the rural north around Vallehermoso. They are pleasant, but small.

The ferry to Los Cristianos on Tenerife takes under an hour, and from there a long day reaches the colonial town of La Laguna or the old port of Garachico, though the drive on Tenerife adds well over an hour each way. El Hierro is reachable by sea too, but sailings make it more of an overnight than a day out.

La Gomera is safe, quiet and friendly, and families who enjoy walking and the sea can have a good time: boat trips to see dolphins, easy forest paths in Garajonay and rock pools to splash in at Valle Gran Rey. Playa de Santiago, with its calmer water and resort-style hotel, is the easiest base with small children.

There is, however, nothing made for children: no water park, zoo or aquarium. Beaches are pebbly or exposed to surf, many trails are steep, and the twisting mountain roads can be hard on young passengers prone to car sickness.

Getting to La Gomera usually means flying into Tenerife and taking the ferry to San Sebastián. On the island everything is close on the map but slow on the ground: roads climb from sea level over the central plateau and twist down into each ravine, so the drive from San Sebastián to Valle Gran Rey takes about an hour.

A hire car gives the most freedom and the roads are well surfaced, though demanding. Public buses link the main villages but run rarely, which suits walkers who plan point-to-point hikes more than visitors hoping to explore widely. Within the villages themselves everything is walkable.

Shopping is limited to local produce and crafts. Palm honey, almogrote, goat's cheese and island wine make the best things to take home, and the village of El Cercado keeps an old tradition of pottery shaped by hand without a wheel. San Sebastián has a few ordinary shopping streets, and Valle Gran Rey a scattering of craft and souvenir stalls. Nobody comes here to shop.

La Gomera is moderately priced. Most visitors stay in apartments or rural houses in Valle Gran Rey, Hermigua or the hills, which cost less than equivalent places on the busier Canary Islands, and simple meals in village restaurants are fair. The island has no sharp seasonal spike in prices, since visitors come all year.

What adds up is getting here and moving around: the ferry from Tenerife and car hire both weigh on the budget, and the few upmarket hotels near Playa de Santiago are expensive.

Performance on La Gomera belongs to village life rather than to a stage. At local fiestas the baile del tambor is danced to drums, chácaras (large castanets) and old ballads, and the island's festival honouring the Virgin of Guadalupe brings processions and music. Demonstrations of the whistled language are staged for visitors. There is no theatre, concert hall or regular live music venue.

La Gomera has no bathing tradition and spas are confined to a few hotels, mainly around Playa de Santiago. What it offers is pace. The island is quiet, uncrowded and slow, and Valle Gran Rey has long attracted people looking to step away, with yoga, meditation and retreat houses among its terraced slopes. Evenings watching the sun set into the Atlantic are the main ritual. It suits visitors who want calm and walking rather than treatments.