The primordial wilds of La Gomera
Discover the 'awe-inspiring' landscapes of the second smallest island in the Canaries

Approached on the ferry from Tenerife, La Gomera – the second smallest of the Canaries – looks like "the island of King Kong", with its lush green mountainsides and "chimneys of volcanic lava" encircled by "doughnuts of mist". Close up, it is yet more awe-inspiring, said Mark Stratton in The Sunday Times. Its vegetation is amazingly varied (some claim it was Herodotus's Garden of Hesperides); its peaks are studded with strange rock formations, and their "dark volcanic flanks" are scored with yawning ravines.
No less "fierce" are the island's beaches, their black pebbles raked by the tide "as noisily as shaken ball bearings". Their harshness has protected the island from mass tourism: people don't come here to sunbathe, but to walk, especially off season, when the landscape is at its greenest.
The ferry docks at the capital, San Sebastián, which Columbus visited in 1492. On a week-long trip with On Foot Holidays, you're driven from there to the village of Hermigua, where the hiking begins, with nights at a series of hotels around the island and luggage transfers booked in advance. One of the loveliest stops is the mountain town of Vallehermoso. There's a good hotel, the Añaterve, in a "cubist-looking mansion" overlooking the plaza, where you can sit in the evenings with a glass of gomerón (a "honeyed" aperitif) and watch local life go by.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The landscape is ever-changing. One hour you are crossing a ravine "rampant" with fruit trees (bananas, papayas, dates, figs, avocados); the next, "toiling through desert in dry gullies of prickly pear". Vines flourish on lava terraces piled up like ancient ziggurats, and high in the misty mountains grow La Gomera's laurel forests – the island's most distinctive ecosystem, where the ancient trees, with their "trailing beards of lichen and mossy trunks" might remind you of the "wildwood fragments" of Britain's own Atlantic shores.
A seven-night trip costs from £980pp (onfootholidays.co.uk). When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission.
Sign up for The Week’s Travel newsletter for destination inspiration and the latest news and trends.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
July 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include an extrajudicial detainment camp, 'alligator Alcatraz', and tax cuts for billionaires.
-
5 explosively funny cartoons about the 4th of July
Cartoons Artists take on liberty and justice for all, a terrifying firework, and more
-
Jeff in Venice: a "triumph of tackiness"?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Jeff in Venice: a 'triumph of tackiness'?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Shami Chakrabarti picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The politician and human rights activist shares the polemics that inspired her
-
The Anatomy of Painting: Jenny Saville's 'stunning' retrospective
The Week Recommends Saville's new collection features 'masterpieces' from throughout her career
-
M3GAN 2.0: riotous action sequel to the comedy-horror hit about a killer doll
The Week Recommends A 'ridiculously' entertaining 'hyper-camp mash-up' of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible
-
Properties of the week: bright and cheerful houses
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, London and Norfolk
-
6 sleek homes for modernists
Feature Featuring a concrete-and-steel home in South Carolina and a renovated 19th-century former carriage house in Pennsylvania
-
The Genius Myth: a 'fresh and unpretentious' book from Helen Lewis
The Week Recommends This 'angry, witty book' by Helen Lewis is a valuable critique of the 'flattering fiction' of genius
-
From Hilde, With Love – the 'moving' story of an accidental revolutionary
The Week Recommends Liv Lisa Fries gives a 'compelling' performance as the soft-spoken heroine.