Palma and El Hierro

In natural beauty, La Palma rivals all the other Canary Islands put together. Its immense, abyss-like crater, the Caldera de Taburiente, is considered to be the largest of its kind in the world. Deep within its pine-speckled, towering walls is a year-round abundance of gushing streams, boisterous cascades, and a plummeting waterfall. Outside the crater, high on the cloud-catching hillsides, 20 million-year-old laurel forests grow as dense as a jungle. In the southern half of the island, hills pitted with volcanic craters and mini-deserts of black lapilli speak of the island's volcanic past. This stark, striking landscape, all the more dramatic for its stabs of volcanic reds, oranges, and yellows, is far removed from the lush and verdant, tree-clad north. El Hierro, the least-visited of all the Canaries, at first appears to be a dried-up, sprawling mountain of rock, rising straight from the sea, treeless and barren. But Noel reveals the island's hidden charms - as remarkable as any in the archipelago. Whether you tour La Palma or El Hierro by car or discover them on foot, Noel introduces you to the islands' best beauty spots.For La Palma: 3 car tours (with accompanying touring map), 38 long and short walks (illustrated with 1:50,000 topo maps showing the official trail numbers), 22 picnic suggestions.
For El Hierro: 1 car tour (with accompanying touring map), 12 long and short walks (each with 1:50,000 topo map), 8 picnic suggestions. Plans of Santa Cruz de la Palma and Valverde (El Hierro). Free online update service with specific route change information on the publisher's website, maintained daily. The 'Landscapes' series, with 50 destinations, has been dubbed 'the blue Bibles' by the Sunday Times and led to Sunflower being one of only four publishers (from a field of 18) chosen as a Which? Recommended Provider of Guidebooks.