22/12/2013

Walking the Cumbrecita

A couple of days ago, we were in the West of La Palma with some time to spare - quite a rare thing as normally our expeditions south are a whirlwind affair with a whole list of jobs to do, friends to see and shops to visit. But this time, we decided to award ourselves a little treat by staying the night at an apartment in Tazacorte.
Located right by the beach, a swim was the obvious thing to do. But I had a whole myriad of other fun things I wanted to do as well - the salt pans at Fuencaliente, the banana museum at Tazacorte and walking the Cumbrecita. To name but a few. It was certainly tricky to decide but with such a beautiful day, we decided that it would be a shame to be in a museum or in the car longer than necessary and so the Cumbrecita walk won the vote. 
The Cumbrecita is not a long walk by any means at around one and a half hours, but it's a walk that packs a punch with amazing views virtually all the way. And the other great thing is that for those who are not dedicated walkers, it's not a long walk to get there and nor is it a steep walk although admittedly there are a couple of fairly narrow sections which some might be too fond of. But what you can also look forward to is a warm welcome from the resident ravens. 
The start of the Cumbrecita walk is just over 6km from the main road and it takes around 15 minutes to drive up there. But before you set off, you'll need to pop into the nearby Visitor Centre to get your pass. It's free but you will need to show your driving licence or passport as proof of identity. 
Once at the top, you can walk to one of the Miradores (look out points), either the Lomo de las Chozas which takes about 20 minutes from the car park or the Mirador de los Roques just 15 minutes from the car park. 
Or you can do the 1.5 hour circular walk which takes in both look out points. 
From here, I'll let the photos do the talking. Hope you get to enjoy walking the Cumbrecita while you're on La Palma!
You might be interested to know that detailed route notes for our walks on La Palma are now for sale, including walking the GR130, the Volcano Route, the Caldera, Los Tilos and more. Please contact us for details ann@holiday-lapalma.com